Yes, the thrill of working with 3 or 4 digit addition lasted all of one day. Day one: "Mom, I added 3478 plus 1257!" Day two: "Mom, addition is so boring. Why do I have to go to school?"
His psych also noted that during testing DS seemed to "check out" during any of the subtests that looked too much like school work--math fluency. He would also get easy problems wrong and harder ones right. So, it seems this pattern is well ingrained.
Fractions is a great idea! It seems like teachers forget that novelty is currency for quick kids and, used strategically, can be used to build the same skills in different ways.
Thanks, aeh, for the note to keep an eye on handwriting and automaticity and for some ideas about getting away from written work product as the prime or sole assessment method. I'm meeting with his teacher tomorrow and have lots of questions.
