Don't apologise; I think what you're going through is well known to many parents here, and you've certainly come to the right place. (I myself have an academically very straightforward DS who self-taught reading at 2 etc., much as you might have been expecting, so I may not be the best person to advise, but I seem to be the one who is awake right now :-) Others will be along.)
I think the first thing I'd do would be to have a heart to heart with his teacher, if you haven't already. Tell her what you told us about his being upset because the work is too easy. It's great that she already sees him as gifted, but if he's very well-behaved and compliant in school she may simply not realise the extent to which he's not getting what he needs.
Do you know what the testing was? Given what you say, especially about his complaining that he already knows the work, and the fact that your DS's teacher thinks he's gifted, it does seem surprising that he missed the cutoff. One option for you might be to pursue further testing independently, although that can get costly. In deciding whether that's sensible (if it's possible) you'd have various factors to consider, including what the possible effects might be of a high score.
I'm sure you've thought of this, but can you use books about subjects your DS wants to know more about as a way to entice him into reading? I remember my DS puzzling out the text (small amounts it, but very hard to read) in a Venomous Animals book, just because he needed to know what it said and I didn't have time to read to him right then. [By the way, for all the importance of reading to our children, don't forget the importance of not reading to them sometimes too! In the first week of school, children in my DS's class - most of whom could not read, of course - were asked why they'd like to. My DS contributed "Being able to read is good because when you want a story and nobody wants to read it to you you can read it to yourself". I felt guilty at the time, but also, I'm sure my busy-ness contributed to his early reading!]
I could go on with other things to do (lens, microscope, weather station...) but actually it sounds as though you're doing a great job already finding things for your DS to do at home, so it's probably beside the point.
Last edited by ColinsMum; 03/21/11 02:44 AM. Reason: spelling!
