Hi Mewzard,

Let me preface this with this is MY son's story and I'm not generalizing to any other kids nor am I suggesting any solutions.

I don't have any articles but I'll tell you a bit of my story.
My son did not act out. In K I heard "But he sits there so quietly, never causes any trouble." In 2nd grade I heard "He seems happy when he's here." Later, I spoke w/ a friend who worked in the cafeteria and saw my son everyday. She confided in me that DS always looked so sad and unhappy. HUH? What? This is not what I heard from the teachers. And you'd think he'd be happy in the lunch line when he was able to socialize with friends. I never did resolve the inconsistencies. I found it's difficult to understand what is happening in their heads (the kids I mean). I went to DS's teacher regarding math problems he had been giving the class and DS was distraught over his inability to come up with correct answer. This was in K. Teacher had NO idea about what I was talking. None. Turns out, my son had been making up math problems that he felt he should be able to answer but couldn't. Consequently, he would miss instructions or directions and then not know what was going on. So on top of that, my son was complaining of being behind in K (HUH?) and not knowing what to do.

Fast forward to 2nd-3rd grade where every one is telling me he needs to learn to be bored, that school is not supposed to be fun and exciting and engaging, that he needs to learn to daydream or doodle or instead of adding 3+4 on his worksheets, he should change all the + signs to x signs and answer them. Well, w/ his teachers, DS does not like to get into trouble so changing + to x was out for him. After K, he learned to focus on the teacher and nothing else so as much as I counseled him to daydream, tried to get him to practice this, he just couldn't do it.

Similar to your son, I saw a sulleness that wasn't there during breaks. I counted down to summer. After about 2 weeks, my normally inquisitive, energetic boy was back! The stomach aches were gone. As school neared, it all returned. Luckily, his 1st grade teacher was much better. It all started up again in 2nd grade.

I will check "Reforming Gifted Education" and see if there is anything there about kids not acting out.

I would look at your longterm options. Would your DS still be going to the same school next year? Is he early-entranced already?