My DS is 8yrs and in 3rd grade and by all descriptions I've seen online is definitely gifted. However, he did not qualify for the GATE program at school. I was told his Ravens score was not high enough. He's constantly complaining about being bored in class. I've noticed he makes a lot of careless mistakes on his work and I'm wondering if he may have done poorly on the Ravens test due to his lack of focus.
When he was in K, his teacher recommended we test him for ADD. He was complaining constantly about being bored and often got into trouble. We had him tested by a non-profit mental health agency that does free counseling for our school district. The diagnosis was that he did not have ADD. He also took the WISC IV and his score just came back average. Both results left us thinking, "Huh?" I was really surprised that his IQ was only average given all his gifted traits...speaking early (50+ words at 1 year, complex sentences 2yrs), fixing the VCR, putting the vacuum cleaner together, philosophical questions beyond his age-level.
I'm wondering, could it be that he really does have ADD and it's affecting his scores on these tests for giftedness? He definitely has that "hyper focus" thing going on. In first grade he'd be up early before school reading a book on chess strategy. And even now if he gets up in the middle of the night to use the restroom I sometimes catch him reading in his room at 2 in the morning! Yet, I find myself often telling him to "focus" and he is often easily distracted, forgetting what he was supposed to do. I feel like I'm constantly on his case, but now I'm wondering if maybe he can't help it.
My gut says he's a gifted kid and I'm really suspicious now of ADD, but I'm wondering if I'm just looking for an excuse for poor test results and difficult behavior.
Any thoughts, suggestions or advice on what to do?!
