Some background, my son is 9, he is at a charter school that has multi-age classrooms and focuses on experiential learning. There is no gifted program, but they are very into ability grouping and willing to grade skip. In addition, the curriculum focuses somewhat on critical and creative thinking, so even though it is a homogeneous group of kids, it works really well for my gifted/LD son. His teacher is awesome, which helps too.
DS9 was tested as a six year old. He had high verbal and perceptual reasoning scores (99th percentile, some 18s and 19s) and a very low processing score, particularly coding. His FSIQ was around 125 with large gaps between processing and all the other subtests. His GAI was in the 140s. The tester thought he was HG, ADHD and perhaps dyslexic.
DS9's older sister is at a highly academic charter school for HG children. The curriculum is wide ranging and quickly paced. Because of DS's LDs, we did not enroll him. They did not want him initially due to the low FSIQ and by the time they agreed to accept his GAI, we had him settled at his current school and didn't want to change.
So here is what is interesting. At his current school they MAP test regularly. His math has always been a few years ahead, with reading at or below grade level. He has always had an IEP, and we began meds for the ADHD last year with great success. At the beginning of this year (3rd grade), his math AND reading were at a beginning 5th grade level. Everyone was very pleased. They tested again in December and both scores jumped to mid 7th grade level.
This is a great problem to have, but I am wondering what is going on. Why the sudden acceleration? Did all the therapies and meds finally pay off? Is he just a late bloomer? I am assuming this score means that conceptually he understands 7th grade material. But how much could he actually do? And how did he learn two years of math in three months?
Should I have another IQ test done? I was thinking about doing one next year to get a feel for what we needed to do to prepare for middle school. The school he is at does not have a middle school option, but his sister's school does and since he is a sibling, he is guaranteed a spot if they have an opening and we apply. I also wanted to get the dyslexia thing nailed down. Does he or doesn't he? But on the other hand, he seems happy, so why spend the money? I have been going back and forth.
I also just want to talk about this and I felt that it was not a topic that would go down well in the pick up line
