Well, we finally had "the meeting" w/the psychologist. Good and bad news.
He has ADD-type features/behaviors to a significant degree, but she feels that meds are not appropriate for him, and did not officially call it that.
She is calling his poor motor control/poor handwriting, etc and distractability issues and inability to control bodily movements by these names: dysgraphia & mild dyspraxia.
She says he definitely needs that OT eval, which we plan to do. School starts tomorrow, so once the first week is over and he is settled in, we will see.
He had several more tests than I thought; W-J, Wiatt, etc.
He is not considered gifted, or profoundly gifted, on all of them, apparerently---only on Wisc IV, and only if you use GAI and not the FISQ.
He just misses the cutoff on the other tests by our US school's hard 130 IQ definition. He's close 126 on one, and 124, but not where he is on the Wisc IV, using GAI, looking at 136 and 144.
I am not sure if he will qualifiy for G&T back home, when we return to the states next year. I am checking into that.
On one test, he "maxed" at 160 in two areas, but again, did so poorly on the processing/memory sections that she almost invalidated the test results (it was either the WJ or WIATT; still waiting for the written report, we only had the follow-up discussion/meeting).
She feels he is profoundly gifted in VCI/Perecptual reasoning areas, but needs significant help in other areas (memory, speed, executive function) to be able to display that ability.
She said he is one of the brightest kids she has ever tested, and one of the sweetest, and has never seen a kid that age so verbally articulate on so many different subjects. She said he had something to say about everything (we know! we know!), and what he said was making "deep connections" to the greater world.
But she did also say he needs to be reigned in re: verbal diarhhea/distractability/inappropriate behavior, and that he needs to be "conditioned properly" and given tools to do that. He needs to be taught a new script to use when frustrated and impatient, or bored, to self-govern and tone down his overexcitablilities, to help him do his best.
She thinks his anxiety level is sky-high, and suggested have in a psych consult to see where/what that is all about; she said regular psycholtherapy sessions w/ a counseling psychologist might be very helpful. She thinks that anxiety could lead to existential depression and we need to watch that carefully.
She thinks physical activity, more playdates, after school sports/activities, and the OT, plus our role-playing w/him, showing proper behavior to model, are some things we can do right now.
So far that's it. We will re-evaluate w/her in the Spring, before going home to the states or sooner, if school reports and/or performance warrant that.
Worried about him "missing" the hard 130 on several tests, but happy to know he is doing very well in some areas and, according to the school, with whom we discussed this, will still get what he needs/was already getting for advancements in his high ability areas while we're here; and maybe we can transfer that with us to the US, when we gome home next year.
We discovered there is a G&T parent group serving our part of PA (Adams Township, Butler County, Mars Area Schools), and I am going to proceed on the assumption that he is gifted, and try to join. The schools there, since we left the area almost 5 years ago, have created a G&T plan and implemented that to some degree, and we hope we can get him involved, based on his ability, testing and grades here.
Thanks to all who helped me thru this. Still trying to digest and make sense of it all.
