We knew we were in for it when we walked into the very first parent-teacher conference and the kindergarten teacher with 30 years experience said, "He's different." "Is that good or bad?" we ask, and she says, "Just face it, he's never going to be an average kid."
We never got as far as the psychologist and the therapy group, in part because we're in a GOOD school system and Jess was flagged with a speech impediment in preschool - couldn't pronounce R, K, J and several other consonants, despite a vocabulary far in excess of his peers. It was hard to keep a straight face sometimes, like having long serious conversations with Elmer Fudd. From the time he started kindergarten he had the speech therapist and the gifted/talented teacher and the school psychologist keeping an eye on him and working with him, bless their hearts and our luck!
The school psych did the IQ test in first grade and it's been a useful tool - not to boast about how smart he is, but as a method of telling his new teachers what they're up against. You say "145 + ADHD" and they have a framework for dealing with him. I'd like to have him take another IQ test, because he didn't really finish the first - the math section included division and multiplication questions, and he was only 6 at the time. Also got sidetracked by the word 'blood' in one of the word association sections and went off into a long discussion instead of finishing all the words.
Must say this one has never talked like a normal whatever-age kid. He has always been far better at talking to adults than to his classmates. Not good at reading social cues and the other kids' reactions to him; has had a long and painful struggle to learn how to interact with his peers. Fits right in at S-F cons! Has acquired a small coterie of other smart, goofy kids who get along because they're all weird. But still a sweet-natured child who wants to help and be liked. He describes himself as a radioactive sunflower in the forest - he doesn't fit where he's currently planted, but he's found a few places where the other radioactive sunflowers like to gather, so he knows they're out there. His GT teacher in middle school told him to hang in there till college, he'll really come into his own then.
I wouldn't be surprised if depression kicks in during the teenage years - there's a strong family history and I've battled it for years, so am trying to watch for that. Encouraging to hear that your sunflower was able to overcome the expressive difficulties -- especially glad to hear that he has learned to write well! Mine talks better than he writes, and had better learn to type fast because his handwriting is dreadful. Very glad to hear that metherion doesn't remember the misery, though I'm sure you haven't forgotten it.
It helps to hear from other survivors of the same battlefields!
We never got as far as the psychologist and the therapy group, in part because we're in a GOOD school system and Jess was flagged with a speech impediment in preschool - couldn't pronounce R, K, J and several other consonants, despite a vocabulary far in excess of his peers. It was hard to keep a straight face sometimes, like having long serious conversations with Elmer Fudd. From the time he started kindergarten he had the speech therapist and the gifted/talented teacher and the school psychologist keeping an eye on him and working with him, bless their hearts and our luck!
The school psych did the IQ test in first grade and it's been a useful tool - not to boast about how smart he is, but as a method of telling his new teachers what they're up against. You say "145 + ADHD" and they have a framework for dealing with him. I'd like to have him take another IQ test, because he didn't really finish the first - the math section included division and multiplication questions, and he was only 6 at the time. Also got sidetracked by the word 'blood' in one of the word association sections and went off into a long discussion instead of finishing all the words.
Must say this one has never talked like a normal whatever-age kid. He has always been far better at talking to adults than to his classmates. Not good at reading social cues and the other kids' reactions to him; has had a long and painful struggle to learn how to interact with his peers. Fits right in at S-F cons! Has acquired a small coterie of other smart, goofy kids who get along because they're all weird. But still a sweet-natured child who wants to help and be liked. He describes himself as a radioactive sunflower in the forest - he doesn't fit where he's currently planted, but he's found a few places where the other radioactive sunflowers like to gather, so he knows they're out there. His GT teacher in middle school told him to hang in there till college, he'll really come into his own then.
I wouldn't be surprised if depression kicks in during the teenage years - there's a strong family history and I've battled it for years, so am trying to watch for that. Encouraging to hear that your sunflower was able to overcome the expressive difficulties -- especially glad to hear that he has learned to write well! Mine talks better than he writes, and had better learn to type fast because his handwriting is dreadful. Very glad to hear that metherion doesn't remember the misery, though I'm sure you haven't forgotten it.
It helps to hear from other survivors of the same battlefields!
Reply
Leave a comment