Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Should I/how do I get my 5yo assessed? ((Newbie))

This is me from a few years ago: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....s_my_15_month_old_gifted.html#Post195901

My son is now 5 and going to start kindergarten in the fall at a public school. He is reading and spelling. He is inventing his own board games. He is, likely, at least mildly gifted.

I am worried he won't thrive in school because he won't get the attention he needs. He is in preschool and having behavior problems--I think they are due to him not being intellectually stimulated enough. How do I begin? How do I determine IF he needs assessment and then HOW do I utilize my resources to get him a school environment where he can thrive? I wish I had the time, skill and guts to homeschool him. But I just don't.

Assess him? single choice
	Yes
	No
	Not sure - get more info
Votes accepted starting: 04/06/18 10:28 AM
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I'm comfortable leaning in favour of evaluation if ever there is a strong behavioural gap between school and home.

Maybe you can share whatever information you feel is appropriate to disclose to provide more context on what his specific interest/needs are, and what gaps you're identifying in school so far.

Welcome back!

First off, I would recommending doing some research into what your school/district does for gifted students as well as what are the state laws. Do they have gifted programs? If so, when do they start? What are the requirements to enter them? Are there non-public options that you would consider? (essentially what are your options and what (if anything) might you need to open those doors)

For schools that have programs, sometimes they have testing timelines and requirements that would be good to know before paying to test privately (certain tests, within a year or after age x for example). You might also be able to get the school to do the testing which will save money.

The answers to those would impact IF I was going to test (or possible impact the timing). Other things I would consider on the IF side are - do you think there might be more than gifted going on (LD's, ASD, ADHD, anxiety, etc)? Is school not going well and you need something to back you up in order to make school less painful?

"HOW to utilize your resources to get in a school environment where he can thrive" is a bigger question/challenge and depends on some of the questions above. Once you have an idea of what the options are then it is a matter of gathering info to figure out what the best fit might be and/or how to make advocate to improve a less than ideal fit.

My answer would also depend on how challenging it is for you to pay for testing and how cooperative you think he might be. If financially it isn't a huge hardship and you're willing to risk having to retest again my answer would be different than a situation where it would cause financial stress and you have one shot for example. It can be challenging to get accurate results with younger children (I say this based on my experience of testing a 6.5 year old that was NOT cooperative - I don't regret testing because we HAD to at the time and it helped but we did have to retest later which gave us more accurate results (or at least ones that seem to more closely match the kid we know)).

I would wait and see how school starts out before you borrow trouble. Maybe he will have a fabulous kindergarten teacher who will provide just what he needs, or maybe he will get one who is having trouble remembering his name until Thanksgiving. Also, my understanding (I'm sure aeh will be along to confirm) is that there are more test instruments available after he turns 6.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think my son would be cooperative in testing and it also would not be financially difficult for us. He has a great preschool and we’re having continuing conversations with his teachers this week. I saw a small improvement in his behavior report today after he and I had a heart to heart over the weekend.

My theory behind his behavior, which is defiant to an excessive degree, is that he feels powerless against banal routine and gets to feel in control when he disrupts class by throwing toys or refuses to line up for recess (common examples). One teacher is from the district he will be attending for kindergarten. I will ask her and our family support person for the district what, if anything, can be done to accommodate him.

I feel like school might be boring or constrictive to him because it isn’t engaging or challenging enough. It’s a daycare that has a district school teacher come in for part of the day. Kids are learning letters and their sounds, for instance—something he has literally mastered before 2yo. My son is reading currently—he knows a lot of words by sight. When I say that, I don’t mean the typical words one is drilled on in grade school (and, the, and so on), but random stuff like “coconut.” He just picks it up. His idea of fun is building circuits or creating his own board games, drawing maps, or playing board games and card games, including Dungeons and Dragons. He plays like a normal 5yo; everyday he does typical 5yo stuff. But everyday he also works on myriad projects that take a long attention span and concentration. It’s the second thing that I think isn’t getting nourished at his current school. It seems when he is able to start something like that during a class work period, that it is either ruined by a classmate using the same space or interrupted abruptly by the next phase of the day (snack or whatever).

Kindergarten is this fall. I will work with the district resources to see what they recommend and if that includes testing of some kind. If he has any other considerations, my guess would be very mild Aspergers. (My husband thinks he himself is undiagnosed. Probably genetic.)

A little late to the party. We had our son tested at ~3.5y.o. because he wasn't in school at the time and we didn't have any teacher evaluations for pre-k applications. It was a good decision for us.

It's hard to say that you should test your son based on the shared information.

My first question would be to find out what the school district or state offers in terms of individualization. Look beyond the standard gifted stuff. My second question would be about the kindergarten itself and what the teacher says he/she can do to challenge him based on his current level of accomplishments.

I like the "So what?" criteria. If you test him and get a score, regardless of what it is, so what? What do you intend to do with the score that you couldn't do without it? If you have a clear answer then there's your reason to test. If you don't have a clear answer then maybe wait.

Like others have noted, my understanding is that the sweet spot for testing is a little bit older than your son is right now.