Keep in mind that what may be a fit may not be a fit six months later because he is growing at a high rate and will outstrip the school. They may at first like him but his unusual abilities - if they are not catering to them - soon become a distraction.
Mr W did well at Montessori when he was 18 mos old but by the time he was 30+ months, it was not a fit. The toddler room was more free form and he was able to play with the 3 year olds. But when he moved up with the 3/4 year olds, he was already beyond them intellectually and the items in the room he had had at home since he was a year old. And he just exhausted the teachers in the room. And then they gave him a test but stopped at the 3 year old stuff. But he knew everything up through the K stuff.
We moved him to a more structured school where he was accelerated, but after 6 months he had exhausted what they had. He was given an achievement test at this school at only missed one question. He was not even 4 and his intellectual age in terms of what he knew was on par with an 8 year old. And we did not work with him.
What do you do with a super high energy kid who is reading at a 4th grade level who is in with kids who are still learning their letters? Few schools or teachers can deal with this.
I could go on, but the long and short of it is that he is home schooled now and we explicitly work with him. His level of understanding of social situations is around a 12 year old now and he is very compassionate. But, he is still a 4 year old boy in many ways.
You have to look for a place with a teacher who is up to the challenge. I would talk to the teacher whose class he will go into. I do not think the class matters so much as getting the buy in from the teacher. You may be tempted to go through the director but you have to sell the teacher. If you take the teacher approach, then you will at least find a fair fit.
Last edited by Austin; 07/19/12 08:15 AM.
