Hello
Let me introduce myself. I am the father of boy (7) and a girl (5 tomorrow). We are French living in France. I am on this forum because of my boy who has been diagnosed with giftedness. He is also an AD (HD?) child (due to his behavior at school and home and to the large discrepancy between the IQ verbal score (155) and the treatment speed (83)). He is on Ritalin (or so). He is also dyslexic, dyscalculic and is followed by a graphology therapist.
So, I guess he can be considered as 2e � It seems that this "2e" state is not well-known in France. It seems that learning disorders are not compatible with giftedness in France. You can be gifted and ADHD, but in that case your attention problems are just simply counterbalanced by your intellectual capabilities. That is definitely not the case of my boy who has a lot of difficulties when it comes to reading, writing, calculating (basics school learnings). I am still wondering on how it is possible to have such high performance in wisc4 and have such problems. When you talk with people who are involved in the "giftedness" stuff in France, it looks like the only way to get the gifted child interested in school when there are problems is to skip a grade � I am quite confident in that is not a solution in the case of my child. So what ? In France, it looks like there are no solutions�
Now let's come to why I am here. During the WISC4 passing, my child showed great performances in some tests (he answered sponteanously to things that I cannot respond even after a short thinking � well, maybe I am not very intelligent but I have a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Seeing my 6-year child, just answering in real-time these questions leave me stunned). Nevertheless, doing the homeworks is just entering war at home. I and his mother too are completely lost in front of that. The big question for me is how I can try to challenge him on a ground he would enjoy to be challenged on. I do not know if I am clear (it would be easier for me in French :)). Let's try it another way. It is very hard to get my son interested in things. It does not mean that he is not interested in anything (he has a lot of imagination, can play with anything, he is very fond of books but not of reading them). I often say to myself that it is because I am not capable of raising interest in him, of making his brain works in a way he will like. He is a kind of race car running 10 mph, and I am not capable to help him driving faster. His self-esteem is so low. So, my questions are : how can I try to interest him ? As he has learning disorders but succeeds in IQ tests, is there a means to make him work on other abilities than just basic school stuffs (I mean just to make him understand he can do great things .. a kind of work around self-esteem rising) ? Can you provide me advices, book references, websites which can be helpful?
Merci and sorry for my poor English.
