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Looking for advice and opinoins. Here's my situation in a nutshell.

DS7 is currently whole grade accelerated once, twice in math. So this year is 2nd grade with 3rd math. The school had him take the Stanford Achievement test but gave him the 4th grade version as out-of-level testing. We don't have those results back yet and might not get them from the school until August (depends on how fast the company gets results back to the school).

We are hoping the school will use this information to further modify our son's curriculum/program. Although he is accelerated, the pace of the curriculum continues to be too slow. He is getting some new stuff, but too much repetition. And reading level at school is not keeping up with how fast he is advancing at home.

We continue to battle most nights about doing homework. The battle lasts much longer than the homework actually takes. He looks ADHD when doing the homework - tons of attention errors, spacing out, making noises, moving all over, up/down from the table, etc. I believe this is due to boredom with the homework NOT ADHD. We had ADD/ADHD ruled out previously.

DS was tested two years ago. I am thinking we should test again. I found a place nearby us that actually specializes in testing g/t kids and focuses on learning styles, etc. as well as ability and achievement. Would you guys test again? Should I wait another year to test again? I think we should test to figure out where to go from here - but maybe I should wait for the school to get those Stanford scores back? What do you think?????

Thanks for being a sounding board!

Debbie,
I seem to remember that your son tested on the SB-5 previously. Is that correct?

Maybe you should have him tested on the WISC-IV while he is still near 7 years which I understand is the ideal age for testing.

His behavior sounds familiar to my son (at school) at the same age. Interestingly, his behavior was much easier at home than the reports I heard from the teachers. In his case, I think he realized that once he was done, he was free. At school, once done meant more of the same.

What did your DS think of the 4th grade test? Did he take it in the 4th grade classroom?

Debbie-

Kids with ADD show their ADD traits in multiple environments. If your son appears to be neurotypical except when he is is given easy-peasy homework, it probably is a boredom issue.

I think if you are prepared to test now, by all means go ahead. There's no time like the present, and the sooner you unravel your enigma, the sooner you can help advocate for appropriate placement.

good luck!

Yeah, he was tested with the SB5. And above level testing. And the ADD behavior scale (whatever it's called). And the VMI. I know he doesn't have ADD - he is definitely typical at other times. He does exhibit OEs in terms of psychomotor and emotional. He is having more behavior issues at school - all related to not following directions, not controlling his physical behavior, talking too much and such. I really believe he is just plain bored.

The place I've come across for testing is called the FranCenter (www.francenter.com) in IL. They offer all sorts of ability, acheivement and learning style assessments. They also provide school consultation and staff education. I'm going to call and see if they would meet our needs. I think I need an assessment that will clearly tell the school what to do for next year. I was thinking this year, while he's 7 to 7 and 1/2 years would be the best time for testing. I'm just second guessing myself about the need to test.

About the 4th grade test, he took it in a one-on-one setting with a teacher's aide. MrWiggly said he didn't want to go the 4th grade room to test. And the test didn't coincide timing wise with the 2nd grade version. So that was the only option. Testing was over a 4 day period. The first three days he told us that the test was "easy." But the last day he said that he knew the first part but then it got too hard and he just guessed. I'm really anxious to find out how he did. But worried that even if he scores above the 50th% on that test the school still won't have an idea of what to do for him.

Testing looks better and better as I read what I type!

It's my understanding that HG kids can grasp content without as much repetition as normal math curriculum. So, even if you accelerate him another grade in a curriculum, it still might seem slow/drudgery. What I want is compacted curriculum and depth--Maybe asking to pretest, skip homework to every other if it's the same topics over and over. You might ask for modifications rather than acceleration (at some point you may hit a wall like we did when teachers/school refused to do Algebra with 8/9 yr old because under NCLB teachers have to be highly qualified for secondary ed courses).

Maybe look at your curriculum and look for alternatives before skipping ahead fast. Just something to consider.

Debbie,
Is DS7 happy with school in general?
How long are we talking about - 15 minutes with battle or 2 hours?
Can you arrange some kind of 'placing out' of certian types of homework?
I guess I would suggest that you observe various possible recieving classrooms, and get the wheels moving to ask in writing (not email) for a consideration of either another full skip or another bump in Math or both. The school may save you some money by doing a WISC test after you request him to be reevaluated.

I think it's also fair game to ask the school when they expect to get the results. Of course if you want to know 'what he knows' in the world of 4th grade math 'right now' - try an weekend full of ALEKS.com and see how much pie he scores. Have him copy some of the questions he completes and the answers in his own handwriting so the school can see what he can do, and where the gaps are.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Debbie,
Has your DS tried ALEKS yet?

Curiousity:

Dottie mentioned that the norms are more settled at 7, than at 5. I also heard there is a big difference near puberty, because of the brain development. Any insights from people who have gone through those phases and tested, seen big changes, one way or the other?

Ren

In answer to the questions:
Is he happy with school in general? I'd have to say no to this. He still tells us that he doesn't like going. He goes without much fuss now (as opposed to the huge meltdowns of last year) but only likes recess. Teachers are saying his behavior problems are related to: just returned from Christmas break, anxious to go on spring break, just returned from spring break, having a hard time this week, spring fever, in a silly mood this week, schedule was all different due to testing, etc. etc. You get the idea. His behaviors have been: too much talking, disruptive with others, not paying attention, not controlling his physical behavior. Last night I looked again at Dr. Ruf's book and she lists these things as all typical for bored gifted kids!

About ALEKS: we tried this awhile ago. MrWiggly really like it for the first week or so, then it became a drudge. He was at first all excited about the pie chart and earning new pieces but tired of it quickly. Perhaps he'd be more interested now. I hadn't thought about doing a trial again. He tends to prefer game based activities though, like the Zoombinis game, Math Blaster and such. He really just hates anything that is rote, worksheet, repetitive type stuff.

About observing receiving classrooms: There's only one. No choice there. And I think the teacher will be the same as this year for 3rd grade. But he'll go to a new teacher for math in 4th grade - still only one class. It's a very small rural school. Only about 230 kids total K to 8th.

I'm really hoping to get more compacted curriculum, not grade skipping. Funny thing was though that after taking the 4th grade test MrWiggly asked "Am I going to have to skip 3rd grade now?" I asked if he wanted to and he said, "not really." I don't think he wants to be with kids that are that much older.

I'm hoping that the school will consider pretesting and opting out of so much repetition and let him move at a faster pace. I don't want to push him but I know he's inattentive to homework and test items because he feels like he's BTDT on so many occasions. I guess I was thinking that the testing would help show what he could handle. And I was thinking that same thing, that testing now between 7 and 8 years would be more reliable. I go between thinking "you're not *that* smart" and "*how* smart are you, really?!" with him! YKWIM???? So I suppose I have a desire to test to "really know" where he is.

I suppose I could ask the school to do a WISC, but then they own the test scores. I'd really rather just pay for the private testing. Plus, the test center does learning styles assessments (the kids version of Myers-Briggs and such) which I think would be helpful.

My DH and I talked it over last night and kind of settled with waiting for the 4th grade test to come back and see just how well he did and what the school offers for programming next year. But maybe I'll start them thinking and ask the principal what he's considering for next year.