Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Not Gifted, but need help with WISC IV scores

Most people don't get that its a developmental delay. Its true that with lots of work and support they can overcome many of their difficulties and go on to achieve great things. Unfortunately, it isn't just the social/communication stuff, its very often the comorbids, such as processing delay, auditory processing problems, gross and fine motor problems and sensory issues etc that make it so much harder for them to live a 'normal' life. (Whatever normal is.)

When you have a child like mine, whose core strength is so low that he actually finds it painful to sit at a desk, you start to see how difficult it is for a lot of these kids to even begin to achieve academically.

Some of that's why I would call into question the validity of tests such as the WISC, as if he undertakes a test whilst attempting to sit still at a desk, whilst struggling to focus and track visually and experiencing all manor of sensory distractions, it can't really be a true indicator of his actual intelligence.

It would be very interesting to know how TG would have performed in a similar test at the same age.

Teenysteaney,

My DS, now 14, has a lot of the same challenges your son has (possibly more severe in some areas). What has worked well for us has been homeschooling with accommodations and curriculum modifications (acceleration in areas of strength, additional instruction and support in areas of weakness) and intensive OT,PT, and vision therapy with home involvement in all therapies.

As for the "He has to go to school to learn social skills." argument that is often thrown at us, his OT suggested and we found to be true that it was better for our son to be able to practice developing his social skills in settings where he was not also being asked to overcome all of his other physical and academic challenges simultaneously. He practiced social skills in social settings, like group movie nights, park play days, book, theater, and chess clubs, going to the store, attending religious services, going to parties, running around on the lawn with the neighbors, and other non-academic social settings. He practices and acquires academic skills in settings that are designed to minimize the impact of his disabilities on his academics.

We have also found that other gifted kids are his preferred social peers, and that he is much less anxious and comes across as socially much more "normal" in a gifted peer group than he does in an age-peer group where no one understands what he is saying or gets his jokes.

It is a tough road ahead, but I can tell you that it is possible to go down it with a measure of success.

Good luck as you go forward.

Aculady

Thank you so much for sharing that with me.

It is encouraging to hear that it can work and I do think that home-schooling may well be our only option once he hits secondary school. In the meantime we are doing all the Occupational Therapy, plus other things such as martial arts and pilates for core strength and he is currently being assessed in relation to his visual problems with a view to implementing a visual therapy programme as well.

He actually does have a best friend, which although not unheard of, is rare in children with AS and for this reason he adamantly doesn't want to be taken out of his current school. He also has a small group of peers who have been with him since nursery and are very tolerant of his differences and quick to support and defend him when necessary. For the moment, I do think he's learning a lot from interacting with them, but as you say its all the other stuff that impacts on his academics that I'm concerned about.

Much like your son, mine has gravitated to and mixes with the gifted kids in his school from his own year group as well as the older kids, in fact his best friend is probably the most gifted child in the school. He also prefers and seeks out the company of adults to children, which is fairly typical of a child with AS.

Thank you for taking the trouble to write back and share your own experience with me.

Kind regards
Teenysteaney