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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If a kid is gifted enough, no school is going to be the perfect fit. You have to decide what you are willing to give up. [/quote]

You are right, but we’re not looking for the perfect fit, just the best possible fit.  We started out thinking social/emotional development was more important than intellectual and academic challenge. Now, I think we need greater balance between the two.

We had dismissed both Nysmith and Feynman when DC was 4, but will now give both a closer look. We had also not wanted him to spend time outside of school on gifted enrichment programs, because we do believe play is very important. I think he may now enjoy CTY-type enrichment. We still want him to have after school playtime with his friends, so I’m not sure how to fit everything together.

Thanks to everyone who has posted with helpful information and advice.

I’d really appreciate recommendations for OTs who work with sensitivity in gifted children.  [/quote]

I have the ASD kid with sensitivity. First of all, if you're going to do OT,  you need someone you like who relates well to kids; sensitivity is sensitivity and it's not like there's one version of OT for the gifted and one for regular kids. Secondly, I would not bother with OT for an 8 year old for sensory issues. I haven't seen any evidence (scientific or anecdotal) that it works (the benefits for us were more in traditional OT areas like developing small motors skills). For us the most effective thing has been CBT with an excellent psychologist to address social skills, managing feelings, etc. I would try that if you haven't already.[/quote]

I'm the poster who originally recommended OT, and I'd still recommend getting an evaluation.  Our family it actually not in DC at the moment so I can't provide a specific recommendation, but someone else's suggestion of seeking out groups for parents of gifted kids and asking for recommendations there is a good one.  In our case I had a friend who is an OT, and it turns out her practice also works closely with our private school, even having an OT on campus as needed for consults and evaluations, so it was a good fit.  You might talk with your school and see if they have anyone they recommend or with whom their students have had success in the past.  Alternately, you could contact a program like Commonwealth that frequently deals with 2e students and ask if they OTs they recommend.

As for whether and how OT can help, this is really an area of emerging research.  I dived pretty deep into it to discover there's just a lot they still don't know.  For our family we decided that since we had the means for an evaluation and OT if recommended, we'd pursue it.  If they can give our daughter tools that will help her manage better and reduce her overall stress level, it's worth it to us.  The academics can (and do!) debate endless about whether OT rewires the brain's sensory processing or simply uses behavior modification to teach coping and calming skills (as an example of one of the areas of debate); we really don't care which it is, since the result either way is helping our daughter.  Also, she LOVES her OT sessions, and even in the first few months I saw a significant increase in confidence that I attribute to them.
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