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Hi,
I posted in the Local Resources section looking for anyone in our area of Oregon, so forgive me if this is a bit repetitive.

We're new to the forum and I'm glad to find such a support group of likeminded folks. We have two gifted daughters.

DD1 is going to Interlochen Arts Academy for high school to study classical singing. She's also academically gifted, and is so hoping that the small classes full of artistic kids will lead to a more enriching experience than she's had lately in school. We were shocked to hear that the choir director at our neighborhood high school wouldn't even consider letting our DD1 audition for the jr/sr choir, even though she's taking lessons at the university and has sung professionally. (That never happens in sports. Playing up is considered a status symbol.)

DD2 is 2e, gifted and ADHD. We're trying to get realistic testing done for her. Her school tests kids, but last year between the ADHD speed and the gifted "this is sort of boring," she did the Raven Matricies in about 5-7 minutes or less - didn't score as well as she could have. Still high. But, I'm not sure what the district even offers for TAG. She wants to skip a grade, and I'm interested in having a solid idea of her abilities and achievement levels. Local psych only wants to test while she's off her meds. Should she take off her glasses, too? Really.

Also, 8 year old has said she doesn't want to learn too many new things this summer so she's not super far ahead of her classmates. This went off like a warning bell in my head!

So that's where we're at. A half-empty nest about 4 years early, and wondering how to educate our 8 year old. (Can't homeschool this year, more than likely. I'm collecting dissertation data and taking three classes, as well as teaching an online class....)

Thanks for "listening."

Jenny

Welcome! I hope you are able to have your daughter tested under the conditions you feel are best, not what the someone else says. I'm not sure what other testers would feel about taking a child off of meds to do testing as we haven't dealt with meds yet, but are getting to the point of consulting about them for our DS8. Have you approached your DD8 school about skipping a grade? How are their feelings on the subject of acceleration if the music teacher at the highschool won't even let your other DD move up to a jr/sr choir whom has the ability.

As for your older daughter, its great to hear about the classical voice training, sometimes I wonder if its a dying art in these times ( I'm a trained opera singer ), so its good to know there are still people coming up the ranks with immense talent! Its sad that if your fabulous in a sport they are all about bumping you up to collect more trophies for the school but anything else, they don't want you to excel because its not normal, or makes people uncomfortable...yet another issue I have with schools...

I hope you can find some great information here! Welcome again! I'm originally from your closer region ( Seattle metro area/Vancouver BC ) and hope to get back there soon!

I've heard really good things about the academic level at Interlochen for intellectually gifted kids. I hope DD1 enjoys all aspects!
Smiles,
Grinity

Great analogy with the glasses...at least you won't be temped to waste your cash with the local psych. But how insulting!!!

Can you travel for testing?
Grinity

That's totally an issue - why work hard if all they offer is a 90 minute pull out once a week that she'll find boring unless she just happens to be exactly at the most common local level of giftedness.
Depending on how well the medication handles her ADHD, this can be a tricky proposition. At the elementary school level it may be exactly what she needs, as the ADHD will make it even more important for her to be in a challenging environment, we found that later (High School) where organizational skills had a big impact on grades, (which suddenly counted!) we had to decel back to agemates, but for us this was the 'least worst' path. No Regrets here!

Wouldn't this be nice?
This is almost impossible.
One approach is to look for a place where she can take NWEA's MAP testing. This is an amazing test because it is given on computer and every right answer means that the next question will be harder, and every wrong question means that the next question will be easier...mind blowing, right? So a test like this can really really pinpoint exactly where a child is at. Your dd might be college level at reading and Kindy level at spelling, and a test like MAP will lay it all out.
If that isn't available, try to get ahold of 'scope and sequence' for your local school from their website, or tests that are given to 3rd and 4th graders locally, and show that she knows x,y, and z that they well planning to 'teach' in 3rd grade, and even knows 70% of what they were planning to teach in 4th grade. Then you really know what her achievement is compared to local standards.
Then there are things called achievement tests, there are state level tests. These help a little, but with ADHD, lots of kids make careless errors that hide what they actually know. I remember telling my son's teacher. Yes, he makes mistakes in Math and doesn't check his work so he isn't the top scoring kid. He would make the same % of mistakes 2 years below grade level and 2 years above grade level. Yes I agree that he should learn to check his work. Help him learn to check his work by giving him work that is challenging to him. Given his current work, I'm delighted he does it once, let alone check it.

So that was snarkier than it needed to be, I should have said it better, but my body language was excellent, I was almost in tears, and I think I got away with it. Not that he got harder work, but the teacher stopped using the mistakes as an excuse. She just moved into 'this is what we have for 8 year olds at this school.'

((sigh))
I'm hoping that with the label of ADHD you'll have more luck explaining that your child really really needs challenge. But don't all kids deserve that?

Grinity

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad that others have gotten tests with meds. It just doesn't seem right that someone who believes that ADHD is a neuro-medical issue should turn tail and suddenly say, "well, except when we want to see what's going in her brain..."

(I should add that as a former teacher, ex ed teacher, with a MS in Ed Psych and working on my PhD in Human Development and Family Sciences, I realize that I'm a kissing cousin to the clinical psychology profession! lol. But, with the experience I have, and also being HG/PG myself, I so hate it when people try to pretend I know nothing about this domain and that they are the expert in the conversation.)

We're not shy about talking about her ADHD, but we are also not going to ask for any ADHD accommodations because the school has a reputation for saying you can only be one or the other. Besides, she's so academically gifted (and well controlled on her meds) that it's nearly impossible to see the ADHD at school. (At least if what you're looking for is a wild child who is swinging from the lights and swearing at the janitor.)

I'm not worried about the social aspect. She's more "gifted" socially, instead of ADHD-like. She hangs out with older (generally 2 years older) children who accept her as a peer.

Grinity, thanks for the NWEA suggestion. We're in Oregon, and I'm going to contact them on Monday so see if there are private locations to take the test. Good suggestion.

DD14 is super excited about Interlochen. She reminded me yesterday that the max class size is about 13 kids. <<So Jealous!>>

Thanks again everyone,

Jenny

We see this...but it isn't pretty. So glad she can 'pass' but it doesn't encourage you to try and put her where she'd truly be challenged, now does it?
My son is doing the same 'dance' at the moment, but at least his school is suited to his interests, so that helps so much.

Smiles,
Grinity