Hi all. This is my first post and I'm a little nervous, frustrated, emotional, etc. so forgive me for any grammatical errors and general ramblings. :P
My ds is 11 years old. He's in 5th grade, soon to be 6th. He has always, since birth, been a little different. No developmental delays, just different. His speech development was different, but in the end "normal". His first words at 13 month was a 3 word sentence which he repeated for a day. After that he would pick up a word and use it a few times. By 2 yrs his understanding was very high and he began to identify letters and possibly even words. He was diagnosed with an expressive language delay and has not stopped chattering away since he was about 2 and 1/2. When he left speech therapy at 3, his language skills were equal to those of 6 yr old.
He was always very interested in things -- passionate even. He could focus, when interested, for a good amount of time. We first noticed this when he was about 13 months. He spent over an hour figuring out a reversible train / car track set. He was an avid reader - even before he could read - and would sit for a long time with books. He loves to build things and has excelled in that area. He's emotionally sensitive -- more so than his peers it seems. He doesn't like it when people are mean, he finds some books to upsetting when characters die or are treated unfairly, etc.
He does struggle socially at school. He's very tall and awkward physically so that has made him stand out. Some of the other kids seem a little immature and don't have the same interests (or passion for these interests). He becomes upset easily when teased and feels like he has been socially isolated by other students.
He's not in the GT program as his COGAT scores are not high enough for the district. His achievement tests are always around 95-99th percentile. I know there are many in his class who perhaps struggle to even perform at grade level and the teachers feel an obligation to help them rather than the kiddo who is reading at a HS or college level. Still.... Fourth grade was a total snoozer for him and left him completely unchallenged and bored. This year is better thanks to his more engaging teachers; however, i've seen him start to lose interest in school work, reading, etc. and this concerns me.
He's been in therapy on and off for several years now to help him with his emotions. His doctors have all had the same general feedback in that his issues seem to stem from the fact that he's very bright or gifted. HIs 3rd grade teacher recommended him for the GT program. She felt he was very creative and different from the other kids. She was worried about him losing this spark. I've had a number of other teachers remark on his creativity. He's a fantastic writer, builder and otherwise master of all things lego. The GT teacher / school board felt he needed testing for this so they had him take the Torrance Test for Creativity. It took them months to get the test. It had never before been offered to anyone in the district and they were unfamiliar with it. The GT teacher scored the test and gave us the news a few days before the end of school. Again, he did not qualify. We never received the scores and it was only in 4th grade we saw the notes that the test was "adapted from the TTCT". Huh? We have no idea what scores he received or even what test he took.
We've been working with a psychologist again this year and she recommended that we have another dr run a battery of tests -- WISC, WIAT, ADD, depression, etc. He was having some severe insomnia issues. He wouldn't sleep for days because of some recurring fears. The tests showed no learning disabilities or language disorders. ADHD may be an issue; however, until he can be challenged more at school we don't know. The drs again felt that he was not spectrum. His WISC score was 132 and his WIAT scores were very high ranging from at level for math to HS/College for language. We presented all of this to the school and still.... my child is not gifted?? I realize he is moderately gifted, but isn't that still gifted??
Has anyone run up against this with their school district? Just curious what options I have. Any advice?
