Throughout our website the age or grade levels provided with titles are from the publisher or manufacturer.
Our website is organized around skills and tests and ages and grades. Within any section where we make suggestions for a child of a particular age or grade for a particular purpose we have selected titles of an appropriate level for that purpose irrespective of the publisher identified age band.
When your child is being tested for potential entry to a competitive program or a program designed for gifted children the point of testing is to establish whether or not your child has advanced cognitive skills. Gifted children, by definition, have cognitive skills at least 2-3 years ahead of age peers. That's why we recommend Building Thinking Skills Level 1 for use with 4-6 year olds even though it says "Grades 2-3". You may need to read the instructions and scribe for your young child but if they're gifted they're cognitively ready for this level of material.
Some tests have ceilings - the level of the most difficult question. Depending on the type of question sometimes this means that there is no point preparing at a higher level. Sometimes there is.
Full scale IQ tests like the WISC and Stanford-Binet have high ceilings for young children. There are very few 6 years olds ,for example, who could answer all the questions on either of these tests correctly. Not many 16 year old children could either. The 16 year old needs to get more questions correct than a 6 year old to get the same score but if a 6 year old can answer advanced questions in one area it can increase their overall test score.
Our suggestions for the WISC by age are a starting point. They provide a range of materials at a level likely to challenge a highly capable child of that age. They are at a level that will challenge without frustrating and that will lead to learning. We encourage you to review sample pages - click on "more info" after any brief product description and then on the "sample pages" tab. If the problems look too difficult then go down a level in that skill area. If the problems look easy then go up a level.
If this sounds too complicated we do offer grade level bundles as an easy purchase decision. The bundle contents cover the core skills at a level which will challenge, but not frustrate, a highly capable child of that age.
We carry very little that is recommended for use by children younger than 3. That's because there are numerous safety concerns with young children. Even paper can be a choking risk if children are left alone with a paper book. That doesn't meant that you can't use a paper (as opposed to a cloth or board) book with a toddler. As a parent you need to be aware of their developmental stage and supervise as needed.
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