I would check and see what testing the school would accept and definitely go ahead with testing. Schools need something to see, especially with a child that is HG/PG and will probably need some form of acceleration. We had a very similar situation with our DS6. He too was reading well before 2 and had many other signs and we weren't sure what to do. Everyone told us that he would not make it in a public school because there was no way they could meet his needs. We had him tested in spring before he would have been starting K. Testing confirmed how gifted he was and we met with the school to talk about a plan for him and had them meet DS. After reading his report and meeting him they felt he should skip K. Now he is 6 in 2nd grade and goes to 4th grade for Math and has subject acceleration in his class for other subjects. Anyhow, there is lots of support if you go the homeschool route as well. That just wasn't an option for us and so far so good with the school. It has taken some work and everyone is learning and new to all this, but they are willing to try and see what works. I wouldn't worry about the label part. It's not as if you have to walk around saying "my child is gifted' all day. Labels are useful when they help a child to get their needs met. And children like that seem to draw attention anyhow, it's not like people don't already know that he is gifted. He just doesn't have the test scores yet : ) But I do completely understand, I felt just like you about a year and a half ago when we were testing and did have some mixed feelings. Now, no regrets at all. I can't imagine what we would have done if we didn't do testing.
As far as tests we had DS do the SB5 for IQ and WIAT for achievement. The psychologist who tested DS was great and spaced out tests over several mornings to break it up a bit. DS quite enjoyed the testing and still asks to go back and do more testing sometimes. : ) Good luck and hold on for the long ride ahead! Keep us updated.
