DD6 is definitely gifted, and our psychologist who did her IQ testing tells us that she needs to be in the amazing program for exceptional gifties that our DD11 is in. However, the psychologist also found an LD that is holding DD6 back on both the IQ test and the achievement test.
Is the psychologist willing to call the Gifted Coordinator at the school and sit down with him/her to explain the situation? That seems like the best approach.
I know that I resisted my son to play 'first person shooter' video games, because of the content for longer than his friends, but eventually gave in in hopes that it would improve his visual tracking system.
For now, I would follow the general advice to try and take a multisensory approach and make as many happy memories to the math symbols as possible - time go get out the dough and make math shaped cookies or pretzels. I think the process of decorating them with different textures and colors might help. Ask her verbally while you make a chart 'synesthesia' type questions about the various symbols...what color...what texture it's fur might be....which are masculine/feminine.....what are their internal structures like....hot or cold.
Even if her visual systems is weak for now, my guess is that she'll score better on the test if you've had a pleasant afternoon or two designing the signs. You can tell her that Grinity asked for her help designing Amigurumi for the Math operation signs and she needs to know what color, age, gender, structure, personality and decorative features they might have.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmigurumiI think of adding and multiplying as female and subtracting and dividing as male, in a 'limit setting' kind of way. Multiplying and Dividing are the Mommy and Daddy, while adding and subtracting are the children (that's obvious, right? LOL@me) If your DD can come up with some kind of family tree for the symbols, and maybe eventually the numbers, and tells stories about them and gives them personalities, it seems likely that additional neuron tracks will get laid down in her brain asking her to look more carefully at the symbols, even if her ability to actually perceive them is weak, she'll make the most of what she has.
The trick for you is to leave your worry at the door and actually make it totally fun, as it's much easier for the brain to work well when it isn't worried about a 'lion' popping out of the underbrush.
DS and I never did this as a remedial thing, but these are the sorts of questions I'd use while waiting in line to keep him engaged and not fingering the goodies at the check out counter.
DS claims that I could have taught him to read much earlier if I had taken an auditory approach...so he's had some sort of visual bottleneck. I toyed with taking him to a Behavior Optometrist for therapy, but didn't have the nerve. His seems to have worked itself out (He's currently playing Basketball for fun) and reports that he got obsessed with wall ball in 4th grade and it really changed his 3D perceptual abilities. My lack of spelling may be some similar visual bottleneck, as I certainly can't 'look' at words and see that they are misspelt (unless it's on the computer and there is a squiggly red line
I'm currently listening to an audible edition of V.S. Ramachandran's 'The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for what makes us Human'
Hope that helps
Grinity
