Thanks for all the replies - and please keep'em coming!
I have def. wanted to get a trampoline, but my hub. is a bit more hesitant because he's positive that ds will break his neck - or end up on the roof!
When we had him eval. we were told that he would probably never let on to the teacher that he can do more than what is being taught, so we have expected that - but we always assumed that meant at school and not at home - maybe he isn't letting on to us either...we have never pushed academics at home (we joke that our kids have learned everything early in spite of us, not because of us), but that said, we use everything as a learning exp. - "you can have 7 raisins, can you count them out?", etc. when they were little and so on. I am starting to think that maybe his wpsii test is higher than it should have been - but like Polarbear said I can't imagine why the evaluator would inflate the scores - in fact she said his score was probably higher than tested because his processing score was low because of his perfectionism and needing to make every mark exactly right. It's just hard to see him not doing what it seems like should come so easily to him. That said, we never push him or get angry - in fact we've never said anything to him about his IQ other than his brain works differently than others and that we have to find a way of learning that works for him and his brain...does anyone have any comments on how they handled telling their kids that they are "gifted"?
ABQMom - I like your advice and it is pretty inline with how we've been raising our kids...it's just hard when I know he could do so much more. Our concern is that everything comes easy to him - and i mean just about everything. I am really hard pressed to think of something that he hasn't been able to just watch and then do...sometimes a video game will make him frustrated - but other than that, it doesn't matter if it's physical or mental, it all comes easy. -And if it doesn't come easy, he doesn't want to do it (which seems to be the case with reading - although, it's not like he struggles with reading, it's just that he might need help with one word, and that means, "I can't any of it - waa! I'm so stupid - waaa!" (We would *never* say that to him - he cam e up with that on his own...) Anyway, my point is that I'm worried that he will go through life never doing more than is expected and not knowing how to handle it when something is presented that he might have to actually work at. My hub. went through life like that and while he is fine and aware of that 'area of improvement', ds has a much more volatile and emotional personality and may not be as well adjusted. that's my biggest concern. And I want to make sure he knows what he is capable of - does that make sense?
-sorry, I have so many things I want to say, that it's all getting jumbled and I'm rambling...it's just so nice to find a website that actually has parents that understand what it's like - it seems like everyone hears the term "gifted" and they think, "oh poor you - you have a smart kid. that must be so hard." If only they knew how challenging it really is...!
