�What is giftedness?� indeed. I am going off on a tangent here, but I hope you�ll bear with me. Our 4-year-old was tested recently as a requirement for application to a school recommended by his preschool director. His FSIQ was 144 (WPPSI): His subtest scores were mostly 17 to 19, plus a 16, 14 and 13. So, fairly even. But not 145+.

Frankly, we were thinking he might not cross the 130 threshold required for application. We didn�t consider him gifted, because he didn't check all those boxes. He's bright, for sure! He started reading at 3, without hesitation and with inflection so must have been working on that in his head for a while. He has always had an ease with numbers, and makes little problems for himself throughout the day (first thing he does every morning is check his watch and figure out to the minute how much sleep he got). He gets concepts like prime numbers, factorials, Fibonacci sequence, etc., as they are explained.

But he doesn�t fit the profile of always asking why, why, why, and he�s not really a tinkerer or Lego fan. Jigsaw puzzles are capital-B Boring. He�s also an extrovert, rarely serious, and very athletic. Says he wants to either be an artist or a golfer when he grows up. He has a lot of different interests, but just seems to file away facts without going really deep into any one subject.

So despite whatever the snapshot of this test shows, the label �gifted� still seems ill-fitting. Or maybe I just don't like labels.

So, why does it matter? We have to make a decision in the next month about where he will go to school. We think socially, he�d be fine at any school where he can make friends and play games at recess. But academically, he�s going to be a square peg at least for those first few years. Will he and his teacher figure out how he can survive and thrive in a standard kindergarten setting? Or does he need to be in a special setting for gifted or advanced learners? Our fear is that he will quickly come to believe that school is boring and it sucks, or that it could actually be difficult for him socially once he is out of his sweet little preschool environment. (His preschool mates recognize that he�s advanced, but think it�s pretty cool, according to his teachers.)

Any parents of kids who fit this profile somewhat? If yes, what is/was your school situation? If there is a better place to post this, kindly send me there. Thank you! I can�t believe all the handwringing we�re doing over kindergarten. :P Just want to get it right the first time.