Two major developments today.
The first is that I had my telephone consult/conversation with The Psychologist, where we made our appointment dates and all that jazz. We mostly talked about the tests she is going to have him take, the surveys she is going to have me and The Teacher complete and of course the price (sheesh!).
I am hopeful this will provide a great deal of help. This will all go down during the first weeks of October.
The second is that the school psychologist (or one of them, at any rate) who performed an IQ test on The Kid called me today and went over the results of the testing with me. I will get a formal report sometime next week.
Turns out The Kid's a bonafide genius. Well, he scored in the 82nd percentile for his age in the total test. He's in the 76th for verbal, 86th for math and 76th for another section that I didnt get the name of but basically invovled numbers, counting, talking, oh, I don't know. One of the math sections was "picture similarities" for which he scored in the 96th percentile. The art historian in me was instantly proud, and it is clear all the museums and the talking over art books actually stayed in his brain... He's a little Iconographer!!!
I really don't know how much stock I take in the whole IQ test thing, though. I mean, I'm glad he is smart, and I've never doubted that. I mean, a lot of the testing just shows that he's talked to in a mature, engaging way, that he's read to every night, and that we count stuff together.
Ultimately the test tells the teachers that he is capable of learning at a level that they may not be seeing at school. In The Kid's case, we already knew this to be true, we have just put numbers to it.
The numbers might present a new reality, as the school psychologist pointed out to me. We might be looking at a twice exceptional classification. Double your fun! Can I have some special needs with some special needs on the side?
While its gratifying to know my child is smart (which I already knew), it calls into question why I value smartness so much, even to the detriment of valuing behavior or comportment in a classroom. Right now, I would take "behaves in school" over "is smart."
Maybe. I like smart people. Who am I kidding? How did I introduce you to Little Neighbor? He's a dumb kid. But Little Neighbor makes friends and does okay in school. The Kid on the other hand might have two reasons now that will make it hard for him to adjust to life and school. So, it's a mixed bag, having this smart, wild kid. But I guess it's my own preference to have that than the dumb, wild kid. That would totally suck, so I guess we don't have it all that bad, right?
1 comment:
I was waiting for this. I'm glad someone thought to test him. Remember my brother? So horrible in school that the teachers moved him from grade to grade just so they wouldn't have to deal with him again the next year. Failed EVERY class he ever took except home-ec (his first above f grade, and it was an A). His IQ--off the charts. They didn't test for children with IQ's that high in the 70's, so they actullay had no "number" for him. The kid reminds me a lot of my brother.
Remind yourself what you were saying about not focusing on the negatives but highlighting the positives. Yu know, when you said how you don't come home and say, "Well, I didn't murder any nurses today...", or something like that. Celebrate the fact that he's a super freakin' genius. Jump up and down, dance a little jig. We all knew he was special. This is just a most wonderful kind of special. He'll get better at school, and he will make friends. Just enjoy this, too.
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