Gifts Are Challenges

We met today with Dr. Betty Jones, who is a diagnostician, about some testing for Emery. He was tested at the age of 5 at the Robinson Center for Young Scholars at the University of Washington and it's time to do that testing again. After parenting this child for 8 1/2 years I write these things from a new perspective than a new parent who is excited by the gifts her child exhibits.

Let me say that all children are gifts and gifted. And I have learned, over these years of parenting that gifts are challenges from the creator. Sometimes we get the gift and we don't know how to manage it or nurture it. That's where we are with Em.

Emery's verbal IQ is very high - in the superior range (131). And it presents certain challenges in his daily life. It presents many challenges in parenting. His verbal acuity affects him socially with his peers and as he interacts with adults and authority figures.

We also need to know if there is anything else going on... And this neurological/psychological work up should give us that information. We had a very good meeting today and we felt comforted that in the initial assessment Asperger's does not seem to be likely, nor does Oppositional Defiant Disorder (according to the doctor). Perhaps it is merely this verbal ability that makes our lives a challenge.

I think of other parents I know who are just at the beginning of this journey - seeing their child exhibit these incredible skills very early in their lives (Em knew his alphabet cold - backward and forward - by 18 months. He read by age 3.) and I think how proud we were back then, not realizing the struggle to manage the gift. Be Prepared. These children are tough and we didn't see the responsibility of this ability early on. We struggle with it and we continue to try to do right by our child.