Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment A thread for Jbell281 - are your children gifted?

Jbell281, Welcome!

You've received great advice already, here and here.

I believe that for new members, the first 5 post are held for moderation - they do not appear immediately. This can be confusing for new members. Yet it is important to follow board rules and not hijack a thread. To address your questions about how to determine whether your children are gifted, the definitive answer would be found in the results of IQ testing. IQ test results tend to stabilize around 8 years old, however children are often tested earlier if there is a pressing need. Here is a brief roundup of links on IQ testing:
1) How much error can there be in IQ test scores?
2) Hoagies list of Psychologists familiar with Testing the Gifted and Exceptionally Gifted
3) Test prep articles - one by Aimee Yermish, one by Nadia Webb
4) Hoagies list of comparative IQ scores: Highly, Exceptionally, Profoundly Gifted

Meanwhile, lists of characteristics of gifted children and lists of ages at which gifted children may reach developmental milestones may help indicate whether your children are gifted. Here is a roundup of lists of behavioral characteristics:
1) Characteristics of intellectually advanced young people
2) NAGC's list borrowed from the book A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children
3) Characteristics and Behaviors of the Gifted
4) Characteristics checklist for gifted children
5)Tips for Parents: Helping Parents Understand Their Profoundly Gifted Children
6) Profiles of the gifted and talented which lists 6 different types, categorized by personality/temperament and achievement.

Other important concepts to be acquainted with, when considering identification of gifted kids who may present differently:

1) Gifted kids may exhibit asynchronous development.

2) Gifted kids may also have a learning disability. When this occurs, the kids are called twice exceptional or 2e. IMO, some of the saddest stories are those in which a kiddo's "quirks" were dismissed or accepted by parents until the child was older and struggling (socially and/or academically and/or with organization and/or time management). I say sad because if these "quirks" had been correctly identified as a learning disability earlier, there are many remediation helps and accommodations available to assist the kids with their development.

3) The opportunities available to a child may play a role in being able to easily identify a child as gifted... examples in this old post.

Hope this helps.

Thank you. My boys are 11 and 9. I never cared whether they were gifted or just bright but I stumbled across this page while looking for map scores. Their scores were very high according to school but much lower than most on here I believe. My oldest (11) lexile in September was 987-1137 with a map score of 227. My 9 year old had lexile is 825-975 with map of 218 in January. Both. It's obviously straight A's and in gifted pull out. But is this gifted or just bright. Just curious as they get older to make sure I push for what they need appropriately

You are very welcome. Hope you stick around. This is THE place for parents to learn about gifted kids. Free and accessible to all.

Here's an old thread on lexile levels. In the Recommended Resources forum, the list of books for ages 9-12 may be of interest.

Difficult to know without IQ testing, and in many ways it does not matter, as long as the child's needs are being met. This would include not only academic growth and achievement, but also having academic/intellectual peers, and developing study skills, etc. Did the school conduct IQ testing as part of the qualification for their gifted program? If so, parents are entitled to a copy of the results.

Some say the "optimal" IQ is 120-125. Higher IQ than that (gifted 132+) is more rare (2% of the population). The higher one's IQ, the more rare in the population... the less familiar a school may be with these kiddos... and the more difficult it may be to find academic/intellectual peers.

The advocacy thread may be of interest... start reading now as there is a LOT of information to cover.
Too often parents wait until they are in the midst of a crisis and a meeting has been scheduled...

Did you request IQ testing for your children?

In general, parents do not need to request IQ testing from their school. The process would typically work like this:

Many schools provide some form of tests given to all students which may be used as screeners, such as CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test).

Based on the results of the screening tests, some schools may provide IQ tests to highest scoring pupils. You may wish to check your State policies for gifted education. You may also wish to check your school's policies. These are often found online, on the school website. You would be looking for anything on gifted programming, identification, qualification, etc.

Typically a school will send a letter home to inform parents that their child was recommended and/or qualified for and/or placed in a gifted program. The letter may tell more about the process, such as any tests/assessment administered to the student and the student's scores.

Many parents seek out private testing, for reasons such as:
- if the child is an "outlier" ... noticeably different academically and intellectually from same-age peers,
- when there is a strong mismatch with the school,
- if they suspect a possible 2e issue.

There are costs involved with private testing, and generally speaking insurance does not cover IQ testing unless it may be to identify a disability, such as a learning disability.

To minimize costs, some parents look for testing from their local university's Psych Department. However these individuals may not be familiar with gifted children.

Where I am testing is nearly always private. Even if you go through child and adolescent health services and they reccomend testing there is no funding since it falls is the gap between health funding and educational funding.

Do you need an IQ test? Some school districts use standardized testing for gifted programs. Starting middle school, my district automatically subject accelerates the top 10th percentile of students, and students in the top 10 percent in 2 subjects can get into the advanced STELM classes.

I went ahead and had private neuropsychology done, but the neuropsychologist was anti-grade skipping and wrote it into his report that my son should not be grade skipped. That was really bad for my son! I switched him to our district's virtual charter school that does continuous progress acceleration for every student and they didn't require any testing to subject accelerate 2 - 3 grades when he enrolled.

IQ testing didn't help me get my son any academic benefits because my district's policies are not set up using IQ testing as criteria for advancement. However, IQ testing did identify my son has ADHD, so it was immensely valuable.

I was attending gifted education seminars and participating in forums before his IQ tests. If the shoe fits, wear it. Parents are better at identifying academically advanced children than teachers are. Trust yourself and keep learning with an open mind.

My oldest started school reading chapter books. At 5 he was also a summer birthday boy so expectations were not high. He blew them away with how quickly and easily he learned. So in K they taught him to play chess. In second grade he was formally identified because he was reading at least 2 years ahead and was at least 1 year ahead in math (that's school criteria).
My younger son was identified in first. Also several years ahead in reading and math. I am curious whether they are just bright students or Gallo to gifted. My boys are opposites in every way except are both exceptional students and are both left handed. It's interesting. If I ask for IQ tests what reason do you give?

Are you interested in private, professional testing? Typically, parents don't ask a school for IQ tests... unless your State laws have something in them about IQ tests for identification of gifted pupils and/or your school policies have something in them about IQ tests for identification of gifted pupils.

Have you checked your State laws, as recommended upthread?
Have you checked your school policies, as recommended upthread?
If you checked your State laws and school policies, do they provide a basis for requesting the school to administer IQ tests?

As others have asked, what IS your reason? As you've not alluded to your sons facing any particular educational difficulties, but have mentioned your personal curiosity about the matter, some may wonder whether you are interested in the perceived novelty of a gifted label?

I think if it was novelty I would have done it years ago. I am deciding whether to put my oldest in private or public school for middle school next year.