Is your dd getting stressed out by the numerous testing sessions? I agree that on the one hand, taking the time to really get your dd to feel comfortable and really test her to the best of her ability is a good (great!) thing for the school to do, but I'd also add a caveat. Not all school counselors / school psychs are great with kids, or great with all kids, etc. We've had some not-so-great experiences with the school psychs we've encountered while advocating for our 2e EG ds. When ds was 10 he had to have a set of ability/achievement testing administered by the then-school-psych and it was *beyond* frustrating for him - and he's a kid who had fun at his previous neuropsych eval and private gifted program ability testing. There was something about the combination of being pulled out of class unexpectedly plus the personality of the psych that really stressed out our ds. If that's what's happening, I'd want the testing to stop and then explore what your options are for either going with a recommendation based on what data the tester already has (combined with teacher recommendation), or getting someone different either within or outside the school to test your dd.
Have you talked to the person who's actually doing the testing? If not, send them an email and ask your questions or ask if they can call you. It's a-ok to do that!
Also, another thought - in our district, their is a matrix that is used to qualify kids for gifted programs, and it includes *2* qualifying ability scores as well as qualifying achievement scores. Sometimes when kids don't get the qualifying score on one test if they have a strong teacher recommendation or other reason to suspect the child could qualify they will administer a 3rd ability test or alternate achievement test - all of which can take a lot of time, plus would mean extra sessions.
Best wishes,
polarbear
