If he were placed several grades behind, he'd fit in socially. He was developing socially, so we figured that he'd do best at the lowest social level we could find with the highest academic. And this meant keeping him at grade level. ...
So, what we have now in high school is a kid we would still like to hold back for social/emotional reasons, who has a steep learning curve when it comes to figuring out how to follow directions the teacher gives-- if there's a way to misinterpret, he's found it.
We have one of those. 2E/ASD, now in 7th grade, young for grade (summer birthday) but placed for grade level as he would be if he were not 2E. Accelerated 3 years in science and 2 years in math, however.
It is an interesting problem: test scores show "college ready in all subjects" academically, so yes, he is bored in language arts and social studies. But we do not think his organizational skills, or his ability to intuit from teachers what kind of work they actually want, are anywhere near "college ready" or even "high school ready."
Therefore we chose subject acceleration in the most needed areas rather than whole grade acceleration-- so he is still a 7th grader among 7th grade peers for much of his school day. There are real advantages of learning social skills from age peers who are a bit ahead in that dimension. There are also some advantages in modeling on older students-- seeing what they can do that the age peers can't, and working toward those skills. We have both in our mix.
We put the math accel into place ASAP (3rd grade)-- and he was immediately a happier person. The science accel took place in middle school-- wasn't enough the first time, so we made it more extreme-- which was the earliest it was practical. The science is not yet challenging, but he is learning things and is satisfied. He has always needed to have something in his day that he really enjoys learning. Before 3rd grade, school was not good.
I'd say, look at the individual child, imagine what that child needs, and put it into place. You can always tweak later.
