Dottie - aren't these kids complicated little individuals? I recall a conversation with an archaeology professor about DS9. He went on and on about DS's abilities, about how if all the kids could think like DS, he could go sooo much faster with the class and much further but that DS was handling the pace well which will serve him well in the long run. i kept thinking...is he talking about my kid? I should add that DS was one of the younger kids in the group taking this course on Ancient Aztecs. As I was leaving, I said, "Thank you," and he replied, "No, thank you for (DS's name)." THis man talks so fast that next time I need to record our conversation so I can play it back and transcribe it. He stressed that I really need to stretch him and put him in situations like this course where he can have time to become comfortable and therefore make his learning more sociable. DS doesn't talk much. He will answer questions and even raise his hands but otherwise, he's pretty quiet but doesn't miss a thing.
A teacher friend explained the verbal ability this way. She said imagine being stuck in a 2nd grade classroom where directions are spoken 4x in a different way, written on the board etc when you'd be able to handle language of a 5-6th grade classroom.
