Hi all. I started working on a Davidsons application for my DS(then 5) and even posted here a couple time a few month ago but life got in the way and everything was put on hold. Well, DS(now 6) started kindy late last fall so I am back to working on it and this time I am in a state that provides testing for gifted kids(PA). This is great since testing just wasn't an option on our own. I haven't spoken with the district but I would like to get an idea of what we need before I do.
I have to admit, this is a fairly new area for me. I want to make sure that any testing we do has a purpose and gives an accurate picture of my son. My concern is that he is super asyncronous. With language his vocab is 4th grade and comp is pretty close but he is not reading independantly yet. I think this is mainly lack of interest, a bit of perfectionism, and that he has been too busy with other stuff. His cyber school has a good phonics program and that is marking lots of progrss in this area. He starts his 1st grade material in a week or two. In math, he is working at 1-3rd grade levels depending on the topic. He does particularly well with fractions(3rd) but memorization activities lag behind (eg: money). Those area's I can manage, but his science knowledge and understanding is incredible. I don't even have a firm idea of where he is with this. DS tends to have pockets of interest that go very deep. I checked out What Your Third Grader Needs to Know and DS has mastered around 90% of the astronomy and over 70% of the anatomy. This has me guessing that he is at least working upper elementary or middle school in this area. But then again this is a very crude guess. This is a child that understands plate techtonics and the debate about whether Charon is a moon of Pluto or another dwarf planet. I get questions not only about what water is made of but when was the first water. (and the answer of there has always been water on Earth, for the past 4.5 billion years was not enough!) Last night it was questions about the heart not working properly followed by a dicussion of pacemakers. (Oy!)
In an effort to understand my son better and maybe have a more complete application for Davidson's, it may be time to test. (I am not sure I'm ready, but that is beside the point.) Since science is such a huge area of interest for DS, I need for any testing that we do to capture his abilities in this area. To me there is no point to testing if it won't do that. I have read about the different IQ and acheivement test but I have no idea about what will give the clearest picture of DS. I am hoping that those of you far more experienced that I have some insight to share. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Heather
