Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion How do I know?

Hi everyone, I have been lurking for a couple of weeks while struggling with my DS8's experiences in school. I have ALOT of questions and would love any insights you folks may have.

Basically, I guess, I am wondering if my son is gifted and if he is what I should do about it. When I read the checklists for gifted and gifted vs. bright child, I definitely feel like he fits the gifted category, but I'm his mom, you know? He is super curious (one of his teachers last year described him as a sponge for knowledge), he is a very quick learner, and can be very intense in many of the OE areas I have read about. Last year, he had a very rough time in 1st grade in a chaotic classroom with a teacher who only saw him as an additional problem child (rather than recognizing that he was having meltdowns in response to the chaotic environment) and never recognized his academic ability (told me he was struggling in math when his report card was consistently "exceeds expectations" in all areas). Ultimately, he was moved mid-year (thank goodness!) to another teacher who described him as bright, curious, with higher level thinking skills and a keen sense of humor (quite a shift!). He was much happier in her class but I have never felt like his schoolwork is challenging to him. Despite all those difficulties last year his performance in all areas was always above grade level expectations and IMO to this day he has never been given a math assignment that posed a challenge to him, his homework literally takes 1 minute to complete on average. He doesn't exactly seem bored but I kind of wonder what he does all day! lol He is not the kind of kid that just "knows" math answers, but if you teach him a new concept he usually figures it out in 2-3 tries and then gets it right every time after that. At home he is constantly questioning about topics from space travel, to World War II, to evolution and animal extinction/environmental issues. It can be exhausting, to be honest!

I don't want to make this post too long so I guess my question is this: the school uses the OLSAT in October to screen for the gifted program, but I am not sure I trust a group test and, probably more truthfully, I am not sure I trust the school to recognize his potential after our experiences last year. I am thinking about having him independently tested, but it is expensive and I keep second guessing myself and wondering if I would be doing it just to satisfy my own curiosity.

Well, I don't know how much sense I am making, and there is much more I could write, but I will stop for now. Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi! Welcome to the site. I think in your situation I'd wait and see the OLSAT results before spending money on independent testing, with cost a concern. Like you, I wouldn't trust OLSAT results as much as independently administered test results from an expert in testing gifted kids-- but the OLSAT will nevertheless give you more info than you have now, may confirm what you believe about your son, and is free.

I agree that private testing right now would probably be premature. If the OLSAT scores don't mesh with what you see, there is still time to test privately. You might also want to check out the SCAT and the EXPLORE, above-level achievement tests that are often useful for getting access to gifted programming without the expense of full testing.

Thanks for your responses. I realized after thinking about it, that my real issue is that I completely lost my trust in the school last year with the difficulties he had and their approach that it was all about what was wrong with him (implying ADHD, when he clearly focused well in other settings, just not in that particular classroom). Even after his situation improved, I was still dissatisfied with their assessments. For example, his unit post-tests are categorized by skill and given a B for beginning understanding, D for developing and S for secure. I would look at the test and see that he answered every question correctly, but was given a D for developing on several skills. When I asked, I was told because that is what 1st graders are supposed to be doing, they are not expected to be secure yet. But clearly he was even though it was not reflected in the grading.

SO, I guess the big issue is really not whether I should have him tested or not (because I do think he should be) but whether I trust the school to do it and do it effectively.

I am also very concerned about him becoming alienated from school in the next couple of years, which happened to my DH and made the rest of his schooling an unpleasant period of underachieving. In contrast, my own experiences of school were quite positive in large part because I had teachers willing to differentiate for me and a fantastic GT program that I loved. So I guess I sort of feel like we are coming to a crossroad between these two paths and I really want him to have an experience more like mine.

Finally, he also has some motor skill/motor planning issues that he is receiving OT for, which seem to make writing and to a lesser degree reading a very laborious task for him. So I am also concerned about the impact of these issues as well.

I guess to some extent I am answering my own question for myself, but I appreciate the responses and you have helped me dig a little deeper into my own concerns and reasoning. Thanks!

If there are 2-E concerns with fine motor, writing, and reading, I would absolutely not trust the schools to evaluate this, based on my experiences with schools and my DS. You almost certainly need a tester who has experience with gifted kids who also have disabilities.

You might also want to pick up a copy of James Webb's "Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults" to help you in your efforts to keep your child from being mislabeled.

Thank you aculady! I read that book a while back but I think I need to reread it again now that I know about what is going on with my son (I originally read it when they were suggesting ADHD but now that I know what the true issues are I should take another look).

I also moved some of my questions over to the 2E forum.

Yeah, our school does that, too. We use S / P / N / BL, where you ought to be at S by the end of the year. But even if a kid knows all the material they need to know at the end, they only get a P (progressing) for interim grades. For reading, there are checkboxes for below / at / above grade level, but no one is ever allowed to have above grade level checked. In both cases, I've been told that it's a district-wide mandate.

I've been very happy with our school, and even the teachers kind of roll their eyes at the grading requirements, so I blow it off as bureaucratic nonsense.

FWIW, my DD did very well on the OLSAT.

That has got to be one of the stupidest things I've heard in a long time! It goes right along with my high school English teacher's practice of giving me an F in "progress" because my pre-test and post-test were both 100%.

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That has got to be one of the stupidest things I've heard in a long time! It goes right along with my high school English teacher's practice of giving me an F in "progress" because my pre-test and post-test were both 100%. [/quote]

Nautigal, your English teacher must have been related to mine! lol

Seriously, though, it is ridiculous and not just for the high achieving kids. I know my son is actually secure in all the skills, but what if he wasn't? This approach blocks our ability to differentiate between what kids already understand and what they should spend time working on. Which, I thought, was the point of assessments? Really pointless IMO.