Thank you everyone. We'll have him tested when school starts again since we need input from his teacher. Except that he's in a special program for homeschooled children and will have half a dozen different teachers! So I don't know how the behavior psychologist will want us to work or who he'll want to have fill up the forms. We'll see. He actually likes writing and has been diligently working on his cursives. For some reason, he doesn't like using the keyboard to type, although he does like using the mouse when he does his math on the computer.

It is not at all uncommon for the two to be mixed. My daughter is 13, and highly gifted. We've been fortunate enough to be school districts with fantastic gifted programs. For her to be able to learn with her true peers has made her a much happier student and person. It is important to note that many of the symptoms for ADD/ADHD and Gifted are the same. They both tend to appear to distract easily, to go off on tangents, to "fiddle" with their fingers or an object, to be hyper. If it's not totally obvious, then you absolutely should have him tested. "No child left behind" requires that special needs of ALL kids be addressed. Gifted kids have special needs - to be challenged, to be allowed to "think outside the box", to excel at there own pace. Both you and your son will be much happier. There are a number of books now for gifted kids and for parents of gifted kids. I highly recommend you check some of them out.

Yes,I`d have im tested, because he`ll get bored,. My Dd-10 is gifted & ADHD.In reading, she`s able to learn ahead of peers, which is great. Although, she was tested as gifted in math, she really has a harder time with it.She loves the challenge. It took a long time for her handwriting to improve-Let him type on the keyboard, mine loves it & it will help with the spelling.It really helps her to get all those ideas out, My DD has always been different. She did not relate to other kidswhen she was young 3 & 4 if she liked something like colors or pokemon cards she could tell you everything about it.I believe now she learned to read doing this,What is strange about her is she is brillant in a lot of things, but in things like potty training & self-care, she was behind.

Thank you for your kind words. It's been difficult but she is doing very well -- we've been so lucky to have access to outstanding medical care.

This past year, we've also been lucky to have a school district that has been far more responsive to her needs -- the William S. Hart High School District -- which has made an enormous difference as well.

I only brought all of this up to underscore my point that there is so much that we don't know about how learning disorders come about. It's important to keep an open mind at all times -- our kids deserve this.

Oh my - I am sorry you have so much to deal with. Thanks for shedding light on a condition I was unaware of.

Oh God!! Sorry SoCalGal.

To all who asked:

My daughter was born with a connective tissue disorder known as joint hypermobility or Ehlers Danlos Type III -- it meant that just learning to walk was painful. It has led to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, where the slightest touch can cause her significant pain.

According to her doctors, this experience has led to a non-verbal learning disorder, a common outcome for children in the Pediatric Pain Clinic at UCLA.

having him tested will give you valuable insight as to the extent of both his LD and his giftedness. You might be VERY surprised to the extent that each impacts the other. The actual spread between them will guide you to focusing on specific areas to support or remediate. My dd had a 33pt spread on her eval. Up until she was tested she appeared average in her schooling. Even though everyone felt she was "smart".
What it proved was her giftedness masked her LD and her LD masked her giftedness. The eval results lead us to multisensory reading instruction since she was reading above grade level but could not decode a single word!!! The eval is a great road map for your childs learning style, various strengths and weaknesses. I greatly appreciate having the results and use them to talk with her teachers/tutors. You won't regret having the insight. While others can shrug at the impressions of a parent its difficult to ignore the data.

There are many sites regarding twice exceptional or 2e kids.

SoCalGal - what do you mean? I know common knowledge used to be that babies don't feel pain, but now they're starting to say that babies actually do. Which is pretty obvious to me whenever I go to the pediatrician and babies get their shots. My babies or other people's. They're also starting to say babies remember more and sooner than they used to believe. So it is a new discovery or is it that babies are turning on their pain path and developing memories sooner than before? In which case, LDs might be part of evolution and not disabilities. After all, there's got to be a reason why most genius like Einstein, Da Vinci, Edison all had LDs.

SoCalGal -- That's a new one to me - can't say I ever heard that one before. Was your daughter extra sensitive to "pain" at a young age? What exactly does this mean, and how does it relate to LD? I'm going to do some research myself, too.

TransitnSuccs: According to my daughter's neurologist, her LD is a result of the pain pathways being "turned on" at a very early age (before the age of 1). Which is neither genetic or a formal brain injury or even a pre-natal problem. Just as an FYI...

Healthy 11,
Because MOST students I see have an inherited disability or brain injury, I neglected to acknowledge that there may be other factors at work. I'm not sure I buy the Vitamin D explanation, but certainly drugs and alcohol, toxins such as lead or cadmium, and problems during pregnancy or delivery can play a role.

Equally important is the fact that a learning disability can skip generations. It may exist as a recessive gene in both parents who have no disability at all.

While we can't control heredity, we can certainly make sure we get good prenatal care and follow doctors' orders re: prescription drugs. Some physicians even advise against hair dye, as the chemicals penetrate the scalp. It goes without saying that recreational drugs, alcohol, and smoking are off limits.

I have to agree with what healthy11 has said. Since you are homeschooling you might really need the testing but if you do plan on putting him in a public school then you might want to have him tested. Also if you are having problems teaching him and think he could use help from another source that might be a good idea to get testing done too.

It would not hurt to have him test? It seems that you will always have a thought in the back and wondering. I too Im faced with the question of getting my child tested and I decided it can't hurt only inform me.

Thank you both of you. We were going to get our son properly diagnosed, but found out they really need to have the teachers observe him and fill up forms. Since we found out how to do this in May, it'll have to wait till the Fall.

healthy11, I have followed your links and downloaded some of the brochures. That's very informative. So thank you again.

TransitnSuccs, I want to clarify that NOT ALL learning disabilities are caused by brain injury, or inherited. While many are, and in lilend's case they would seem to be, my own son, for example, has ADHD and dyslexia and dysgraphia, and there is NO known family history on either my husband's side or mine, and my son's birth history was normal... Some cases of LD just "don't have a clear explanation."

An article in the Chicago Tribune newpaper this past weekend, for example, mentioned a study that has found "seasonal" swings in certain conditions...for example, the months that a child is born in seem to impact the likelyhood of having a diagnosis like dyslexia...one theory is that the amount of sunlight a pregnant woman is exposed to, or effects of cooler temperature may affect a woman's hormone levels. Lack of sunshine leads to low vitamin D levels, which is needed by fetuses for proper brain development. Light exposure also changes the balance of melatonin and dopamine, etc. More research is obviously needed, but I want to be sure people know that just because they don't have a family history of LDs, or their child didn't have a brain injury, doesn't mean they still can't have learning disabilities...

Learning disabilities, unless they are caused by a brain injury, are inherited. If both you and your husband have learning issues, that most likely explains your son's problems with handwriting and spelling. The fact that you're both gifted, makes it appear that you have created a carbon copy in your son!

I agree with healthy 11 that having your son evaluated gives you the options of public school down the road. It may also give you insights into your son of which you were unaware. Not sure there is a TYPICAL 2E model -- among students with LD or giftedness alone there are vast differences!

I don't know if you've already read through most of the resources I listed under the "2e" (twice exceptional) group at community.greatschools.net/groups/16042, but if not, that should answer many of your questions.

The fact that you and your husband are both dually gifted, I'd say there's a high probability your son is. How old is he?

Personally, I think if you're happy with homeschooling, you probably don't have a lot to be gained from testing now, BUT if you think he'll be entering the public school system for high school, and might benefit from accommodations like extended time when he takes college entrance tests, having a "paper trail" or "documentation history" that goes back to his grade school years can be helpful. It sounds like he's still very young, and testing of younger children is considered less reliable than that of older students, anyway, so just keep it in mind for when he's likely to transition out of his current homeschool setting.

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