I am going through the same scenario!
I don?t think that you should ?accept that she is not bright academically?, she may be very intelligent??but?.she may have trouble perceiving or interpreting the information she is given.
My daughter seems very very clueless too. My description is that ?she is a real BLONDE??.and it is like she doesn?t even realise it, or doesn?t care. But?.My bet is that she does! I have found that my daughter blocks it out?or switches off?..this is easier for her to deal with things.
I encourage you to agree to any tests the school offers (if it helps assess her performance and potential in learning).
Imagine having to work twice as hard?or three times harder than your classmates?? to understand a simple piece of information. Imagine sitting in the classroom when everyone else finished the task 5 minutes ago and you can?t even comprehend the print?..you havn?t even made a mark on your page. You have no idea why you are not as smart as the others??but this happens so often in class that you just accept you can?t do it, and hope your peers don?t notice?If they do ?.what will they think???who will want to sit next to you??..will they want to be friends with a dummy?.....and what if the teacher makes the usual comment ?time to packup? and everyone looks around to see who hasn?t finished.
My experience sounds similar to yours??.
My DD is 8,
She is miss popular, she is everybody?s friend (any age?and even boys), but has trouble learning anything at school..if at all.
You would not know there was a problem until you saw homework time at home?.or asked her to read or do a simple sum.
DD is good at sports, can hold conversations with her peers and adults, never has a problem making friends. She is very creative and loves to paint, draw, create concoctions etc. She loves to do everything other 8 year old girls do, sing?.dance?play imaginary games. But ask her a simple sum, how to spell an easy word etc?..she is a blank slate.
She has had problems since she began school. She didn?t manage to learn the basic building blocks, and therefore has had trouble ever since.
Her reading and maths are below average, at the start of this year she was at the Prep level of reading, but after changing schools and getting her into ?reading recovery (this is at a Victorian school) she has improved a lot.
In Victoria, my daughter has just had the WISC-IV (Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children) This measures the general thinking and reasoning skills of kids 6-16 years. The total score for this test tells you where your child sits against the average of a group of kids the same age.


I can keep going .....but if you want to talk more....let me know
Britt