Hi bbq797!
He tends to do the karate chops in the air when he is very stressed or anxious, and when he is trying to "process" the day's activities at school. The more "friction" in his life, whether it is boredom in school or a social mismatch with kids that don't get him, the more "quirky" he looks. But put him on the Science Olympiad team with old kids who share his passion and joy for science, and he fits right in.
DS11 had one grade skip between 2nd and 3rd, and then a subject acceleration in Science of 3 years. Even after all of this help from the school, we still felt that this school was not a good fit for our son. Their expectations were that every child should be the same and that they should all fit through the same round peg hole. They expected that the accelerations would help him fit through the next grade's round peg better. However, we just needed to realized that he was not round like everyone else, and to celebrate his uniquely squareness.
Once we did that, by changing to a school that is more accepting of differences, going through a second grade acceleration, and add a healthy dose of maturity, which seems to be kicking in in burst and starts at age 11, we seem to be finally finding a good place to be in. (cross every finger and toe and pray).
Sorry, I haven't checked in on my own post in a while--
ebeth--sounds like a very similar situation, what school did you change to? A private school? Different school in your district? Good to hear there's some light at the end of the tunnel!
