Hmmm...I'm wondering about the guided reading.
My DS6's working memory tests even higher than his VCI on the WISC, and I'm pretty sure that's because he memorizes things as a coping mechanism. Wouldn't the guided reading activities just encourage more memorization? Is that what you're going for with these sorts of activities, or is there some other mechanism at work there?
Great question--I wondered that at first too. I think the key is to use it as a strategy for a child who doesn't struggle to decode, but lacks fluency/phrasing or becomes nervous reading aloud. I think there may be a stronger risk of memorization for a gifted child, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Some early reading involves exactly that, and allows the reader to start to connect what they know it sounds like with what they see on the page. The difference is that at this stage it goes beyond cracking the sound-symbol code and advances to cracking the fluency/phrasing code. But if memorization were an interfering factor (and it might be for a child who really dislikes making errors), maybe it would be a good idea to tap into the child's metacognitive skills. For instance, if a child was working from a taped model, you could point out some of the specifics ("did you notice how when it was written like this, the reader read it like..... Look, it's written like that on this page too. How do you think the reader will make it sound? Try it, then we can listen"). That decreases the motivation to rely on memory, because it becomes a study of something rather than a test to be passed. For a child who is interested in different careers and jobs, it could even be an activity that is part of a study of "voice jobs": cartoon characters are voiced by real people; books on tape; commercial voice overs, etc. In fact, it occurs to me that some children might enjoy critiqueing the voice work done by others. I've heard some books on tape that I thought completely missed the phrasing and tone. A highly gifted child might enjoy listening to books they know and love and comparing how the reader presents them to the way they want it to sound out loud.
