Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Do all gifted children test?

Is K-10 somewhere around 10th month of kindergarten (end of K)? That is certainly a high performing child, but not seriously outside of the range of typical for a K student. However, if his achievement is now or has been in years past a few years above grade level that would be a better indicator of a child who needs more advanced work. For instance, if he was doing 4th grade math or reading at a 4th grade equivalency in 1st or 2nd grade, that would be something that would indicate that the general classroom might not be adequately challenging.

Most schools can provide for the needs of a child who is one grade level above or below his current grade within the regular classroom b/c there will often be a number of other children in that range. Kids who are more advanced or delayed than that often do better with some outside enrichment, GT classes, etc.

Of course, some gifted kids can underachieve when they haven't been adequately challenged. A child with a high IQ score but with achievement scores that are not super high should still be given the opportunity to see how he does with more engaging or advanced material.

He tests on reading very good. His first reading test he hit the ceiling in K, 1st and now in 2nd, but they won't test him further because the test would be able to be cheated or something. I don't know how to explain it. The teacher says she has no idea what level he is reading at because they are not allowed to test him beyond second grade?

However, I did try to bring it to the gifted techers attention because the books he reads are WAY above what he should be able to read and I'd truly like to know what level he reads at. I actually considered taking out our 4th grade hooked on phonics (we don't use this program anymore because Damian out grew it) and seeing how he does with it. Still, getting the school to do anything is a joke at this point. Like I said, hopefully this test, which by the way is being given a year after the last one, will reflect what I see and what his teacher sees.

What books does he read? You should be able to look up AR/DRA info by using the scholastic wizard tool. That should give you some idea of what he reads at.
Tammy

Some books will also have "RL: __" printed inside the front few pages. RL 4.2 would be 4th grade, 2nd month, for instance. That may give you some idea of his reading level.

Their reasoning for not testing beyond a certain point doesn't seem legit to me. My girls were always able to keep testing until they couldn't do anymore and we were certainly given #s well above the grade in which they were currently enrolled.

KBIT is a breief IQ test, it only takes about 10-20min, and around here, is given by a guidance councelor, not a psycologist.
It was very unaccurate for us, as my DD scored 30 points lower on the KBIT than she did on the full test she was given by the school's psycologist.

Both Kbit and the Kaufman Achievement test along with some ADD/ADHD tests were given to him by a licensed state psychologist in my home. At the time, I was home schooling him.

I didn't quite understand either. I will look for that in the books he is reading. Right now he is reading Dinofile by Professor Richard Moody. Amazon says it's reading level is 9-12 yrs

Leveling program? The only thing I know about is AR and Damian isn't allowed to go any further than 2nd grade in that whether he wants to or not. Or at least that is the way I understand it. We just purchase books he wants lol and let him fill his head with information.

He just finished The New Way Things Work Book. He tends to be too impatient to read things out loud but his teacher says he needs to work on that so he read almost the entire book out loud to me over a week or so. I can check his books today and pull out others he has read recently and come back f that would help.

Magyk is the only fiction he has read and honestly, he read a few chapters before asking me to read it to him because he said he couldn't focus. He was able to tell me where he left off and recite some of what he had read to me to bring me up to speed b"so you can enjoy the story too mom". He really enjoys non-fiction much more and if it is fiction, it tends to be around his grade level. For instance, he will read dinosaur books that are fictional and they would be around his grade level but he prefers non-fiction. He loves to read the news and I had to block news sites that were not geared toward kids (cnn, fox, abc, msn) from his internet browser when he called me to read me an article about capital murder and the death penalty. He has formed an opinion about it (Violence is wrong no matter who is doing it) but I fear the details are too grown up for him.

What concerns me most is that the test (COgat) doesn't seem to be geared for him. You need to be involved in his thought process in order to understand his answers and I don't feel COgat accommodates this. He has a VERY difficult time focusing on things that do not interest him. He is very unorganized and sometimes it seems like he thinks so much and wants so desperately to share his thoughts quickly, that he can jump around discussing 10 different topics, easily, in his mind, associating one with the other. I often times get over-whelmed just trying to figure out what we are talking about or which question i should answer first.

When I first came to this forum a few days ago, I was overwhelmed and frustrated. I believed my son had deeper emotional issues that were causing these problems because I cannot wrap my head around a child who is so smart and yet, so, um, difficult? After reading through many of the posts, my son seems normal....at least relative to the other children spoken of here. I am not the only person who sees this either. BUT, I am the only one living with it and it has become increasingly difficult to do. I'm not concerned that he won't be educated enough, because he obviously does a great job of that and I do everything in my power, and within the scope of my poor wallet to accommodate him. I am concerned that he is socially isolated and FEELS like there is something wrong with him and I am concerned that the school leans toward mediocrity, even when he obviously WANTS to do much more than they will allow him to do. At some point, his education is going to stall out either from lack of interest or just plain resentment and I just want to be ahead of the game. But I DO NOT have the financial resources to pay for special tests and such.

I just checked his collection. He really enjoyed the Dinosaur Cove books. He read the charge of the triceratops one and The Attack of the Tyrannosuarus .