They might have made it bit better during first few years than later but the difference was never anything huge that should make any difference in gifted placements.
We have found that being a lot older, combined with the type of parents who made that choice based upon giving their kids an edge, does make some degree of a difference in terms of GT placement in school. While the decision re GT labels isn't technically made until the end of 3rd grade here, the teachers do start recommending kids for GT watch by 1st grade and track them accordingly in class. The kids who weren't identified as being academicially ahead in the first year or two aren't given any enrichment or taught anything above grade level, so they are less likely to wind up in the GT placement which is based a lot upon prior placement and achievement scores in school.
Secondly, a couple of the kids in dd#2's GT reading class were redshirted to a significant extent by their parents (11 y/o 4th graders as compared to dd who isn't 9 yet) and have continued to be parented a bit differently to give them an edge. For instance, years of outside tutoring, Kumon, Sylvan, etc. along with being 1.5 yrs older, which does seem to make some difference in terms of achievement. Anecdotally, one of the moms told me that "you know, you can buy the CogAT online..." which has also left me wondering if some of these kids may have been prepped with answers to that test ahead of time to give them further chance of getting into GT classes.
I won't post where in that I wouldn't want to encourage that type of behavior, but I was concerned enough by that comment that I looked and, lo and behold, you can buy the actual test online.
What I'm getting at is that, if the reason a child was started in school later than s/he was eligible to start was due to really pushy parents and a desire to have the child appear better (academically, in sports or whatever) than the other kids, that type of mentality doesn't likely change. With a parenting mentality like that, it can make for a child who is hothoused into appearing to belong in a GT class.
