@Grinity: looks like I do qualify for my own comfy chair. I tested as gifted as a child, ending up with two grade skips, and underachieving happily ever after. Thanks!
What was the processing speed on the WISC IV?
Apparently nobody thought it worthwhile to test. What information would it bring? Not that I plan to reassess anytime soon but knowing the potential issues is always useful.
Welcome SiaSL -
Glad to see you've pulled up a comfy chair - If you got 2 skips and still didn't get enough challenge to reverse your underachievement, you are indeed quite an outlier in the world of gifted. I would definitely keep one eye on the idea that your DS is just as gifted as you are, and struggling under an even larger challenge. It may be that his behavior is really really good considering the amount of stress and challenge he is under. Scary thought.
Processing speed is a quite useful thing to know, mostly because in school 'smart=fast' but in real life, many smart folks are average or below average processing speeds. This makes 'boring tasks' all the more difficult to focus on.
Executive Functions, such as (the
ability to do what is asked even if it's boring, the ability to judge if the context is right for a lecture, the ability calm or excite oneself enough to do the job at hand, awareness of time, the ability to think about future outcomes and get enough worked up about it to take precautions, are thought by many to be the key deficit in ADHD (hyperactive and inattentive)
These deficits also seem to be part and parcel with ASD.
Having slow processing speed mean that it takes even more work to use what little one has at the right time.
see
The PSI's subtests are as follows:
Coding - children under 8 mark rows of shapes with different lines according to a code, children over 8 transcribe a digit-symbol code. The task is time-limited with bonuses for speed.
Symbol Search - children are given rows of symbols and target symbols, and asked to mark whether or not the target symbols appear in each row.
Cancellation (supplemental)- children scan random and structured arrangements of pictures and marks specific target pictures within a limited amount of time.
Early elementary years are filled with repetitive tasks and demands to switch topics often, with very little advanced detail or call to use abstract thought, yes? This can be very hard on a gifted (or unusually gifted kid if he's like Mama) with slow processing speed.
As far as masculinity/femininity goes, it may be your own Spectrum issues, but outlier-giftedness alone usually brings less of a fit into traditional male or female roles. Some conceive of Gifted folks being more flexible and 'in the middle' but I see it as many Gifties being
both more feminine and more masculine than is traditionally expected, just as we are more intense in so many areas of life.
I also want to point out the special challenge of an Extroverted kid who is low on social skills who is housed with agemates who can't intuit how his mind is moving. When you say that your child is lecturing the other moms, I see a kid who really
wants social attention. ADHD or ASD kids who are extroverted both have the 'champagne taste;beer budget' problem in the social realm. Be glad that he even wants social attention - even if it leads to those awful phone calls from school.
Lots to chew on - that's why the chairs need to be so comfy!
Smiles,
Grinity
