Hi Jenafur:
I have to respond with a word of caution: the teacher might *not* see what your son can do when she comes to the house. My experience has been that most educators don't know how to even recognize giftedness at that age. Some even deny that it is possible. When we advocated for our son to skip K, I told the teacher and principal that he was already reading. They just nodded and said, essentially, that they would be the judge of that. They told me how sometimes kids memorize the text that goes with the pictures and other things that are very true of typically developing kids. But they also tried to tell me that my child *couldn't* really be reading at that age! When they realized he *could* read, then they pointed out what aspects of reading he *couldn't* do - as though that somehow negated his skills that WERE above age level. Sort of like they were saying, "look, he's not all *that* advanced or else he could blah, blah." It was very frustrating.
I think the framework and guidelines for Head Start that you found are great. I hope that the teachers know how to implement it. In my area, gifted kids in Head Start are pretty rare. Don't know how many are there in your area. For a teacher to actually recognize one (and one that is a level 4 - even less likely to find in the general population!) AND know what to do will be wonderful!
Head in to discussions with the teachers about the need for differentiation with a positive attitude and wanting to have them on your team. It seems that they are already not "getting it" since they won't work on reading with him. And perhaps you can use the Spanish speaking kids as a way for your son to pick up a foreign language while at school!
Is there an area of weakness identified for your son as the reason he qualified for Head Start? I noticed you posted first under Twice Exceptional, and I'm sorry if I missed it, but I didn't find the reason for him attending Head Start. You'll just want them to focus on gifts as much as they do on areas of weakness.
