My main concern is,that I don't miss anything or do something
wrong with the way my son is growing. My family and everybody
is reacting with the results as "Wow, this is great." But I am
almost overwhelmed with the added responsibility. We are just
a regular family, no scholars or anything in that league. So far he has learned everything sort of by him self, we are looking up answers to his questions constantly. But I don't know if I am doing enough for him. If you understand what I mean.
Oh, do we know what you mean! <reassuring smile> I think most of us with HG+ kids (and probably even a lot of parents of MG and GT kids [the ones too bright for regular schoolwork, but not making the 130 cut for GT programs]) know the feeling of panic that you're describing. I sure felt it!
On the bright side, the fear of messing up does subside as you learn more about GTness and find solutions to the problems you face. It crops up again at decision-making times, but it tends to go away more quickly each time because you learn that kids are resiliant, even in lousy situations (though that's NOT a reason to leave the kids IN those lousy situations any longer than absolutely necessary!), and that you can always change what you're doing because there are very, very few educational decisions that are irreversible.
So, in short, you've come to the right place, and it will all work out. Don't stress yourself out any more than you absolutely must. (It's normal, but the sooner you get past it, the better off you are.
) After all, worrying just for the sake of worrying won't help your son. And the sooner you get through the worry stage, the sooner you move into the taking action stage. That's where you want to be!
As for choosing to test...If there's no big rush, I'd wait until age 6 at least (maybe 6.5) and give him the WISC, unless there's some driving reason that you think the SB-V is a better fit. Supposedly Visual-Spatial learners do better on the SB-V than they do on the WISC, but that didn't hold true for my son, who appears to be VS. He's one of the few kids we discuss regularly here who took both tests--we had a bad test fit with the SB-V and bad test day due to lack of sleep, so we retested a few months later on the WISC--and he did better on the WISC. The results on the SB-V just didn't ring true with what we saw. The WISC made a lot more sense in relation to the total picture. I have a much better grasp of his strengths and his weaknesses after the WISC.
IM(not so)HO: I'd say you should give it 1.5-2 years if there's no pressing reason to test before that, and then get both the WISC and an achievement test like the Woodcock-Johnson. Then go into the testing with questions you'd like to have answered. Mine were "Is he qualified to apply for DYS?" and "What can we find out about how he learns?"
In the meantime, keep doing what you're doing: follow where your child leads you, look up the answers to the questions you don't already know the answers to, provide challenge wherever possible, encourage friendships with true peers (who may be a couple years older than your child), and keep your eyes peeled for good opportunities for your son.
You're doing fine!
