Well I realized after reading the book that his two friends were not ideal for helping him with skills and now understand why he picked them. One was a gamer, only likes to play video games and no other activities and the other was an exchange student from China (limited ability to communicate). I am now trying to set up playdates where video games are a very small part (if not completely absent).
He is really looking forward to middle school (he is in 5th, the last year at this school) and I am hoping he will qualify for the public gifted HG school. I think he would find kindred spirits there. He's also doing Science Olympiad at school, so I'm hopeful there too.
I really appreciate all the help, because I couldn't figure out what was wrong for so long: first he was gifted, then he had the second e, but I still couldn't figure out the last part and why he kept isolating himself more and more (and seemed majorly stressed when I picked him up from school). He is socially delayed compared to the other kids, and so that was making the whole situation worse. We are now really limiting the TV, and we are spending a lot of time as a family doing activities. I also got him the How To Make Friends book and while he has been resistant to reading it he did say things are going better because he has been using things in the book at school.
