I appreciate hearing about what other kids do, and if there are kids who look more normal at school who tested PG and how the kids look like when they are older..
I think a lot of what early school rewards is memorizing, following directions and speed. We aren't much further along this adventure so I can't comment too much on what is to come but DH and I used to joke that DS might actually do ok in post secondary if he doesn't flunk out of elementary
(this actually did improve last year and DS actually did well for the first time but I still think we're one bad teacher away from returning to disaster...). For kids with higher GAI's and lower FSIQ's this is more about their weaknesses rather than their strengths. Meanwhile I'm sure there are kids out there with more even scores (or with fast processing, working memory but lower VS, etc) that blow DS away in a classroom setting.
Schools aren't necessarily going to shine the spotlight on his strengths 1) we live in a culture that doesn't look for or reward that stuff 2) he's doing stuff that is probably pretty easy for him and 3) he's surrounded by kids that are probably all somewhere to the right of average and teachers tend to lump all levels of "smart" into one bucket.
All kids are unique. I have two kids with pretty similar profiles and yet they are VERY different when it comes to school and the glimpses of gifted that one can see. DD gets comments from teachers and fits more of the high achieving stereotype. DS is 2e so teachers are obsessed about his challenges while everyone else that has ever had more than a 10 minute conversation with him usually makes some sort of comment - he oozes gifted out of every pore but struggles with completing grade level worksheets.
I do love reading about all of the kids here and appreciate those that have shared so much over the years. I find it fascinating and love hearing about the amazing things that go on inside their heads. I have no idea where our adventures will lead us. The biggest thing I've learned is to just go with it and don't plan too far ahead because whenever I think I have a plan, they usually change and the plan goes out the window.
