Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Let it go or continue to advocate

I posted similar thread before with not very many replies. I spoke to my son�s teacher yesterday and she doesn�t feel he is gifted (or maybe not in the sense that he needs gifted education?). She is a good teacher and I don�t feel as much of a need this year as I have in years past, but not sure the next years teacher will be as good at differentiating and helping keep him on task. . I�ve been frustrated with school that refuse to retest since it hadn�t been 2 years since they last tested. I asked since I went and got outside testing to look for ADHD and he was diagnosed. Sometimes I wish some of the scores were lower so that I didn�t battle the need for advocacy in this area on and off. My previous post is below, posted less than a year ago. . Do I continue to advocate?

Was hoping some veteran moms/dads could help me sort through a few results and school related things with my child. He has had a relatively good experience with classroom behaviors and school work until this school year. I have thought he was also gifted, but a mom can be biased. I had him tested to gifted program in kinder and this year in second grade and he does not qualify. He has a first year teacher that is kind and soft spoken ( I consider my child a bit of a class clown,) though I believe his(teachers) classroom management skills are lacking. The school was suggestive of ADHD so I recently had him tested outside of the school for ADHD and battery of exams that test for IQ and for learning disabilities. The testing center report led with,' Parent report,scale elevations,test performance,,and observed behaviors are all supportive of ADHD, combined presentation. Thank you for your time and input. regardless of gifted I want him to be in an environment that helps him do his best. Any insight greatly appreciated. TIA
WISC: VCI:118 (s-12 V-15)
VSI: 114 (BD-12 VP-13)
FRI: 134 (MR-17 FW-15)
WMI: 97 (DS-8 PS-11)
PSI: 123 (c-15 SS-13)
FSIQ-125 GAI-127

Thank you for your time.

Welcome, Chris4!


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YIKES! I see a few unanswered posts on the list at the moment, and my time is at a premium. Hopefully some others will find those unanswered posts and provide assistance... possibly I could check in again later in the week.

Hi Chris4! My personal experience is that ADHD can have a significant effect on WISC. My son's FSIQ was high-average before ADHD treatment. I got him treated, waited the 2 years, had him retake the WISC and he had dramatically higher results. Plenty high enough to get him the challenge and accomodations he needed in school.

Continue to advocate! Always. You may have to change your goals and strategies, but you are your child's advocate. He needs you even if he doesn't qualify for your school's gifted program - or, perhaps, especially if he doesn't qualify. Focus on his needs rather than numbers, re-evaluate the situation frequently, and do your best. <3

I mentioned to you last year that his strengths are in abstraction and fluid reasoning. These are areas that are likely to be more apparent to someone like his parent, who has the time and the varied experiences with him to see his curiousity and novel problem solving. A classroom teacher, especially in the primary years, may not have that opportunity when the rest of his presentation is (perhaps) dominated by the ADHD aspect of his profile, and when the focus of classroom instruction is very much on basic skills. As he goes up in grade, abstract thinking and problem solving will become increasingly important, which may allow some of his strengths to become more visible to his teachers. Correspondingly, basic skills would be expected to become automatic for the majority of students, so teachers will focus less on advancement in those areas (neat handwriting, fast math facts, etc.).

With regard to advocacy, may I ask how effective you think working on accommodating his ADHD and developing self-regulatory and executive function skills has been over the past year? With or without medication, this will likely be a factor in how noticeable or obscured his other gifts are in the classroom for many years to come. If you don't think it has been effective, this would be an area to investigate further.

And as I've mentioned previously, the kind of instructional approach that would benefit a GT learner with high abstract reasoning (such as your DC) has a great deal of overlap with that which would suit an ADHD learner. So on both scores, relevant, engaging, challenging instruction will be vital to his education (really, to any student's, but some other students can push through even when it isn't optimal).

GT placement isn't the goal. Appropriate education is. I would also encourage you to take it year by year. If he's learning as a whole person, and happy in school (which, this year, it appears he is), then good. No need to borrow trouble for next year!