I also agree that one has to think of the difference in harm, though that might be difficult.
That's a good way to look at it. For my dd14, the academic and emotional harm and, honestly, the harm in lack of connection with her grade peers, would likely be greater were she an 8th or 9th grader this year (she would be an older 8th grader or a very young 9th grader - bd just makes the cut for that grade) than whatever harm comes from her current placement.
In terms of my hypothetically socially challenged/2e kid above who is skipped, I can't speak to where the harm would be greater b/c it isn't one we've personally encountered. We have opted not to skip our 2e kid, although she was started a bit early, but it is due to issues other than social. The interesting thing that we're finding now, though, is that opposite to kids who are accelerated early on due to high achievement and who falter later due to the ability not being quite there, her achievement is getting better and better as she gets into higher level work. We're finally seeing some pretty consistent performance (fingers crossed!).
