Hi everyone, I have been lurking for a couple of weeks while struggling with my DS8's experiences in school. I have ALOT of questions and would love any insights you folks may have.
Basically, I guess, I am wondering if my son is gifted and if he is what I should do about it. When I read the checklists for gifted and gifted vs. bright child, I definitely feel like he fits the gifted category, but I'm his mom, you know? He is super curious (one of his teachers last year described him as a sponge for knowledge), he is a very quick learner, and can be very intense in many of the OE areas I have read about. Last year, he had a very rough time in 1st grade in a chaotic classroom with a teacher who only saw him as an additional problem child (rather than recognizing that he was having meltdowns in response to the chaotic environment) and never recognized his academic ability (told me he was struggling in math when his report card was consistently "exceeds expectations" in all areas). Ultimately, he was moved mid-year (thank goodness!) to another teacher who described him as bright, curious, with higher level thinking skills and a keen sense of humor (quite a shift!). He was much happier in her class but I have never felt like his schoolwork is challenging to him. Despite all those difficulties last year his performance in all areas was always above grade level expectations and IMO to this day he has never been given a math assignment that posed a challenge to him, his homework literally takes 1 minute to complete on average. He doesn't exactly seem bored but I kind of wonder what he does all day! lol He is not the kind of kid that just "knows" math answers, but if you teach him a new concept he usually figures it out in 2-3 tries and then gets it right every time after that. At home he is constantly questioning about topics from space travel, to World War II, to evolution and animal extinction/environmental issues. It can be exhausting, to be honest!
I don't want to make this post too long so I guess my question is this: the school uses the OLSAT in October to screen for the gifted program, but I am not sure I trust a group test and, probably more truthfully, I am not sure I trust the school to recognize his potential after our experiences last year. I am thinking about having him independently tested, but it is expensive and I keep second guessing myself and wondering if I would be doing it just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Well, I don't know how much sense I am making, and there is much more I could write, but I will stop for now. Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
