Thank you George C, the website states, "DCC licensed psychologists administer tests of intelligence, achievement, personality, cognitive processing, and/or social and emotional development, which can be used to evaluate and/or diagnose:
cognitive strengths and weaknesses
specific learning disabilities
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Asperger's Syndrome and Nonverbal Learning Disability
Evaluations include:
a review of prior records
a written report with recommendations
a consultation session to discuss and interpret findings.
Fees for psycho-educational evaluation depend on the complexity of the assessment battery necessary, but can range from $1500 to $3,500. "
I was saying around $2,000 being conservative. Would I be better off looking elsewhere?
mom2R&R, $2000 for the comprehensive testing listed above is a reasonable price (it would cost quite a bit more here... far away from Johns Hopkins!)... however, it's a comprehensive type of testing that I'd only pursue if your child is experiencing challenges outside of just wondering if he/she is gifted. If you are only testing to determine if your child has gifted intellectual ability, I'd recommend finding someone who will administer either the WISC only (or other comparable ability test), or ability + achievement test, which should cost less (much less) than $2000.
If you have no pressing need to have the scores now, you could opt to wait until school will test - however, school system testing isn't always as thorough, might include learned ability and group testing vs individual IQ testing, and might include a screener that is very brief.
I agree that having the results of a WISC or other individual IQ test is very useful in understanding your child's strengths and needs, otoh, I also would caution - what happens if you were to test and your child *didn't* test gifted? You'd still want to respond to your child's academic needs and advocate for more challenge if they need it.
Best wishes,
polarbear
