Count us in as well - you are not alone.
DD first tested after kindergarten because the school test (RIAS) gave results that just didn't match the kid I knew. She tested gifted, but the verbal score was way low, I thought. Private tester used WISC and got generally even and high scores - 143 FSIQ and about 130s, but with wider spread on WJ-III. A year later we skipped from 1st to 3rd. Even then I saw hints something wasn't quite right - letter and number reversals, but that is not uncommon up to age 7 and sometimes even 8 from what I saw and heard. She was still in the top 5-10 % of the receiving grade.
We had horrendous problems last year with the state mandated writing test in 4th grade - she hated writing and spent more energy fighting it than doing the work. She can get through the spelling tests, but it's very hit or miss if she can still spell some of those words 2 weeks later. DD (now 10) just finished 5th grade and this year we went back to the same tester because the problems still weren't going away. Still letter reversals and now number reversals and mixing up the order, which can make math (fractions, multi-digit multiplication and long division) real tedious.
She comfortably reads at least 3 grade levels higher (just end of year tested around mid 9th grade level), but the biggest most obvious thing I found is that she struggles reading out loud. She mixes up words and rearranges words in a sentence. She can't pronounce words that she knows and has heard - just can't seem to put the word on the page together with the word she has heard. I say it's obvious, but mostly to me - given the wide range of abilities in the current 5th grade classroom, she mostly just blends in.
I saw someplace else someone made the comment that it's like they've memorized the shape of all the words. I'd agree with that, but it's like the word on the page and the spoken word are two entirely different things. I think our most recent example was "arrogant" as she was reading out loud that came out "arROWgant" and when I corrected her she thought it was a different word entirely (even though she admitted that the definitions between these two 'different' words were actually the same).
I don't remember all the tests, but we came out with a clear diagnosis of classic dyslexia and possible ADD-I. We didn't redo the IQ test, but did work in the WIAT for acheivement. In general they were more like high average - 100-115ish, so there's definitely been a difference in the acheivement testing for us.
The psych who did her testing said commonly the gifties can compensate through late elementary school, and they can continue to do well with reading for pleasure, especially fiction. Typically they will tend to select reading material well within their ability, they will take the time to trudge through the stuff that's a little hard if they are interested and there is always enough 'fluff' in most fiction to allow them to skip individual words and still get the gist of the story. Alternatively, there is enough info for them to figure out stuff from context. The problems come when they can no longer compensate and work around their limitations. The pysch seemed to think that often happened around the end of elementary school and early middle school. The focus turns from learning to read to reading to learn and the texts get more dense, so they can't use context cues and they really need to know the words they are reading.
We resorted to accomodations in a 504 this year after the last round of testing and the dyslexia diagnosis. More time on tests, more time to write, testing in small groups or individually so that she can read out loud to herself, using blank papers to block out part of the text on a page, using graph paper for math to try and keep things lined up correctly. I will say that it's been a struggle to get her to use the accomodations and tools - she doesn't really think she needs to use them. Getting her to acknowledge that they do actually help is a struggle because she is still in the top 5-10% of her class on paper. I would like her to get used to them so they are automatic when she does get to a point where they make a noticeable difference. It may be that some sort of accomodations make a perceptible difference for your DD right away and that may make it easier for her to appreciate the benefit.
Good luck with your testing, if and when you get an answer, then you can work on the accomodations to deal with it.
