Hi Teachnkc,
Welcome! I'm so glad you found us! YOu have gotten excellent responses so far. I would add to Ania's great list: Sometimes a single skip fails because it's just not enough. Usually some subject acceleration is needed on top of the single skip.
As for the grade skip, there are kids who really need them, and kids who don't, and kids who are in the middle.
How does a person know what they have got?
1) Is the kid happy, does the kids have friends, is the kid learning to learn, to be comfortable challenging himself.
((As a teacher my guess is that you are extra aware that the kids who do thier homework in one second flat are really at a disadvantage in their later years when finally they have to sit down and work, and think there is something wrong with them or the situation.))
2) What is your kid's personality. Some need high social, some don't care. Some need to fit in and be on a team. Some won't do a stich of 'extra work' even if severly underchallenged at school. ((If you let DS off the hook for the skip now - I would pair it with, OK - you've got to spend 30 minutes each week day being my student-slave and doing every work I give you!))
3) LOG - Level of Giftedness really, really, really matters. Think back to your years of experience - weren't those kids so different from each other? Check out the Ruf levels by developmental milestones, or an WISC or SB-V IQ test (group IQ tests don't count)
Basically, if you are posting "My kid needs more, do they need a grade skip," you need to really really go back and look at LOG.
If you had posted, "my kid is a Ruf Level IV, WISC score 145, good candidate for skip on the IAS, and the psychologist who tested him says he really, really needs a skip, extrovert who loves class discussions" then you would be a lot closer to the answers. See what I mean?
I hope I'm not sounding harsh, but I'm guessing that you are feeling very stressed, and feeling like you should know what to do, (after 25 years) and I'm trying to give you that 'helpful slap' which says, of course you shouldn't know what to do yet because you haven't organized the details in a usable way yet. I am NOT blaming you for not already knowing this - almost no one knows this yet. LOG is totally cutting edge stuff. I'm trilled for you that you found us, and so early in his life! One way or another, we have the experience to help you make things go well for him. Yippee!
Smiles,
Grinity
