Our school district didn't cover the costs of achievement or IQ testing, so we paid for the IQ test and submitted the portfolio. We videotaped DD then 7 reading and included some pictures she'd drawn (she was working on a series of cat drawings at the time smile

We also included the tests the school did do: KBIT and Raven's (they're not official tests for DYS purposes, but DYS said to include them in the portfolio regardless).

FWIW, my daughter didn't have a miserable time in Kindegarten (perhaps because it was only 2.5 days per week). She was pretty occupied just by the social stuff, so she didn't mind the "counting M&Ms" stuff (in our case gumdrops!). Plus the teacher let her bring in a book.

The benefit of waiting until first grade to apply to DYS was that we did have those other tests (KBIT and Raven's) to include in the portfolio.

We haven't used too many DYS sources yet as we've only been involved for a year, but it was VERY helpful to have our consultant send a letter to the teacher and principal offering to consult if necessary. The school's been great--DD got a lot of in-class differentiation. We've just dipped our toe into the subject-acceleration pool, and I'm thinking it will be very useful to have DYS as a resource.

Also, the e-mail lists have been extraordinarily helpful!

HTH