Thanks so much Sue, polarbear and aeh - that has given me a lot to think about. I always (obviously very naively!) thought a kid was either smart/not smart and I had no idea it could be so complicated!
Sue - your DS sounds like an amazing little individual, what a puzzle to have to figure out! I agree that social and emotional issues are the most important to look after first - if kids aren't happy in school they probably won't be learning much. That said, I can't imagine being in an environment for 6+ hours a day and expected to fit in with people that are just out of kilter with me developmentally or academically, which is what your DS (and probably lots of really gifted kids) have to do. They really deserve a lot of credit!
In answer to your q's - I dug out DS8's report and he did something called the WISC-IV. His scores were:
FSIQ - 130
VCI - 130
PRI - 120
WMI - 125
PSI - 115
The individual subtest scores were:
Similarities: 16
Vocabulary: 15
Comprehension: 13
Digit span: 14
Letter-number sequence: 14
Block design: 10
Picture completion: 11
Matrix reasoning: 15
Coding: 14
Symbol search: 10
Does this all make sense? The report doesn't say that much - just that he as an 'even profile' with block design and symbol search sources of 'relative weakness'. The psychologist didn't do any other tests but I could go back and ask her to do more if there was anything in particular that stood out as needing more investigation. She is employed by the school mostly to work with kids with behavioural problems - I'm not sure how much experience she has with gifted/learning issues.
In relation to the extra help he has had at school - it has been for reading (he was in reading recovery for two years), writing, spelling and some areas of maths (telling time and something else I can't remember - geometry?). His academic strengths as far as I can gather from his reports and teachers are reading comprehension(once he learnt to read!) and some areas of maths. His weaknesses are spelling, writing and more complex maths problems. His teachers say he does particularly well on timed tests and multiple choice tests and not well on anything open ended and which involves writing. But he has never done super well at anything - even in his 'best' areas he never gets more than a B.
If he stands out in any way I think it would be in art or sport- he does heaps of drawing and painting and loves sport, especially athletics. He's also really sociable and flexible - the sort of kid that fits in anywhere and always makes a friend. He does have pretty poor executive functions - he loses things all the time and never seems to know what day it is. I'm not sure how much this would impact his academic performance though at grade 3 level - he doesn't have homework or have to do much independently.
I've had his eyes tested because both DH and I have worn glasses since we were his age and they seemed fine. I would be surprised if he had any fine/gross motor skills issues given all the time he spends drawing and playing sport but I guess there could be something that I'm missing. I don't really know what else we could look at - would achievement testing be anything different from the tests he does at school? I did think for a while he might be dyslexic but the school said no, they thought he was just a late reader. Now he reads all the time and loves it so they were probably right. Is there anything else you think I might be missing?
Thanks again for your help - really appreciated!
