Hi Cricket2
Thanks for the kind words - I guess I'm just freaking out a bit at the moment and need to breeeath...
I think it would be easier if he was struggling academically but that doesn't seem to be the case - top scores in all but his writing. Interestingly on the writing he can produce great powerpoints and gives awesome presentations and the one piece of writing he is very proud of was a 2 page technical report on how to build a covered wagon (aka Little House on the Prairie) which he had made the previous week. However last terms focus was on writing fairy tales, this was so stressful, he couldn't even get started. On the other hand he can write screeds when it comes to designing his own Pokemon characters and their attributes.
He has always been tested at the year level he is in not the year level he should be and still comes out with Stanines 8 & 9.
For me his science report was perhaps the most enlightening and probably typical of how adults view DS. Quotes from his report.
"His explanations at times are unexpectedly insightful showing that he has a very good grasp of scientific concepts".
Why 'unexpectedly insightful' ?? Like he's not expected to be smart, why is this and does it give a clue to how the other kids see him?
"He is good at experimental work excepting the odd absentminded incident. This is a product of his creative concept based processing style".
I thought that was quite generous - we just call it accident prone (thoughts of dyspraxia).
"He thows himself into every activity with abandon. Sometimes he needs to consider the task ahead of him before taking the plunge. I have enjoyed teaching him immensely".
We constantly try to get him to stop and think but are not getting anywhere fast - I think we need the cavalry but not sure who they are... Like today when I picked him up from the holiday club I could tell there had been tears. I asked what had happened and he said that the other kids had been mean to him (stock answer). Why I asked. DS: Our ball went into the middle of their game and when I went to get it they shouted at me and pushed me. Me: Did you think to stop and ask someone to return the ball rather than barging in on their game? DS: No. Me: Do you think then you might have been treated differently? DS: Yes mum, can I play my DS now?
So I have no idea if the message got through but this seems to be a repeating pattern of events when it comes to playing with other kids.
The other thing for me is when I see school reports like this I don't get the impression of an unhappy boy at school but I suspect that school for him is the opposite to a lot of kids - he loves class time and hates break time.
Cricket2, I think the idea of home schooling and letting him go back or even just letting him go back if we move might be an option. I guess as Grinty says the ideal would be a class full of kids his age that are working at a higher level and given that the education system is not going to go back to streaming anytime soon I guess we just have to work with what we have.
I'm going to explore the dysgraphia etc further and try to find out who the cavalry are to help us support him emotionally.
On the plus side my gym assessment went well - they couldn't believe my age and by all accounts my body fat percentage is not as bad as I thought
