I definitely feel like an imposter on here for the time being because I really doubt whether or not he is gifted (I have already posted about that a few times so yes, I'm repeating myself). In any case, there doesn't seem to be anything that unusual with his development (no early reading, not exceptional at math, never interested in puzzles) except maybe his large vocabulary.
Although there is no one globally accepted definition of giftedness, I'm pretty certain that unusual development isn't a requirement.
And you're discounting "large vocabulary" for some reason, when in fact this is generally considered to be a
very strong indicator of giftedness. There are many facets of intelligence that contribute to developing vocabularly as a child, so having a large vocabulary usually speaks volumes about some of the exceptional abilities that produced it.
He started asking the most amazing question when he was about 3, showing an interest in the solar system, how the earth was formed, human biology, evolution, googolplex, animal behaviour (echolocation, predation), electricity, water cycle, natural phenomena (tornadoes, volcanoes, etc.), tides, gravity, etc. And he also makes pretty amazing connections (at age 4, learned about hypotheses in one context and accurately identified that a friend had made a "hypothesis" in a different setting) and has some neat theories (asked whether a half-deflated balloon makes less noise when it pops because there is less air in it to make sound waves), but that sort of thing doesn't happen very often at all.
This sounds very much like my DS7, who is HG+.
Thing is, will any of that be captured by the tests? It doesn't seem to me like it would.
It should be, actually, if you have a tester that knows what they are looking for. That's why individual tests are so much more accurate than group tests, for the quality of the answers your child gives play a really important role, and that information can often get lost in a group test.
And on a more philosophical level, why do I even care?...I feel driven to know. Maybe to validate my own thoughts about him? I feel so absorbed by this lately. Has anyone else had that feeling?
Probably almost all of us that have gone through the process of having our kid tested have had that feeling. It's really not pleasant, is it? The good news is that you won't always be feeling like that, that once he is through the test you will have some answers.
