what type does this sound like?

[Joy]

Type Andrew based on the teacher's comments about him (or at least pick out some functions?)

"It's a pleasure having Andrew in our class. His eagerness to learn and challenge himself is evident in his higher level of thinking and desire to make sense of everything around him. Andrew has made a smooth transition into our classroom (***it was a bit rocky in the beginning***). He is doing well academically in all subjects. Andrew has also grown personally. He is becoming more consistent with doing what is asked of him right away with less redirecting (***this also hasn't always been the case... he's not great about "following classroom rules and routines" as he tends to be one to challenge directions and question rules***). We notice that Andrew responds well to choices and logical consequences for his choices. Andrew is slowly building trust with his adults. He prefers to keep to himself among his peers. We hope that by allowing him time to interact with peers during literacy centers, group activities, and team games will allow him to build rapport with them."

[Creepy-bg]

is that your kid?

[Joy]

no

[aestrivex]

sounds like your average, reticent eight year old. how could you possibly come up with a type based on this?

[Joy]

He is definitely not a "typical" kid, pretty much for the reasons the teacher described.

He tends to have outbursts and seems to have a difficult time controlling/understanding his emotions and what to do about them. He is also much less socially skilled than "typical" kids, and this bothers him a lot. He requires more attention from adults than most kids do, too. (He actually reminds me a lot of myself as a kid, which I think is part of what's making me curious about his type. I'd like to know if this stuff, as well as other qualities mentioned, is related to any functions, temperaments, quadras, dichotomies, etc.)

However, he also thinks of stuff that most kids (or adults, for that matter) don't. His teacher described this as "his higher level of thinking and desire to make sense of everything around him". I think he is more drawn to math and science than most kids his age as well.

[Joy]

I'm thinking Gamma NT.

[Animal]

This sticks out to me:

Andrew is slowly building trust with his adults. He prefers to keep to himself among his peers.

This is actually a pretty common scenario among children who have had somewhat rocky experiences in their early childhood. One of the pillars in the development of what is now being called "resilience" is trust. An excerpt from Edith Grotberg's book called Resilience for Today:

Children and youth have difficulty becoming resilient unless they have help from adults. But they do not accept help from just any adult, only those whom they trust, respect, love, or with whom they feel bonded. From the beginning, trust is the key to promoting resilience and becomes the basis for promoting other resilience factors. When children and youth feel trusting, loving relationships, they are more likely to accept limits to their behavior and find appropriate role models; are more likely to become likeable, empathetic, caring, otpimistic, hopeful; and can more easily engage in successful interpersonal relationships, solve problems in various settings, and reach out for help.

Signs of low trust in adults:
Tries to control others. If you felt that you could not trust anyone to be loving or helpful, you may have come to see everyone as dangerous and potentially hostile. You may have felt that to keep them from harming you. you needed to control them. If you can control them, they cannot harm you, and trust, then, is irrelevant.

Withdraws from human interaction. The reason for this reaction is to feel safer and less threatened by a world that cannot be trusted. You may have become self-reliant and avoided getting involved emotionally, rejecting efforts of others to develop any meaningful relationship

Does not try to develop personal talents and abilities. If you feel that you cannot trust yourself to achieve, then you may try to protect yourself from what you see as inevitable failure. You may have let others do things for you, becoming dependent. You may allow yourself to be manipulated because you feel certain that others are better than you are, know more, and are the most likely to protect you.

I'm not saying you did anything wrong (most people have a deficit in at least one of the "ideal conditions" Grotberg mentions, and most of this stuff usually works itself out in the end, so long as the kid's environment isn't outright abusive), but I'd be wary of using any of his current behavior as evidence of type or even labeling him "atypical." (The labels "atypical" and "abnormal" rarely ever work to a child's benefit in the end, serve much of the time to only further alienate him from his peers, and account for a overly narrow definition of what is "normal." Much of the time, children who were considered "atypical" or even "problem children" turn out perfectly fine in the end, so long as all other factors align for the better.)

I know "Classical Socionics" is of the opinion that "abnormal" behavior is merely magnification of innate personality elements, but its really too tentative to tell and just doesn't jive with what we know today of epigenetics and childhood development. The kid might very well be Gamma NT, but I would wait until he has "grown into himself" a little more and you can be sure his behavior is not the result of any quirk of his environment, if you are really bent on typing him.

[Joy]

That part may not be type related, but I still think some of it is.

[Animal]

Yeah, but it's too early to tell how much of it is, IMO.

[Joy]

Mine as well. I just know that I was exactly the same way (in a lot of areas) when I was a little kid, and it's not just "every little kid is like that" stuff.

[MysticSonic]

That sounds like me as a kid. I don't think it's type-related at all.

For instance, my kindergarten report card read(the parts that are readable) like this:

"Michael has an inquisitive and active mind. He has a strong desire to succeed(where'd that go?" He is very independent. I'd like to see him grow in his social interactions -- playing and most especially cooperating with others."

[aestrivex]

He is definitely not a "typical" kid, pretty much for the reasons the teacher described.

He tends to have outbursts and seems to have a difficult time controlling/understanding his emotions and what to do about them. He is also much less socially skilled than "typical" kids, and this bothers him a lot. He requires more attention from adults than most kids do, too. (He actually reminds me a lot of myself as a kid, which I think is part of what's making me curious about his type. I'd like to know if this stuff, as well as other qualities mentioned, is related to any functions, temperaments, quadras, dichotomies, etc.)

However, he also thinks of stuff that most kids (or adults, for that matter) don't. His teacher described this as "his higher level of thinking and desire to make sense of everything around him". I think he is more drawn to math and science than most kids his age as well.

honestly, this is hardly all that atypical. it might be a manifestation of socionics type, but you're making some fairly dangerous assumptions here.

[Gilly]

Sounds EP to me.

[Ezra]

I'm thinking Gamma NT.

What, because he resonates with you as a kid?

Either that is an average kid, or I wasn't average as a kid.

SLE in the making.