I am new to this. My oldest son is in first grade. Scored 146 on the Naglieri Test (ability test), which is the 99th percentile. Also have performed WISC-IV by a psychologist. Overall score was 134, but he did extremely well on the perceptual reasoning portion of the test, score of 141, again 99.7%.
As for school, in kindergarten he was above grade level by second quater in reading, writing, and math. It was a half day program. First grade is more of a challenge. He started off the year being one of the strongest readers and is now considered average. Even regressing DRA reading levels because he is not telling a good story retell. He is extremely competitive and rushes through his classwork to be the first one done. Otherwise, he gets "G" or good for grades. Even in math, he received an "O" or outstanding for his math effort, but only a "G" for his achievement level. Teacher says she does not really give "O"s in 1st and 2nd quarters. To me, I see my son starting to shut down - does not want to do a retell with me to save his life. Does not want to do a math enrichment (puzzle) pullout.
I am struggling trying to figure out why his abilities do not match his achievement. The psychologist believes that he is extremely bored and that I need to place him in a private gifted program today. She questioned the quality of his programs citing his inability to hold a pencil correctly and the variance between his verbal and nonverbal scores. School says he is not bored and may not even be gifted program material - not exceptionally curious, etc. They are not going to place him in a gifted pullout session that is starting soon because of his reading level.
Sister in law is out of state, who is an educational tester, thinks that he might have a learning disability. If it is a disbility, the school would not provide sevices anyway because he is performing at or above grade level.
Need suggestions and help....Not sure where to go from here. Is he gifted and I should be persuing this more? Should I leave him in general ed. and roll with the punches? Should I be sending him to private school that we could barely afford to get over the boredom factor until the 3rd grade full-time gifted program starts at the public schools? Would it be a bad move to place him in a gifted program and he really isn't gifted - would he become more fustrated? Thanks for reading and any advice!
