So... background: DD is a 6yo who is very advanced in reading,(Harry Potter in a week) comprehension and problem solving. Her math suffers because she reverses numbers and goes too fast. She is very emotional and that is what I'm most concerned with her not getting differentiated learning/opportunities. She's getting bored and picked on, but is trying to do the "right" thing and tends to suffer through it. How bored is she? its hard to tell. Her teacher says she's gifted but when they tried to assess her with an open writing assignment early in the school year she balked and her teacher even said the GT was not very early-childhood friendly.
DD's school does not offer much in the way of first/second grade friendly gifted stuff, but a neighboring school does. However, before we move houses and switch schools I'd like to get her tested so I can better advocate. Is it worth it to spend more now and see where she really is at? It's not cheap and we aren't rich, but we could use our tax return for the more comprehensive testing. I also don't want to submit her to testing once, then more testing down the road if we decide to do more, or is that overthinking it.
This is the email I got from the psychologist at a local college (which offers gifted programs) that I am thinking of having my daughter tested with:
At a basic level, I offer an abbreviated iq measure for students and families who just want a snap shot of a child's abilities; this is a 30-minute individual measure that yields verbal, nonverbal, and full scale iq scores. I provide a short report with the scores and recommendations for a total fee of $150.
The comprehensive assessments include the assessment fee, a full psychoeducational report, and a 30-minute parent consultation to review the results once I complete the report. The fee for either a comprehensive assessment of cognition or academic achievement is $450. For families that choose to complete both comprehensive measures of cognition and academic achievement, the fee rises to $750. The comprehensive assessments provide a much more detailed picture of a child's strengths and weaknesses within cognition (IQ) or academic achievement. I do have behavioral measures that I can use to assess for particular disorders or characteristics of disorders (e.g. ADHD, withdrawal, depression, social issues, aggressiveness). Typically, I charge $75 for behavioral measures, on top of whatever other assessments are chosen.
Any and all advice is welcomed!
