Hi all!

My DS6 is taking the SB-V with a well-respected psychologist specializing in gifted assessment on Tuesday. DS's school-administered WJ-III scores from last spring indicate that he's a candidate for the YSP, so we've decided to get the ability testing done to see if he can get in.

I picked up one really good bit of testing advice here on the forum--though I can't give credit, since I can't recall which of you great and generous minds wrote it, I'm afraid; please forgive me. But it went something like this: tell the child that some questions will be too easy, but he should answer them anyway; some questions will be too hard, but he should try to answer them ALL--even if he's not sure of the answer!--as best he can. Brilliant!

I was wondering if there were any other words of wisdom that any of you could offer me/DS6. What do you wish someone had told you before your child was given an important test?

Some of this is about me; I'm dwelling on this. I knew DS was gifted, but frankly, his scores on the WJ-III were 1-2 standard deviations higher than I thought they'd be, so I'm a little freaked out/worried/excited about having him tested. (He's our first child, and apparently I assumed he was closer to an average kid than he is, I think because he's the only kid I really saw...)

Anyway, I'm not a "stage mom," and I'm not looking for ways to artificially drive up his score or that sort of thing. I just want to be sure we're getting as true a read of his ability as possible, his best possible honest results. The thing is, so many of our decisions about his future education--and since we're home schooling this year, so much of my future day-to-day life, too!--hinge on his scores, that I feel like this test is really pivotal for our whole family. Of course, I know that the results are just a number. But since the OTHER numbers were so much higher than I was expecting, I guess I feel the need to get some sort of secondary confirmation of his abilities before I'm quite ready to believe the WJ-III was right and he's THAT gifted. I'm the sort who gets as much evidence as is reasonable before making a decision, analyzes it quickly, and then makes a decision fast. This seems like pretty important evidence!

I think I'm babbling, but what I'm trying to say is that this isn't a case of my needing to hear "It's just a number; you're the expert on your kid." The results of the WJ-III would seem to indicate that I'm not, at least not like I thought I was. I may have sold DS short. So the results of this test may well be pretty important to my thinking about what we do with DS from here on out. Can he go back to public school with grade skipping and all the hassles and issues that entails, or will they just flat be unable to accomodate him? Will a private gifted academy be a good fit, or is that even going to be enough for him? Will we have to keep home schooling, or will I be unable to give him the opportunities he needs? Just how gifted is this kid, really? These are the questions I'm hoping the test will help us to answer.

Aside from not letting DS see my anxieties about this, what else should I/we be doing? Anything else I should say to him to prep him for the test? Advice, please!!! I need all the help you can share! crazy

Thanks in advance!


Kriston