Oh boy. My son's reading ability at school - especially his ability to read and comprehend anything aloud - led us to believe that he might have had a reading disability. We were thinking stealth dyslexia. We had him thoroughly tested by someone who specializes in 2E. In fact, DS has no 2E issues. As it turns out, just about everything that he was asked to read at school was so easy and boring that he wouldn't even bother to make an effort. So his reading level at school was rated 3-4 levels below what we saw him reading at home. It's been about a month since we have had him tested. The tester said that if he was presented with appropriately challenging and interesting material, that he would rise to it and read it all without any problems. Since we have been homeschooling this academic area, all of his reading 2E issues have melted away. Two months ago, he couldn't decode words - because there was nothing interesting to decode. Today, when I was working with him, he decoded like a champ. My point is - not only is it inappropriate to undereducate gifted children. It can also be downright toxic and can lead to things like parents thinking that their children have disabilities when they don't. (Leading to many,many problems, not the least being diverting precious resources from children who actually DO have learning disabilities.)
