DeHe, I'm thankful for this reply, because in my heart of hearts, I do not feel like DD5 is very typical. Then again, I'm not around other 5-year-olds to know what is "normal" for that age. I swing back and forth on a pendulum of GT Denial and GT acceptance. We have no IQ scores to set anything in stone, even though I know we don't need test scores to tell me what I already know about DD5 -- she's stinkin' smart. Then sometimes I venture on this forum to discover a group of people with infants that are solving quadratic equations, and suddenly DD5 doesn't seem so GT afterall. (Okay, infants solving quadratic equations is an exaggeration, but you get my drift.)
When her preschool started testing her in reading last fall, I wasn't surprised she was able to read the material (they started at a fairly low level), but I was impressed she was passing the comprehension part of the reading tests. Even at the 3rd grade level, she's comprehending what she is reading, and that has been a big eye opener for me in regards to her intelligence.
I will be looking for cues from the both the public and the private schools to see how they feel about DD5's reading and specifically her comprehension.
The private school meeting is tomorrow (unless DD2.5's cold turns into an ugly, feverish ear infection again)!
Hoosier Mommy
glad I could help - best thing about this site - people give you great advice and then you pay it forward. I do exactly the same thing - how smart is he - particularly after doing something ridiculous that he "should" have known better. But then not all of him is ahead - definitely asynchronous development at work here.
For me the clarity is in listening to his play - just this morning before pre-k he talked about his time machine, magic school bus, white blood cells and infection, all that was in the story he was making up - he takes all this information and synthesizes it into something new - often very sophisticated stuff and makes it play. We also had a discussion about the definition of "clarified." None of his classmates are doing anything like this - which has led to other issues, sometimes he has trouble playing with them because they have no idea what he is talking about. I would recommend in play dates or before or after pick up, listening to your DD with the other kids or listening to the other kids to get a sense of just how different your kid is. Lots of discussion on the site of optimally gifted, which means a lot of things - but at this age I think its how far separated are they from their peers alongside their willingness to tolerate the separation.
Really interesting they are testing her - is it formalized or just seeing what she can do. DS's pre-k is not terribly interested in differentiating for him although they have an idea what he can do - but nowhere near the extent.
Good luck with the meeting - and if I could offer caution - don't necessarily begin with how advanced she is - do a search here - there are a lot of nice discussions of what not to say or to couch what you want to say because for whatever reason it gets people's back's up even the hint that you think your kid needs more.
DeHe
