It's funny you describe the kindergarten example. This is very relevant to me. My DD was in an alternative-green-montessori type preschool. I knew, as apparently most parents do, that she had a lot going on mentally. At five, she wanted to read but the school had a time table for that. I had her professionally tested and the psychologist used the Binet 5. She scored 99.7%. With that knowledge, we applied to a couple of private schools. A couple of the schools wanted her to repeat kindergarten based on assessments they made; however, I found one school that would let her move on to 1st grade based on the Binet V score. This school had a CERTIFIED gifted teacher who, not only brought her up to snuff, but re-instilled in her excitement for learning. She's doing very well in 2nd grade now.
Regardless of age ratio, or deviation IQ scores, I'm a believer. She does well on both. She prefers older friends, but with further help from her 1st grade certified teacher as ammo, we're able to advocate for a little extra.
These tests really can validate both age appropriateness and deviation. While she prefers older kids, I noticed yesterday she was playing with a really smart friend. That friend was actually younger by a year, so this tells me deviation AND age both play parts.
Again, thanks.
