newtogifted, I have very limited time at the moment, so haven't had a chance to read the other replies. If I'm repeating something or missed extra info from you, I apologize! Just thought it might be useful to share a bit of our experience as food for thought.
We meet with our son's school tomorrow morning to discuss evaluation results. Since we pursued the evaluation on our own, I am not giving them a full report.
Do you have a brief report from the psych who did the testing? What parts are you sharing? This is jmo, but fwiw I think there's little that you have that is going to cause issues if you *do* share it - and it might help explain some of the ambiguity in your situation (just the way I see it, could be completely off base, but fwiw just another way of looking at this).
I would definitely think through - what are you sharing, and is it going to lead the school staff to say "why didn't you have subtest x?" for instance, and you also don't want the school staff to think you're purposely *not* sharing info, because that might lead them to infer lower scores or something else that you are hesitant to share. And I totally get that you're hesitant to share! It's a real tough situation to think through how to approach when you have scores that aren't all showing what you'd hoped or that aren't easy to decipher and put together a meaningful story from.
He did not do as well as anticipated on the WISC-V. GAI 120. His processing speed was lower than other areas, and he had some processing issues on another test he took.
Processing speed doesn't go into the GAI - just mentioning that in case you weren't aware. Was there a large gap in processing speed?
When we discussed the results with the doctor, he stated external factors could have played a role in the results.
This is absolutely a possibility, but otoh, I'd also consider that he was tested using two different instruments both measuring some component that measures processing speed. Those relatively low scores, combined with anxiety and perfectionism noted at school, would suggest that it is worth pursuing a bit more testing to determine why the processing scores are lower than the other scores. It might be nothing - and that's useful information even if that's all you get. If you do find something (an LD, vision issue, fine motor issue, whatever), you'll be glad you found it out now and not 1-2 years from now.
When my ds (dyspraxic, dysgraphic, expressive language disorder) was in K-2 in early elementary, he developed HUGE anxiety - to the point he was almost clinically depressed. Anxiety may exist in some kids simply because they are anxious, but it's been my experience that many times there is a reason behind the anxiety that's driving it, and the anxiety is the way that person's personality *reacts* to stress. My ds also had a WISC right before K that showed a dip in processing speed but the psych felt he was just going slow and being careful and not understanding that a timed test meant you should work your fastest. We were testing to see if his IQ was high enough to qualify for a gifted program and had no clue he had a challenge, so we didn't think anything of that particular processing speed score other than assuming the psychologist was correct in her assumption. At school, ds appeared to be bored to tears with a lot of the work (work refusal of simple things like easy math worksheets etc) and also appeared to move slowly in his work, which looked like perfectionism to us. We chalked everythign up to gifted behaviors and didn't think twice about it. Then his anxiety started ramping up... and up.. and up.. and it just kept getting worse until 2nd grade when we finally had a teacher who was wise enough to recognize that there was some kind of challenge. Once ds was diagnosed and had accommodations in place, his anxiety evaporated. It still comes back from time to time, but it's always secondary to his challenge. If there *is* something going on that's causing the anxiety then you really need to figure out the root cause in order to accommodate effectively. Having a good understanding of what's causing the anxiety will also help when advocating for your ds at school.
here is some inattentiveness going on, but nothing diagnosis worthy. We need more information. Additionally, anxiety can present as distraction, inattentiveness, and uncontrollable behavior, so it's really hard to tell exactly what the underlying issue is.
Exactly - except that I'd add LDs and more to the list of things that can appear as inattentiveness and anxiety.
We don't have a lot of testers around here with experience in testing gifted kids. They're experienced in testing LDs and ADD/ADHD type of stuff. In hindsight, I really should have found SOMEONE with more experience with gifted kids, but nothing I can do now.
We don't have psychs in our area who specialize in gifted kids. My experience has been that it wasn't necessary to have that experience. It sounds like what you've had so far is ability and achievement testing, perhaps to get your ds id'd as gifted. What might be the most helpful now is to find a psych who is either a neuropsych or who performs educational evals - this type of eval goes further than just the ability/achievement testing, it includes tests that will tease out why things like processing speed test scores are lower than other scores etc.
DS had an anxiety last week. The principal did not react in a positive way, threatening my child and stating his reaction was because he didn't get his way.
I would write down exactly what happened (as far as you know), including the principal's reaction and follow-up. It sounds, quite honestly, unprofessional. You may not ever use what you've written down, but it's helpful to keep a record of what happens at school.
It is obvious that she, along with some of the other professionals, does not understand how anxiety can present in children. He's very high energy and an extrovert. He does not shy away in a corner. He rather make people laugh....after all, then he's controlling it.
For your meeting tomorrow, take a list or summary of how anxiety presents in *your* child.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can better explain what is going on with this child and why he needs additional support and more challenges in the classroom?
Advocating at school can be extremely difficult and frustrating depending on the school setup and the school staff. One thing that helps, no matter how contentious the staff you're dealing with is, is to have as much of a thorough understanding of what's up with your child as you can possibly have at any one given point in time. It sounds like you really don't have all the answers yet. Be sure to listen to what the school has to say - it may be tough and frustrating and annoying, but there may also be valuable bits of info there that are important to understanding what's up. Also don't be afraid to say you don't have an answer or know what's best if you truly don't. The idea is the school will work with you to help your ds.
Last piece of advice, try to tease out - is this really a gifted issue (gifted child in classroom not being challenged) or a situation where a child with a challenge that hasn't been identified is acting out because of the challenge? It doesn't mean your ds isn't gifted if he has a challenge - but if he does have a challenge, you need to focus on that (understanding, appropriate remediation, effective accommodations) in order for your ds to be able to *show* his gifts.
Best wishes,
polarbear
