Hi,
We were in the same boat 4 years ago, and we were lost! Teachers had been amazed by our son since he was 2, but didn't really offer anything for him. Schools aren't much help when they are that young.. they won't test three year olds and there's not much you can do to academically challenge a preschooler when you have 20 other kids running around like typical 3 year olds! We firmly believed that preschool was for building social skills, learning to listen to/respect authority, learning to follow directions, etc. so we didn't ask the school to do anything special. We tried to stimulate our son's cognitive abilities at home, though never pushed. If he was interested in something and wanted to delve deeply into it, we helped. He loved to read (still does) so we found him plenty of appropriate books, puzzles, musical instruments.. whatever he liked.
So that's how we proceeded until he was 4.5 years old. At that point we needed to figure out if he should endure another year of preschool (he missed the birthday cutoff by a week) or if we should find a school that would accept him into kindergarten. We met with a psychologist who specializes in gifted children and she recommended we have him tested. This allowed us to more fully understand what we were dealing with, and if we would try to have him enter kindergarten that year, and potentially a school for gifted children for first grade. He tested very high and we knew he had to start kindergarten that year. When he was retested for the gifted school (different test, a year later) it was clear he belonged in that school. We now LOVE the school and are so happy that we tested him early so that he didn't have to be bored for an extra year. A lot of research points to boredom / lack of cognitive stimulation as potentially causing emotional and behavioral problems. We wanted to figure things out early before the problems began! So glad we did...
I don't think IQ tests are accurate for 3 year old, so you'll need to hold off a little on testing. I'd recommend consulting any expert on gifted children in your area. This may be gifted educators, principals, psychologists, doctors, etc. Visit the directors and teachers at gifted programs in your area and have them meet with your son (if they will). See what they recommend for your individual situation, but once he is 4-5 years old, you should probably test so that you know what to do for schooling. Until you decide to test, continue stimulating his interests as much as he likes, without pushing of course. Good luck!!
