I have two kids who, at some point much later than 4, had testing that indicated they are in that range.

One kid it was obvious very early on. He talked very early, and was very advanced. At 14 months he'd sit on your lap and let you read to him for hours and ask and answer questions in complete sentences. He read fluently before 3. Was doing late elementary school math at 3 and 4. Could play chess well at 4.

His brother spent the year he was 3 running around like a maniac. Couldn't sit still for a book unless mayyybe there was a truck in it. Had no interest in letters or numbers until I basically forced him to sit down and learn them the summer before Kindergarten. I would have said he was athletically talented but otherwise average. When he got to school he took all his academic potential and applied it the task of getting his work done as fast as humanly possible so he could get back to playing. And then, gradually, he began to find somethings, other than running around like a madman, that he enjoyed that used his brain. He's still very athletic, but he's also into things like art, and robotics. And at school, if they offer him something harder he still rushes through that and gets 100% so he can get back to the things he likes to do. No ADHD, just a high energy kid.

Anonymous wrote:There’s a wonderful gifted school that’s near our home in Los Angeles. For acceptance my kids would need to be IQ tested (138 minimum) next year for kindergarten. How do I know if it’s even worth thinking about?

DS isn’t reading yet but knows alphabet and phonetics; his verbal abilities (vocabulary) are impressive; he can retell a story with a beginning, middle, and end; he is very strong when it comes to finding solutions and loves being read to.

He’s average and not really interested in puzzles. No second language. Seems normal in most physical areas.

I honestly don’t know if this school is even worth pursuing. His preschool teachers say he’s very bright but I assume they say that to all the parents.

Give it a shot! You never know. We had to get our daughter tested for private school admissions. She tested at 135, so I guess she would’ve just missed the cutoff for that school. She has always had a very well-developed vocabulary. She is very creative, and absolutely adores puzzles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't the obvious answer to get your kid IQ tested?

The tests in Los Angeles are upwards of $500 paid by the parents. NP here and that’s not feasible for a lot of parents. I think OP just wants hints that it’s worth it.

But it sounds like OP needs to get him tested in order to apply to the school anyway.

My 4-yr-old explained it to me and then I understood.

We have not done any IQ testing but my DD consistently has the entire confidence interval of her percentile above 99 percent for both math and reading so I would guess she is gifted about the level you are thinking of. She also taught herself to read by 2.5 (she just memorized the words), could count well over 100 and understood addition, subtraction and the concept of negative numbers at 4. She loved puzzles and was doing 75-100 piece puzzles on her own. I have a STEM Ph.D. from a top 5 program and she is without doubt smarter than I am.

My younger child is smart in a more typical way (and has lots of other talents; he’s the only athletic one in our family). Teachers also describe him as bright/smart. I think that means above average not above 99 percentile.

I’d really think about if you want your child to go to this kind of school if he’s not so bright that a public school or typical private can’t handle him. I had a classmate who went to very prestigious boarding schools growing up and felt immense pressure from his preparation to keep up and be successful at a very early age. We have chosen not to go that route for either kid because they both run anxious and we want them to be happy more than anything.

DD became fluent in Spanish watching one of the Spanish TV channels when she was 3. We then got her one of the Rosetta Stone sets and she learned French when she was 4. (we only speak English).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For everyone on this thread who had a DC reading at 2 or 3- how did they learn? Did they just teach themselves? How does one even teach yourself how to read..

I'm a mom of an early reader. I did read to my kid a lot. He just was naturally curious about letters. I was an early reader myself so I suspect there's some genetics at play.

But again I wouldn't put that much stake into it. My sister struggled to learn read as a kid and she just graduated from a top PhD program. The fact that she learned to read late made no difference.

I posted earlier that my later reader has a higher IQ than the early reader. Once it clicked for her, in early 1st grade (and 7 yrs old because she has an Oct birthday) she really took off and quickly reached a high reading level. She also enjoyed reading for pleasure much more than the early reader who by then end of ES only read the bare minimum required. Parents put way too much emphasis on early reading as a marker of intelligence.

For my kids, DS was an early reader and obsessed with numbers, playing games with numbers, figuring out multiplication with any little objects available.

DD was a late reader but had an insatiable curiosity for her particular obsessions and a great memory for facts about them (from books we read to her, audio books, videos)

Both ended up being tested as part of ADHD evaluations in high schools and tested as gifted with DD having a higher IQ.

Anonymous wrote:For everyone on this thread who had a DC reading at 2 or 3- how did they learn? Did they just teach themselves? How does one even teach yourself how to read..

I'm a mom of an early reader. I did read to my kid a lot. He just was naturally curious about letters. I was an early reader myself so I suspect there's some genetics at play.

But again I wouldn't put that much stake into it. My sister struggled to learn read as a kid and she just graduated from a top PhD program. The fact that she learned to read late made no difference.