Yes, there are ways to qualify without school or state testing for both CTD and CTY.
This thread is about CTD, so I don't want to get off track here... but re CTY, yes, there are multiple ways to qualify and you can qualify without testing... but that's just qualifying for the talent search. If you want to take classes, you have to meet a certain level on the CTY testing (or on SAT testing for older kids)... so it would most likely be difficult for a child who doesn't meet the general CTY ability cut-off range for being considered gifted to actually qualify to take CTY courses. I'm not sure if that's the case with CTD, I don't have any experience with CTD.
polarbear
