okay, so I totally relate to the frustration. My son is now 8 and in 3rd grade and similar behavioral issues started to escalate in 2nd grade but were present before. I am not totally unsure whether he doesn't have an LD with regard to writing or if that is just one of those common things that go hand in hand with some of these gifted kids. He does have a huge range of extreme and intense emotions that seem out of proportion to the situation but I am pretty sure that he just FEELS more deeply than most. Everything is very heightened. He definitely has all 5 overexcitabilities and 4 of them to a very high degree. No one that we have met with totally gets the total picture of this kid and I cannot keep throwing money at the situation for different types of testing. We switched him out of his public charter school after 2nd. He is doing really well in his current very cool progressive school where quirky kids and smart little book worms are the norm. However, we cannot even afford to stay there another year with the $30k pricetag so we are now forced to move AGAIN back to public....more researching schools for me. I am trying to decide if I should get him into a GATE program but most just do faux differentiation and not real GATE learning. On the flip side, I cannot tell if all his idiosyncracies and low self esteem with regard to writing warrant getting an IEP to address the writing, behavioral stuff and to get him OT or am I adding more stigma to him. He is getting older and will become more aware of what the IEP/special ed stuff means on top of the high ability. I am worried that I am either not going to get him what he needs or I am overdoing it with the IEP and am going to create a social nightmare for him.

I empathize with the frustration and could also use guidance. I have also noticed that some of his behavioral stuff has escalated since his little brother has grown out of babyhood and is a real person that wants to emulate and tag along with him....the sibling rivalry is too much for me at times. He was so used to being the center of attention as the firstborn not just for me but for the entire extended/close knit family and he was so remarkably smart from the get go that he was marveled at by the entire family. Now, for me, he is incredibly challenging and I want to just stay away from him rather than spend time working with him.

So confused!