DS6 is in the gifted program at school and in the first grade. While we haven't had formal IQ testing done, my hunch is that he's gifted, not "just" a high achiever.
At home, I can see evidence of this all the time. However, at school, his teacher doesn't seem to see it all. Our parent conference focused on his inattention, not focusing, too chatty,not completing work etc. Shortly after the conference she emailed me saying he wasn't sitting in the listening center quietly and was asked to go back to his desk. He sat down and said, "I don't want to do anything." We also just got his gifted evaluation with his first report card. He received "No Progress" on two of the five skills, research and self-directed learning. His gifted teacher said he wasn't completing his work, he's off-task and he was easily distracted. I was in the classroom yesterday and he didn't participate in discussion at all. The teacher was asking questions, kids were raising their hands, calling out answers and he just sat there. This is a sharp contrast to last year when he got in "trouble" for calling out answers.
He seems engaged at home and disengaged at school. He obsesses about sharks at home, but won't write the facts down on paper at school. He likes the challenge of more advanced math at home (until he gets a wrong answer) but misses simple things at school and, quite frankly, seems to put forth very little effort at school.
What's the reason for the disconnect? Is he not being challenged? Does he just not care about his schoolwork? My gut is that he's not challenged and he can't see the meaning behind some of the work he's being asked to do...like writing lists of facts...and he's shutting down at school.
We are going to talk to the school counselor tomorrow and I think I'm just looking for confirmation that my instincts are in the right ballpark. I'm grateful for any additional thoughts you all have. All of this is still so new to me and I'm grateful for the feedback on this forum.
