Thanks for all the thoughts so far. To add a little more... I was the younger sibling of a precociously gifted older brother, so not wanting to compete with that (and not being similarly or identifiably as precocious) I defined myself against that. He was the "smart" one so I chose to tbe the "sporty one". It wasn't until I was studying at postgrad level that I realised I was reasonably bright also. I guess I don't want DS2 to do that. We've already had a bit of a wake-up call in that we thought DS1 was the "mathy" one until DS2 just spontaneously over one summer took huge leaps with his interest in and knowledge of maths.
The other thing is that whilst DS2's needs are being met now, we've learnt from experience that things can and do change. We've already changed schools for DS1 and whilst that's not on the cards again at the moment, who knows if it will again be necessary in the future. I also know that having the piece of paper (DS1's testing) gave us the confidence to really advocate on his behalf. The new school we'd chosen were realising he was pretty bright but until we could verify that we kept doubting ourselves. Having the testing results gave us confidence and also made us realise his profile was more even than we'd realised.
Sounds like I'm talking myself into this now doesn't it?
Trouble is it doesn't stop there as we also have a DD(4), so I guess if we test DS2 we'll likely test her too.
Any opinions on the optimal age to test?
Thanks again.
abra
