Was he the same age as the others in his grade? Assuming he gets accelerated in school (and that this means a grade skip) would he mind being the youngest -- by a year or more -- in the residential program?
Our son just completed his 2nd skip and is planning to attend a CTY residential this summer as a 5th grader... but in a 3rd grader's body.
My DS was not accelerated so was with similar-aged kids. I asked him his thoughts about sending a younger child that is accelerated and he is iffy about it and reports that he wouldn't have wanted to do it. Some of what we thought was valuable about the program could be lost on a younger kid. Not because of the content but because a large part of what is attractive about the residential program vs the day program is the pre-teen/teen aspect of it - they have dances and things like that, and the RAs are college students so it feels like an older environment. I don't recall seeing any obviously-younger kids when we visited, and DS was not aware of any either. The kids live in dorms with roommates and common areas, so perhaps if you could find a similar-aged kid they could keep them together.
For my DS it was a real growing experience - he seemed so independent when he got back (and that has really stuck with him). It's like having a mini-college experience, where they live in dorms with RAs, go to the dining hall to get meals (DS's favorite part of the program), do their own laundry, etc.
My DS was not super tall or mature at 9, so maybe it would be different for a kid who meshes better with kids a couple years older.
