What can I do to help DD?

[ClapHandsIfYouBelieveInFatties]

She's 10 in year 6. I've always known her ability with literacy was very advanced but following a meeting with her teacher the other day it seems I've underestimated her.

The teacher says she's "brilliant" and "amazing" in terms of both her grasp of grammar and language and her creative writing skills are beyond those of most 16 year olds. There's no G&T in this school by the way.

DD is very secretive about her work...since she was around 8 she's refused my help or my efforts to read to her....she won't take help or input with homework for instance and though it sounds odd, I'd never actually read any of her stories since around that age.

She was flagged for ASD at 7 but it was decided that she's simply creative and sensitive...she is very sociable now and could even be called popular...but is VERY private about her writing...he teacher showed me a little of what she's done this term and indeed it is very advanced...she's written what's really the start of a novel and is continuing with it in class during reading time.

The teacher was surprised that I'm not familiar with her work in this way...but agreed that it was "Very dd" in terms of her private nature.

She only really "came out" academically in year 5 and before that, she started this school in year 3....she was almost underachieving on purpose...her year 5 teacher was excellent and her year 6 one is too...DD still won't share her work with me...and what I'm wondering is if anyone can suggest anything I can do for her? I feel a bit crap for some reason...can't really articulate why.

Should I encourage her to join a group for creative writing or something?

I would be tempted to create a private space for her with a nice desk, lamp, lots of lovely tools, writing books, maybe some art material for her to illustrate her stories, and leave it as a very private space just for herself. That is, if you can spare the space. If she is quiet and reserved about her talent, it might be a way to support her creativity. She might not be comfortable in a group where she would have to share her stories.

Thank you that is something DH and I have talked about. I will need to nudge him as space here is at a premium and he's gioing to have to build something that fits into her room...

Do nothing at all. She doesn't need any help: she's doing perfectly well by herself.

For a lot of writers, the creative process is an intensely personal one until they reach the point when they're ready to publish/share. I know it can make you, as her mother, feel a bit rejected but it isn't about you. She just needs and wants to practise her writing.

There's no need to make it a social activity either. It is almost by definition solitary. Having said that, my DS is older (year 8) and his school has a sixth-form-run writing group (sponsored by the English department). It was the first club he'd ever joined! But it was important to him, in a way, that it should be something he'd discovered independently and had nothing to do with me.

You haven't failed by the way -- rather the opposite. You've allowed her to develop this real independence of mind so early.