Hi,
This may be better suited for the 2E forum...
We recently had DD(9) tested by a developmental psych at our local children's hospital. At her teacher's request we also had her tested for GATE.
She was referred because we've been having increasing behavioral struggles at home - especially with homework, lots of negative statements, and social struggles at school and an incredible amount of fidgeting. DD is in 3rd grade we've seen an escalation of these issues since mid-2nd grade. DD has always been a bit quirky, but until 2nd grade she was rarely (if ever) defiant or aggressive. Even as a young child we could talk through any conflicts. She has always had a lot of energy, creativity and deep emotions.
Our focus for the testing was identifying if ADHD was a factor (DS6 has inattention type ADHD) and possibly ASD. (I am a BCBA with many years experience working with children with ASD, and did not think ASD, but her teacher and pediatrician both thought it could be, so we looked into that too.)
The day of testing she had a major cold and seemed anxious for the fist 30 minutes of testing - the verbal comp on the WISC-V. I felt like she was off during this part of the test - not her usual effusive self with responses.
She also has had issues with fluid off and on in her ears for the past year that sometimes affects hearing - possibly a factor with testing and social relationships.
Long story short, we got the results:
Not ASD - but significant social deficits
Some depression & anxiety
Other Specified ADHD
FSIQ - 125
GAI - 127
VCI - 124 (the area I felt she performed poorly on)
VSI - 114
FRI - 128
WMI - 122
PSI - 103 (Psych said that this could be a huge source of frustration for DD)
We also got the school testing -
OLSAT - SAI 132 (98 national age percentile)
The psych gave us a bunch of information about 2E and recommended gifted sites and resources. She felt like this was a big factor and possibly a source of the other issues. She said depression and anxiety can look like adhd, but her Connors score on the computerized test also suggest some attention issues. She recommended therapy with someone who could address everything and not focus solely on the ADHD.
After looking at the resources and comparing her scores I don't know if she fits as gifted. The scores don't seem to quite make the cut.
On the other hand, the behavioral profile seems to fit.
After poking around the forums I found the Ruf LOG mentioned and I think she fits well with in Level 2, maybe level 3, especially with regards to language development (talking at 8 months, sentences by 15 months & huge vocabulary). She has excelled in writing (won awards for poems in 2nd and 3rd grade), 1088 lexile in 2nd grade, maps scores in the 95-99th percentile in math, language & reading.
This year her scores have flatlined or dropped and her behavior and frustrations have worsened. She also struggled with verbal and relational bullying by a classmate during the 1st half of the year, with some residual issues continuing, despite good intervention by her teacher and school. She likes school but especially loves to talk with her teacher.
My goal right now is to get my happy sweet little girl back. The idea of her being gifted is nice because it seems to catch a lot of the issues that we have, but I don't want to delude myself or set her up for more frustration. I also want to make sure we address the other issues
I'm curious if the scores could have been affected by the attention issues and anxiety or if the WISC controls for those issues. I'm also curious about her processing speed and if there's anything we can do to support that.
I'm also not really sure where to go from here with the information we have, other than to find an appropriate counselor.
She'll be in a GATE cluster class next year, but I don't think they get anything beyond the cluster.
Thank you for any thoughts you have and for reading through this ridiculously long post!
