Hi JenMSP - I remember how confusing the whole levels of giftedness stuff was when I first learned about it too. The thing is, you cannot tell for sure based on one score given on one particular day. It is but a snapshot. And I would be a bit concerned about the score being lower in some areas if the tester allowed your DS to pass so easily on questions. And with the SB5, the scores of gifted kids are generally lower than the scores seen on previous versions. And looking at the chart posted on Hoagies is confusing, because there is overlap.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htmI have a question for one of the score experts here: does it make a difference in score which grade Jen's DS was in for scoring on the SB5 (i.e., would it make a difference if he had taken the test as a 1st grader at the same age)?
Your son's FSIQ falls within the highly gifted range on that chart. Your son's verbal scores are in the EG-PG range. Because the tests do not really differentiate well at the extreme end, many people do not really rely too much on the actual number, but more about their specific child's needs. In your case, it would be hard to know whether or not a regular gifted program would be suitable, because your son seems to have been wrongly placed (he should be in the next grade). So, getting placement right is your first step. I would shoot for placement in the 1st grade gifted program, because it seems clear that he belongs there. I think whether that will be enough remains depends on if the material is challenging enough for your child and your child's personality and the teacher.
Our state's highly gifted group has a great definition of highly gifted: if his/her needs are not being met in the regular gifted programming that a school offers.
I think it would be good to be able to tell the teachers at the acceleration meeting what level you think your DS is, and it would probably help to show some math worksheets or books that he has read to support that. There are some free placement tests on some online school sites that might be helpful. Also, Singapore math has some free placement tests.
Singapore placement tests As for attributing behavior problems to giftedness, I think this is a phase everyone who finds out their kid is gifted goes through. Many times, I think it can be a combo of gifted issues and behavior issues, so sometimes you just don't know. One way to find out if it's purely a gifted issue is to see if the problem behavior goes away when your child is challenged.
Good luck, and I hope some of this helps!
ETA - It really helped me to read Ruf's book, Losing Our Minds. She goes into more detail about what the kids of the different levels might look like. And there are stories that are so nice to read, because you realize that there are other kids like yours.
Please also remember that there are many kids who are unevenly gifted; you can be PG in one area, such as verbal, and average in other areas.
