Diana,
Wish my son had some of your son's self esteem! Mine's been bullied pretty much from day one also although it started out because he would cry easily. I'm wondering...is this par for the course for gifted boys?
Most of the bullying was from other students because of Alex getting the good grades (well numbers since they didn't do actual percentages or grades until 5th grade) and Alex would get everything correct and still get the same "number" on his test as other children who didn't do as well so they teased him constantly. This he has gotten over. Having actual grades has helped a LOT.
Bullying from the teacher is MUCH harder I think since it's hard to prove (the word of your child over the teacher etc) but it CAN be done. The big thing for us was to try talking to the teacher first. This happened last year when our son was in 5th grade and asked a question of the math teacher who screamed at him to "shut up you dummy". Other children heard this which we stated to the principal.Tried a meeting with the teacher and principal and that did not work. Tried the superintendent. That didn't work either. They would just restate what a wonderful man the teacher was. I had my husband try to observe the class and they changed the schedule around so that we couldn't. without telling us in advance I might add. The excuse was that "an assembly came up and the teacher does not like to have parent's in his room" So we had Alex take a tape recorder to school. Unethical? Probably but it DID the trick. He came home with the teacher screaming at him and other students for simply asking questions and my husband took the tape to the next school board meeting.
Thanks for the book list! I"m going to be looking into that "I can problem solve" book as well!
dealande
