It is great to read about everyone's experiences. I can't get enough of it. Excellent thread for sharing and feeling accepted.
Our family's journey started to take seed when DS5 was 3 and his daycare teacher mentioned if we ever thought about testing. I knew he was advanced but kept expecting things to "even out". He was an early reader. He decoded his first word at 18 months but he also shows OE's and emotional intensities so I was completely confused. So, I started researching early reading. I then learned about asynchrony and suddenly my little guys features started making sense. I found this site and forum and starting lurking for a while as part of this path to understanding. My first acceptance was when I read either an article or post (I can't remember) listing "unofficial markers" of giftedness where they said if you can't talk about the things your kid does, they are probably gifted. It was an eye opener for me and the first time I realized how isolated I really felt. This community is full of amazing, wonderful, exceptional parents and kids who share similar experiences and I am so grateful to have stumbled upon it. We are on a waiting list for a neuropsych which should be starting any day now. He is starting K in the fall and I have no idea how his features are going to translate into a large group classroom environment and the public schools are heavy into differentiated instruction only. No educator I have talked to has heard of a student being accelerated at all. Our journey of learning and advocacy and making hard choices has only just begun. Thanks again everybody!
