Thank you for your response! The clarification on GAI was helpful; I'd only read that GAI was sometimes more reliable because it leaves out Processing Speed, which is often lower in bright kids anyway just due to the way they prefer to think.
I didn't include all of the subtest scores because I'd already written a novel and didn't want to lengthen it. Verbally, his only Very Superior score (17) was in Vocabulary. Not surprising considering his voracious reading. The others were Superior. VSI, FRI, and PSI all had 10's and 11's (Average). WMI scores were Digit Span 13, Picture Span 12, and Letter-Number Sequencing 9. Working memory was the only spot that showed a noticeable difference in subtest scores.
On one hand, I can see why the psychologist suspects an actual problem (or, as he calls it, a mish-mash of problems) that would lead him to a 2e classification. On the other hand, I could also accept that we have a kid who is verbally talented but just not the greatest at mathematical thinking. The old school part of me wants to say he's just got uneven talents; why does it have to be labeled as a condition? If it were that simple, just that he's great at verbal and not so great at nonverbal, that would be fine. Our concern is with the sometimes painfully long process that homework becomes, which will get worse in middle school, and the frustration that he shows when challenged. The psychologist said he seems to have two zones on the comfort zone chart: 100% comfortable and won't-even-go-there. He felt that our son would be able to perform much better if he'd just GO THERE. But he won't, and we aren't sure what he is afraid of that keeps him from it--anxiety is the most prominent suspect though.
We saw real life drama from the comfort zone issue starting in 1st grade. He was given higher level verbal work to bring home (example: produce 10 sentences using pairs of homophones). My sweet child became a monster, threw a pencil, crawled under the table and hid, yelling and crying that he just couldn't think of anything. As the years have passed, that extreme reaction has evolved into fist-shaking and growling (better I suppose) but the anxiety with challenge is still there. We want to help him with that, and figuring out the source of the problem is key.
With math, the inconsistency is what the psychologist keeps pointing to as a sign of some kind of problem. MAP testing is up and down through the years. Just last night, he faltered on a very simple fraction exercise, could not process any information without writing it down...then 15 minutes later when I asked him what half of 7 1/2 was, he quickly answered correctly with no trouble, without writing anything down. It's so strange, but it is the story of his life and his inconsistency keeps him from being able to develop any confidence. Environment and distraction were the factors that were different in those two situations last night, so maybe I need to start paying more attention to the environment when he's able to think clearly vs when he isn't.
As far as processing speed goes, I've seen high verbal with relatively low processing speed called the frustration profile, and I would absolutely agree. He can talk all day about a topic, and his knowledge in interest areas is amazing, but when asked to write about them, you get a few sentences at best and he requires a lot of coaching. Getting his thoughts organized seems to be a problem, and when I saw the lower PSI I thought "Ahhhhh, there it is." Ah ha moment.
The ADD Inattentive suspicion comes from the fact that he has trouble following instructions and noticing details on school work and in real life, is very careless, very forgetful, and we have to remind him constantly to focus when he is doing homework. If I ask him to go to the living room and pick up his tennis racquet, he very happily says "OK" and then walks right past it to stare out the window. We made him a list of things to do to get ready every day to try to keep him on track, posted it on the wall...he doesn't remember to look at it. Executive function is not so functional for him. He's almost a walking checklist for ADD Inattentive, which makes me wonder if trying meds would be worth it, just to see if it could bring him into focus a little better. However, your mention of deficit in cognitive shift/flexibility does ring a few bells when I think about how he operates. Hmm.
As for a nonverbal learning disorder, some of those things fit him, but he also does not seem to have any social problems. Has always had friends, tends to have a close knit smaller group and always seems to find intellectual peers even when put into mixed groups. He doesn't seem to have problems reading nonverbal cues from others at all. However, if NVLD exists on a spectrum and you can have parts of it without the social issues, that is a possibility I guess. Worth a mention to the psychologist to see what his feelings are there.
Thanks so much for your input!
