Well, I do think you can work on it and see improvement. We do, just as we would on any other weak area. But especially if you're homeschooling, I don't really see the point of anything official. (Especially not for $3000!) It's just not necessary, particularly since you're homeschooling. As long as he progresses over time, he's just a normally developing kid in terms of speed. I don't think that's a bad thing. <shrug>
We just adapt the way we work to DS7's needs, almost as if it were an LD. It isn't one, but given how much deeper he can think than he can process, it does kind of function like one.
Now, in the traditional school situation in 1st grade, the conflict was becoming a real problem and might have required some more pointed handling, like an LD. It was really awful. When you have teachers with PG test results in their faces saying "he's slow," it's bad!
They associate fast with GT. Slow and deep generally wins no recognition in the schools.
But at home, when you can tailor school to his needs, it's just not a big deal. I just allow more time for things, try to minimize more interesting distractions when he's working, give him plenty of time to really burrow into a subject and think it through, and respond with patience (Well, with as much patience as I can muster! Not my strong suit!
) when necessary to redirect him back on task. It's no big deal.
I don't have a problem with his being a deep thinker. I do think it will serve him well later in life. Fast isn't always best.
Do be warned that in the future, timed tests for things like his multiplication tables will be a hassle for you. DS7 hates them. He can get pretty stressed out over such things. He actually works faster without a clock on him because he gets panicky and simply can't think if he knows he's being timed. Just be prepared...You may have to find creative ways to deal with math facts literacy, and it may take longer to get there. The normal routes don't work very well for a kid like this.
Case in point: DS7 is still memorizing times tables while he does high school geometry and junior high critical thinking exercises and pre-algebra. It's weird, but I think that's the sort of thing you have to do with a kid who's not fitting the mold. He needs highly advanced concepts for a kid his age, but he has to spend extra time on the stuff that is more typical for his age. I'm figuring that as long as he has his times tables memorized by the "normal" time for kids, say age 9, then we're doing fine. That is probably developmentally appropriate for him and his processing speed.
It does make it harder to figure out what to do for math though! Curriculum just isn't a straight line for us. I'm mostly flying by the seat of my pants.
Please keep in touch with me on this, will you? It seems like we should really be sharing notes!
