Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Gifted? Does anyone feel doubts?

My dd was finally tested. She's always had a unique, different presence. Not in an aspie way, just unique. Intense, sensitive and just different. She supposedly doesn't have learning disabilities, though she has slow processing and poor executive functioning. Her personality is INFP. We're awaiting the full report, but the psychologist said she tests around 140 iq in various tests (2 1/2 full days testing). I find myself doubting it and wondering if he's wrong. While she "seems" possibly gifted, in the WAY she is, her accomplishments do not sound like others here. Our psychologist is private. Do they tend to skew high compared to school based? I've read a little about gifted 2e, but the reality is I find myself doubting. Are there other doubters here? How do you reconcile that? Thank you!!

I think this is pretty common. When I play chess with DS4 I have to be careful not to win too fast. This makes me think "Is he really gifted?" then I realize that he is a 4 year old playing chess!

So we trust, but verify by checking regularly with his teachers. We even did private achievement testing at the end of the school year as another check.

On one hand... the 140 could be the highest subtest score(s), possibly not indicative of a composite Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) or General Ability Index (GAI)?

On the other hand...
Early reading, and insightful observations may be among the most widely shared anecdotes. The Davidson database also has lists of early milestones, including this article, Parenting gifted preschoolers.

You may have read this elsewhere in the forums...
With regard to accomplishments, there are widespread myths about gifted kids. For example, the definition of child prodigy is a child "under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain to the level of an adult expert performer" and a genius is recognized by creativity and eminent achievement... new advances in a domain of knowledge. A gifted child may show unusually high potential and ability, and be driven by curiosity, but may not have eminent achievement at this phase of life.

A child may be gifted without being a prodigy or a genius. Gifted children are often known for their intensity, and parents often follow the child's lead in finding enrichment opportunities.

Soon you'll have your report and results, and know much more about YOUR child.

All. The. Time.

I think a lot of us wonder if our kids are really gifted and then they go and do something that you just know other kids their age are not doing, like begging for math at night to help them relax.

Thanks, that puts into to some perspective. I mainly just wondered if other's felt the same. It's a funny position to be in.

We have test results that confirm the giftedness and still wonder if our child is really gifted most of the time. The slow processing speed, deriving weird answers to ordinary questions due to unusual thinking processes, illogical fears etc makes us wonder if our child is gifted or if the tester made a mistake with the results.
And then suddenly, there is a spark of brilliance which again convinces us that there should be giftedness behind it - that and the ability to imbibe vast amounts of knowledge in a short period of time and the ability to do certain things that are too advanced for a typical child of similar age.

Yup.

I think we aren't surprised that DS is gifted, but rather more surprised that he is considered highly gifted, if tests are to be believed.

Something that aeh said (both in this thread and elsewhere) now makes me doubt his LOG. He was tested on the WISC-IV in the winter for no reason other than that's what the private psychologist used. We had no idea the norms were so old, so now I'm wondering how accurate his FSIQ and GAI really are and if it's possible he's closer to MG than HG.

Then again, he finished K this year with some assessments that indicated he should be working on an enumerated list of reading skills that are "5th grade level," so now I'm having doubts about my doubts.

Ah, parenting!

Sounds familiar!

Yes, sometimes I feel that way about my 2nd child, who also scored 140+ on some composites. But he also had comparatively slow processing speed--compared to both his high subtests, and also to my very-obviously-PG older child (whose processing speed was her lowest composite, but still well into the gifted range). Age, gender, and personality probably also feed this for me, as the 2nd child also has very different interests and is much more well-rounded overall, whereas my older, PG child "looks" that way in part because her interests are narrow but deep, and she has no interest in pretending otherwise for social reasons.

Also, keep in mind that a relatively slow processing speed is extremely common amongst gifted kids...so much so that it's one of the reasons GAI is considered a better measure of intelligence than FSIQ for them.