Do gifted kids need different schooling in primary grades?

I asked in r/ScienceBasedParenting and got nothing but a 20 comment thread arguing about whether my son is autistic 🙄.
Anyhoo, my son is only just 2 but he’s left me wondering about how he knows/understands what he does almost since the newborn stage. He’s not super out there doing crazy savant stuff, he's mostly just a really sweet normal kid (albeit a lot more switched on), but it’s become pretty apparent that he’s very, very smart and there’s a couple key things he’s done that tell me he’s likely legitimately gifted (not just advanced etc). BUT he’s also quite interested in people and is very social (it’s a core interest of his along with more academic stuff—hard to weight them at such an early age but I’d say 50-50). I do not want to isolate this kid. But I also don’t want to choose the wrong education for him.

Schools around here need years of advance planning, but I found an amazing one that aligns with my values. It’s very difficult to get in and there are fees just to apply of course. The day I was filling out the paperwork he read his first word by himself (hence why some strange internet dude decided to diagnose him with autism & hyperlexia without asking whether he had any signs of either of those conditions😣). Like I said, theres been a lot of things that made me get the feeling he was jst a lot more switched on, but this was one of a couple key things that told my objective brain this is likely true. He likely is actually gifted.

I’m completely aware there’s no way to tell for sure, and assessing him is the last thing on my mind, but I do want to make the best decisions for him going forward. I’ve read primary kids don’t need gifted programs. And I’d love if that was the case (I actually hate the idea of labelling him and sorting him out of the grouP—it seems sad and potentially super toxic). Someone recommended a book about the 5 levels of gifted, but at this point I see things my son has done essentially on every level so it’s not a huge help. The school I want to send him to doesn’t have a gifted program, but they work one-on-one with kids and closely with parents. Kids also have the opportunity to do private tutelage in music etc during class hours. I feel like this would be an amazing place for him but I don’t know the first thing about these kids’ needs. Do they actually need a “gifted” program???

Can anyone advise/put my mind at ease?
Thanks in advance!

Submitted October 30, 2024 at 01:11AM by Important_Ladder34 https://ift.tt/8oDh0Pz