My children are 7.5 and nearly 10, and about to enter second and fourth grades. I've known since they were small that they are probably moderately gifted. But they are easygoing children, so even in a public school district without a G&T program, they've been doing fine with a little bit of classroom differentiation, and a little bit of enrichment at home. I never felt as though testing would add much value. When I read Ruf's book, I estimated DS at about Level 3 (because he did not have early verbal abilities) and DD at about Level 4.
Nearly two years ago, my district did attempt to initiate a G&T program, and I nominated my son for testing. The criteria for inclusion were set high, and my son did not qualify despite scoring above the 97th percentile on all areas of the CogAT. (I posted here when trying to decide what to do with the test information:
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/206899/1.html)
I did not follow up with the district, and I did not nominate my daughter for testing at any point. But for some reason this year feels pivotal. I want my son, in particular, to be making progress by now, not just treading water (coming home not having learned anything); and if he is working with a language disability that he's compensating for, I would like to know about it. Also, if the school isn't meeting my children's needs, I'm prepared to homeschool them, and I feel like testing data can help me to know whether I am off base in my estimates of their abilities. So, I am strongly considering professional testing for both my children this year.
The problem is that I live in a semi-rural area. I would have to travel 1.5-2 hours to a major metro region that might have educational psychologists, and any of the two highly-recommended clinics I've found at this point (such as the ones listed on Hoagies) would be 2.5-3 hours away. Should I cold-call the university psych department that's 1.5 hours away? Should I ask the school district to provide more comprehensive testing? What's my angle here?
Thanks as always for any advice.
