When ds7 was in a pre-k at a gifted, structured school, I had to withdraw him because the school refused to accelerate or accommodate him. I said to him that he learns differently than others (like oranges and apples) and that we had to find what worked best for him.
Last year, in kindergarten at a gifted, Montessori-type school, he was regarded a bit of a mascot or novelty and had some comments to him. There was a little bullying issue with him wearing glasses, which were for vision therapy.
Did he fully understand then how different he is or since then? I'm not sure. Perhaps. I don't know though. However, I have noticed that he often edits when he says depending on who's around, but not always.
With the 2e issues, we've got a photo of our son in a helmet when he was 3 months old on the mantlepiece. It's actually a cute, endearing photo, which I love. He's also been in neurofeedback on and off this year and knows it's due to being born with a traumatic brain injury; one neurofeedback provider came out and told him to be transparent. I've mentioned some stuff casually about the other 2e stuff, but ds7 hasn't really asked about it yet - except for pestering me why we still are on a crazy diet (e.g. dairy-free, sugar-free, processed/refined-free, nearly grain-free, everything-else-it-seems-free diet).
I just finished reading The Spark by Kristine Barnett. Her son Jake was featured on 60 Minutes with Morley Safer. He's a STEM-prodigy and autistic, but she said that he started to feel loneliness around 8 years old. She watched videos of savants and child prodigies with them to help him feel less alone and isolated in the world.
