Hi, all! I recently discovered this forum and, I must admit, I'm relieved.
Always good to have those who are on the same page to talk with!
We homeschool 9yoDD and have since the beginning. Being an only child myself, my experience with "other children" was, at best, neutral and, usually, negative. So, my experience with "normal behavior" for any age is, shall we say, almost non-existent?
Since we homeschool, the whole "gifted" thing wasn't even on my radar. I mean, I knew Dd was bright, but she didn't seem particularly precocious, reading at 5.5 (normal), etc. However, I wasn't aware at that time about different types of giftedness, beyond academic testing or grades.
Her strengths are definitely relational, verbal, and lets not forget the emotional gifts as well. At 6yo, she compared, quite succinctly, the plot of the Star Wars films to the fall of the Roman empire. I mean, I knew I had my hands full, but.... LOL! Her imaginary world is HUGE, not because she's lonely, but because she needs *hordes* of actors to people her complex and intriguing verbal stories.
Anyway, we've recently had her assessed for visual information processing with an OT at a nearby university (within their pediatric optometry program). The results were a tad frustrating, in that they indicated no problems that could be corrected by Vision Therapy. (She wears glasses for myopia and her eyes check out fine.)
Dd complains of "dyslexic like" symptoms (the Eides would call it stealth dyslexia) when reading smaller print, though the larger print found in grade 3 level texts seems to be OK. She shows sensitivity to the brightness of the page (Scotopic Sensitivity) which we're "correcting" with a blue filter.
The OT believes Dd has asynchronous physical development relating to what she's comfortable reading, though her ability to comprehend, scan, and decode words is at a high school level (the testing wasn't pinpoint specific on this, but the OT was clear.) She would rather read adult-level novels, but is stuck with the neurological ability to read Thimbleberry Tales, at least for now. <sigh>
So, my struggle is to find materials for Dd to read that she's *able* to read, without headaches, blurriness, halos, or "ant-like" marching words, but that aren't babyish. She just finished listening to the Mitford Series of books - all nine - and has heard all of the Harry Potter books at least twice each. I'm considering a Kindle, which would increase the font of texts to something she can manage.
Then there's the handwriting/dysgraphia, which wasn't an "official" diagnosis by the OT, since the focus was on visual concerns. But, while her writing was in the expected range for her grade level, her speed was one standard deviation below grade level. We're "negotiating" keyboarding, though the slow speed of it is driving Dd nuts.
I suppose that Dd would be considered 2E, though I don't know that it matters so much given our circumstances. But, I'm thrilled to find a group with knowledge, ideas, suggestions, and resources! Thanks!
