Originally Posted by kaibab
A bit more seriously . . . .

I find all these terms more fluid in real life than I imagined them to be on paper when my child was younger. If a child is radically accelerated in one subject and "rapid" in another, then what do you call it? What about the kid doing college level stuff at 12 who decides to do a regular high school in order to have more sports and the social aspects of high school? Is the child accelerated? What about the kid who is homeschooled and way, way above level in everything, but claims age-grade level in order to compete in a national spelling bee? Or science fair? Or mathcounts? And then does differential equations on the side in middle school without official credit?

I think really smart kids follow a variety of paths and predicting which path my child follows is difficult from month to month, let alone planning for college for a 6 yo. When my son was 6, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to work this in the future. Should I move for better schools? Should I let him skip grades? 1? 2? 5 grades? I'm still learning, but one thing I've really observed in the last several years it that what worked for other parents and families might not work for mine. The outcomes of kids in SET or the DA don't really help me. My kid will be like those children in some ways and vastly different in others. I know his situation best and have to make decision based on what I think about him and his needs, not what worked for others.

Parents make decisions about educating their children based on their expectations of the outcomes of their actions, and I think research should inform those expectations. If for example, the research on grade-skipped children found that they often burned out and dropped out of high school and college at higher rates than IQ-matched peers who did not skip, I would very reluctant to have my children skip a grade. (The research does not find that.)


"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell