Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment major decline in Achievement scores

Lukemac, I would look into stealth dyslexia. I just finished reading the dyslexic advantage by the Eides. It has a great section on memory and why someone who is dyslexic is both the family historian and can remember those things better than anyone but has a hard time with procedural learning. The book gives a lot of descriptions of how bright dyslexics are and the entire time I truly just thought of PG kids from early infancy. Most of their descriptions could easily apply to PG kids too.

Dyslexics can read and very often teach themselves by memorizing words but have a hard time with phonics. Some read very well early on but on closer examination have certain problems with reading. It does not always mean trouble with overall reading. My son for example cannot sound out nonsense words and will skip words like to or the when reading out loud. My son improves the grammar in the Magic Tree House series because he reads what it should say rather than what it does say! He is a self taught fluent reader before 5 testing at 7yo at 5th grade level and he is dyslexic.

I would think that your GATES testing where he did poorly on reading and did not qualify for the gifted program might make sense given a dyslexic reading ability (skip words, etc). It is easy to make mistakes on a test if you skip words or do word substitutions.

The Mislabeled Child by the Eides has different chapters on different learning problems including ADD, dyslexia and Autism/Aspergers. I know you mentioned those before. You could read this and see if any of them fit, too.

Lukemac, I think if you hang around here you can get caught up thinking 98th percentile isn't all that "out there" - but really, a kid with a 98th percentile IQ score in most cases needs a heck of a lot more than is offered in the typical classroom, or even in the typical gifted classroom. I would let go of thinking of whether or not the IQ # represents "PG" or "MG" and instead do your best to know your ds well, and get him the challenge he craves and/or needs (while still also trying to understand what's behind any ability-vs-achievement questions you have).

I'm in a hurry at the moment, will be back later re thoughts on "what to do".

polarbear

If he had something like stealth dyselxia, wouldn't that impact spelling? Spelling is one of his stronger skills - I had thought about that diagnosis but ruled it out due to his spelling - so am I mistaken?

Some people have problems with spelling and some do not. Many get 100% on spelling tests and never show problems until college, btw, when they finally encounter words they do not know.

Here is from one article:

Dyslexia can involve more than just reading problems. Often, it’s associated with difficulties in these areas as well:

Handwriting
Oral language
Math
Motor planning & coordination
Organization
Sequencing
Orientation to time
Focus & attention
Right-left orientation
Spatial perception
Auditory & visual processing
Eye movement control
Memory

This may be a clue.... He has lots of those issues. Plus, he does not have cerebral dominance - he is neither righty or lefty and he is NOT ambi. Holy cow. Who can diagnosis such a thing?

I would recommend reading The Dyslexic Advantage and going to dyslexicadvantage.com

The website has a forum similar to this one and you could ask for a recommendation there.