Is it a waste of time to apply with scores that are just under 150? Is that an absolute criteria?
Thanks!

Are you talking about less than 150 on the WPPSI or WISC? I thought that the minimum on the WISC was 145. Also, it doesn't have to be full scale. They take 145/150+ on various subtests such as VCI or PRI.

Does extended scoring come into play for your DC?

WPPSI. Performance is 144 (confidence interval to 148). Prorated FULL Scale 136-146 confidence interval.
He is 5.2 and is reading was assessed at the 3rd grade instructional level.
Should I try???

Grinity - I don't think so.

IQ sounds sort-of close but w/out strong achievement data, I'm not sure that I'd try right now. I don't know what achievement testing you have for the reading, but unless it is one they accept (WJ, WIAT, etc.), I don't know if it would be enough. Reading at a 3rd grade instructional level at age 5.2 is definitely very advanced, but I don't know if it is a 99.9th degree of achievement.

Would you have anything else to submit for a portfolio?

He is still in preschool! I should hold off a year or 2, yes?

How are things going with preschool? Do you need the resource now? There is every possibility that your son would have qualifying scores on a test that had more 'headroom' such as SB-5.


Is there a tester available who can give the SB-5? If not, I would make and appointment so that the WISC IV can be given as soon as he turns 6. You can do that achievement WJ III anytime now.

Here's the link http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/tests.htm
I use this page for reference all the time.

What do you think?
Grinity

I believe it was the San Diego reading assessment. The tester suggested we do the the WJ, so we will probably follow up with that soon.
Bottom line, we don't know what to do about next year. We applied him to a "gifted" private school, but in our area that also means "have a lot of money" private school.... and I worry that if we send him to public, he will be bored to tears as he as already far exceeded the Kindergarten expectations. I thought that it would be nice to supplement on our end...
I guess more time will make things clearer, but we are totally stressed about the coming school year and making sure he is in the right place!!!!!!
What should I do????

Just our experience: Both of our girls started K shortly before their 5th bds due to fall bds. Kindergarten was absolutely fine for both of them even though dd12 was reading quite well and really knew everything she was expected to know by the end of the year at the start. Dd10 appears to be HG/2e and she, too, did fine in kindergarten with no special accommodations.

We had a lot harder of a time once they hit 1st grade. That seemed to be the year here where the schools decided to buckle down and drill everyone in phonics, sight words, flash cards, etc. There was no more singing songs about the letter people and coloring the letter of the week. We are in a high performing school district and a lot of kids are reading easy readers in K, so it isn't like K is all play time, but the way academics were presented was in a playful manner which dds didn't mind even if they already knew the academic stuff.

The fun seemed to disapate come 1st grade. Perhaps you can try to get a sweet, fun fit for a kindergarten teacher and then spend K working with the school on a game plan for 1st grade such as subject acceleration.

My two cents: it sounds like your son is doing extremely well, but I too suggest holding off on the application.

First, there's a huge difference between early 5 and late 5 with the types of achievement portfolios you can submit. My DS was 5.1 when he was assessed at the same reading level (which jumped to grade 8.9 within 9 months), with matching math and spelling assessment, plus IQ scores well over the DYS benchmarks. Yet even with all those, YS asked for additional proof of his achievements. It was probably easy enough to do with videotapes, but we ended up waiting until we had further standardized national placement testing towards the end of K to finish our application. By then, he had accelerated so much further, and was able to do so much more like write full stories on his own, that it was much easier to submit.

I LOVE DYS, but I'm also not sure that it's absolutely necessary for you as you make your determinations for Kindergarten. In fact, we didn't even tell our K that we were applying to DYS because we wanted to forge that principal/teacher bond without looking like we were pushing an outside advocate on them right out the gate.

Even without DYS, we were given the option of skipping DS over K and into a 1st/2nd combo class. We opted not to, though, because K we felt K was a unique opportunity to enjoy the "cuteness" of being 5. Instead, the K teachers gave DS his own reading bin and several other independent learner accommodations to try and help stay at his level. ((Granted, it wasn't nearly enough, and we pulled DS at the end of that semester. Still, I'm glad he had the opportunity to just simply make memories of his K experience.))

I agree that K is the hardest decision. I would say that most of K is about learning social skills rather than the color/number/...that some of the kids are still working on. For our GT kids, those social skills can also be different than what they learned in preschool. My DS, for example, benefited from having to wait patiently for other children and respecting their turns even when he knew an answer. It also took him several weeks to learn not to finish his work on his own and start jumping to other pages ahead of the rest of the class. These seem silly, but the teachers reminded us that these are important to making independent learning work, esp. at higher levels. Most 5s, no matter how intelligent, can also benefit from the writing, crafts, and other fine motor that are stressed heavily in K.

Good luck with your decision making! We're going to have to go through that a 2nd time w/ our younger son, and already I'm not sure if we'll homeschool out the gate or place him in regular K just for the experience. He can already pass the K-academic-readiness tests, so by the time he's ready, it'll be another challenge.

Who would've thought K decisions would be so hard!!

My Kindergartener loves everything about it, including coloring all the triangles green, the squares blue, etc. She doesn't even realize that that is the math. IMO it's like preschool more than its like first grade.

I agree with the previous posters, K is fun even if it is incredibly easy. My son just tested EG/PG on WPSII, he is 5y3m and started K just before he turned 5. He is in a public school all day K and he loves every bit of it.

Of course, it also depends on the child's personality. Mine loves mindless repetitive tasks, they appeal to the perfectionist in him So he happily counts dots and colors squares in math and does basic phonics. We'll have to see how it goes when he gets to first grade.

Opposing viewpoint here: K is NOT fun for all kids. My son is 2e, and Kindergarten was torture for him. He spent the entire time either incredibly bored or incredibly frustrated. It was ultimately a good thing that we enrolled him, because it led us to diagnosing his disabilities fairly early, but it was a very stressful and depressing time for him.

Thank you all.. I am so glad I found this board. We met with the private school yesterday, and they said given his IQ report that they would like to consider him for either 1st or K. They are going to have him assessed 1:1 by a 1st grade teacher, then have him come back and spend a day in the K class, and then discuss the more appropriate setting for him. (we haven't even been accepted yet, so this seems really cool of them, as they seem very invested in finding the right place for him). Is anyone in California? And if so, familiar with The Pegasus School in Huntington Beach? That is the school.

Also, he LOVES his school now, where he is in a Transitional K program for kids who just miss cut off, and we just want to keep the momentum of his love for learning going strong.