My DD went in for an evaluation at 4yrs10 months. I was concerned about "hyper" behavior, social struggles, intensity, emotionality, and the gap between her advanced cognitive development and other areas.

The psychologist screened her for autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, giftedness, etc. I am not meeting with the tester for another week, but we spoke briefly and she did not see signs of ASD AT ALL and while some traits appear ADHDish (even to her) she is not disagnosed with that either. She did clearly and strongly say that she is gifted. The tester chose to skip an IQ test and use achievement tests instead. I hope those will be useful to schools. I have asked her repeatedly what the names of the tests are, but have not gotten an answer. I looked around online and now I am almost positive she gave her the The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement.

All I know is that she said she was testing at third or fourth grade and that math and language were equal which doesn't seem accurate to me (she is stronger in language) and she said she may have hit ceilings in both tests. I think the tests she gave were for K-3rd and she started her at age six testing and it took hours and hours for her since she wasn't getting enough wrong to stop the test. I am not sure what I can do with this information. It is a relief that she didn't see ASD and is beyond convinced of the giftedness (I am still in denial). She said my DD will need a very special academic program but we live somewhere where there is very little available.

I have thought about having her skip K, but the school is against skips, and she is short, on the young side for her class, and baby faced compared to other K students and would seem out of place with the first graders who might be two years older (starting kids at 6 is common here). She also seems way beyond her years in some ways, yet at the same time younger and more innocent in other ways. It just seems there isn't a place for her to belong, but fortunately, she does have some friends and can relate to them on some level. She is silly and tends towards sensory seeking, but can pull it together and be focused and quiet for table work, storytime, group learning etc.

Well, that is my report. I don't talk about this anywhere else so I hope you don't mind me sharing this just for the sake of sharing.