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Tizz - from what you're saying, I see huge red flags going up.

Hi Dazed and Confused - I agree, I should have mentioned that we know he is dyslexic and I have wondered about the attentional side but that is attibuted so far to the auditory weakness. We are only just starting on the long journey of accomodations, some remediation etc. It is tough for me to see him struggle and for him not to achieve the degree of success to date as his younger sister is already experiencing. I worry that 'success breeds success'and as time goes on he will become more disheartened. We have some amazing conversations - he is a great joy and learning experience for me as he sees things so differently. Luckily he has is very insightful re people and as a result well-liked and - at least so far - extremely able socially. One of the reasons the teachers were not that concerned. Go figure as usually these kids struggle socially don't they?

We pulled him out of school at the end of first grade and have been homeschooling now for six years. He's doing really well now. This past year he started on meds for the ADHD and I finally got him standardized testing accommodations through the school district (504) that he used for the first time this spring. The difference was amazing: 99th %iles down the line (except for spelling!). He will be officially starting high school (a year ahead, and two years ahead if I had let the school have their way) in our homeschool next year, though he has been doing some high school level work for the past three years.

It's working out here. It has been a long haul. I am certain that if he had stayed in school that we would be having a different experience right now.

My son is 8 and my daughter 6. My son is identified as gifted and reads at a 12th grade level while my daughter is reading at an appropriate level for a 6 year old. My son was reading Harry Potter at her age. I do not think she has his capabilities in that one area but I also notice a reluctance on her part to show her best efforts because I think she fears the comparison. However, when she brought home her art portfolio the art teacher pointed out that her level of drawing perspective etc. was at the fourth grade level. Perhaps her "talents" are not in the typical academics. I had read that full siblings would often be close in IQ so I am interested to watch this unfold.

Breakaway4 - my two are 3 years younger than your two and 2 years apart from each other, yet I notice a very similar pattern with them already. If I get DS5 tested, I will get DD3 tested when she's a bit older as well. I'm not sure what my brother's IQ is, and I'm not sure what mine is exactly. But I know I was tested several times when I was younger. I don't know if he was.

The way I understand it, the research says that on average, siblings are within 10 points of each other. That doesn't mean that all siblings will be within that distance. You can have the obvious, one just MG and another very bright.

My Dd6 attends a private gifted school. I am always curious about siblings, my dd4 will start K next fall, so I many times ask other parents. I have heard it all. Some who have a few in the school. Many where there is just one in the school, the parents feeling that that particular child needed a gifted school more than the other(s). I bet that in many of those cases, the siblings are possibly gifted but fit another profile, or personality style, or perhaps are not as academic.

However, there are many cases of siblings who have simply not tested high enough to be in the school. Some, test "in" a year or 2 later, and others not.

I am pretty sure that my brothers are gifted, as I am, but not my sister. Yes, she does have some mild LD, but I don't think that she is 2E.

In any case, there are always exceptions. My younger one will be tested in a few months, and I wonder about how different their abilities are, and how, that combined with their personalities and birth order will affect schooling decisions and general parenting and how they each will perform in life, the choices they will make, etc.

Does anyone know how sibling order may play into all this? My understanding is that giftedness is more often recognized in elder or only children. Just curious.

Does anyone know the role birth order may play in all this? My understanding is that giftedness is more often recognized in elder or only children. Considering the info here that sibling I.Qs are usually close, maybe we as parents and teachers (and I'm including myself here) should be paying closer attention to lower achieving siblings. Perhaps they are actually underachieving. Just curious.

Perhaps. Its just a nagging feeling ..... guilt on my part I suppose. My two oldest have been assessed as gifted, whilst I don't think the third will be. I had all three children within 4 years, and simply know that I gave much more time and attention to the older ones in their early years, than I have the third. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not worried about her development (she is easily on par with her peers), and I believe she is equally wonderful and talented - just not in the academic field to the same extent. Surely one-on one input (which is in shorter supply with multiple children - actually almost non-existent for a third), is going to have some impact. Agreed each family is unique - in fact DS2 scored higher than DS1, but the nagging feeling continues .....

As said. Every family is unique .... or maybe your DS could have been even more brilliant if born first ...... ! We will never know, but we can all be sarcastic. Lets try not. All the data I know of, does suggest that it is single and first born children that are more often recognized as gifted - the key word being 'recognized'. This, of course, does not mean to say, that younger siblings are not as smart, but that in many case their intelligence is not as readily recognized and nurtured- even by their parents.