I was wondering:
1. Since we homeschool, how helpful would DYS be to us?solaris
We homeschool too. The main helps for us have been: 1. access to parent email lists where people really understand asynchronous development and can suggest resources appropriate for PG kids. There are other lists of course like this one and TAGMAX, but the DYS lists have been more helpful to us. 2. access to parent and student seminars - it is nice to be able to talk with experts. 3. Social opportunities to meet other families, many of them homeschooling as it is quite common among DYS families. 4. Financial support to improve access to tutors, classes, etc. We find the older PG kids get the more expensive they are. At five a kid might be happy for any chemistry book from a yard sale, but by ten your child may be looking for much more specific and expensive resources.
2. Whether stating his quirks and ability levels and milestones on a DYS application and including just portfolio samples may give us a fighting chance of getting him accepted. Without any test scores. Has anyone ever done anything like this? Would it be considered an incomplete application and denied without us having a chance to even explain ourselves?
My understanding is even if you submit a portfolio eventually you will need scores.
As far as testing I will say it was a 100% stress free and positive experience for our child. His only complaint was that it ended and he didn't get to keep going back for more games and puzzles. The feedback we got from testing was helpful in homeschool planning and in better understand asynchronous development. I didn't go into testing with enthusiasm but in retrospect the hesitations I had were silly. As another poster mentioned our insurance paid for it. If money is really tight you could also look at universities in your area and see if they have any grad student testers.
I would encourage you to call Davidson and ask specific questions about testing. I think you'll find them helpful.
3. I am also a little worried because he is highly asynchronous. One example: he stands out among his very artistic playmates as the only 7 yo who draws like a much younger child. For eg. he might create beautiful, multi-sided onstructions with toys but he is still unable to translate a simple solid like a cube into its graphical equivalent on paper.
I could have said the same thing here. Asynchrony is NORMAL for PG kids. I think it is totally find to leave it alone but if you/he want a resource you might want to look at the predrafting curriculum call Complete-A-Sketch. We found it quite helpful.
http://www.rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1267372239-1377547
