We had a dreadful experience with a student tester. I should have put a halt to the testing in the beginning, when I had specifically asked for any of three specific tests for DYS and they decided to change to a different one to fill their numbers. After I asked them to change back, she agreed, but begrudgingly. that should have been clue #1!
My son was young, just over 5 at the time and hadn't been tested before. The student he got had never worked with kids under 8, had no experience really testing for giftedness and was not very organized in her own procedures.
About a quarter of the way through the testing, my son asked what the mirrors were behind her and why they were covering the wall. She told him that there were people back there watching him take the test. He, being an intense perfectionist and also totally creeped out by the idea that people were staring at him that he couldn't see, completely panicked. He refused to answer her questions. A more trained student, or a GT professional would have given a better answer first and secondly, would have stopped testing when they realized it was not going to go well.
Instead, I have a report that says that my son has extreme learning issues, needs a full-time classroom aide to function and that he is most definitely not gifted.
LOL... same child qualified for DYS, with a different, trained psychologist, a year later.
