But is there any harm if one chooses to test their child at three or four, as well as at seven? I am getting DS7 tested this month, but I might get my youngest tested at 3.5 to get him into kindy six months early. I wish I had for my eldest.
I don't think there is any harm in it...I mean, besides the financial burden of getting tested twice. (though I don't know if it's cheaper for you in Australia than America...because it's hundreds to thousands of dollars here for private testing). Then again, if you test now, and the schools are willing to test again for free, when your DS is older, then that makes the cost a little more palatable, at least. Though I would ask yourself why you would want another test at that point. Would it only be if you think the first one didn't properly display what you believe your DS's actual giftedness to be? Or just to have a more 'accurate' depiction because of all the talk about 'IQ stabilizing' around that older age?
I have heard of several families that got their child tested at both 4 and 8 (ish), and it seemed to work out for them. I think generally the IQs don't change much, though I have heard stories of IQ scores both going up, and down, at the second testing. I'm not sure how helpful that is, suffice to say, if you want to get your little DS tested before K, for the reasons you described, then do it. Once you receive the scores, and see how the schools react to his needs, you can always assess later whether or not you want to get him tested at 7/8 years old.
