I�m new to this forum and not even sure I should be here but really hoping someone with more experience in this area can give me some advice or suggestions about DS8. He�s now in third grade and because he was born the day before the cut off he is the second youngest in the class.
He�s always needed extra help to keep up in some areas but with this help usually ends up around average for his grade by the end of the year. I have asked the school repeatedly whether they think he would be better off in the year below. My argument is that if he needs all this extra help to keep up with the class then perhaps he�s more suited to the younger grade.
They always advise against it � their argument is that he is very happy socially, �on paper� he�s a solidly average student and they�re happy to give him additional support where he needs it � so what�s the problem? Part of the issue for me is that the extra support he gets happens during art and sport classes which he really loves. I don�t want him to miss out on a part of school he enjoys just because he�s been forced into a higher grade.
So in an attempt to get some clarity on this issue we had him assessed by an educational psychologist over the holidays. When the psychologist gave us the results we were staggered to find out that according to the IQ test she did he had an IQ of 130 which she said is around the 98th percentile - on this basis she recommended that he stay in his current grade. She also said that she would expect a child with his profile to be one of the academically strongest in his year and to be considered for a gifted and talented program.
This was a month ago and we are still totally confused by this. Part of me still wonders if she just got him mixed up with some other kid. If not, then both we and all his teachers have completely got him wrong. So my questions as someone who knows nothing about this area are: am I over-reacting? Is it possible for a kid to have a high IQ and just not be very academic and for this not to be a problem, i.e. should we just leave things alone? Regardless of his IQ, should we still consider putting him back a year where he might not struggle as much academically? Or could there be some hidden (very hidden!) disability which is masking his IQ which no-one has picked up? If so, what sort of tests/investigations should we do to try and explore this further?
Any advice/suggestions/input gratefully received!
