Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Recommendations For Testing Requests

Over the weekend, my son asked me if he could take gifted social studies next year because he is bored in his classes and thinks he can handle the more creative and faster-paced curriculum in social studies since it doesn't have as many barriers to performing well due to his dysgraphia/dyslexia. We talked about the fact that his last IQ test missed the gifted cut-off by a few points and that to try to qualify he would have to go through all the tests again and might still not get in. He says he's game. He says he thinks the regular ed classes are harder for him because they're so heavy on workbook and textbook work rather than projects and deeper learning. He made a map in Halo over the weekend of ancient Athens after learning about Athen in social studies. The teacher wouldn't give him extra credit since it wasn't on the teacher's approved list of projects - sigh. I'm worried if he doesn't find some way to get past the frustrations and disappointments of poor grades due to the learning disability in order to start showing his abilities, he's going to check out or start down the path of misbehavior.

While the diagnostician in 2010 said she felt the test results weren't indicative of his actual intelligence and thought he was getting skewed results, she was also unwilling to put him in gifted or conduct more thorough tests because she didn't think he was ready for gifted. She was very resentful for having to test him in the first place after she'd given an initial no to the request.

I had a chat with the Special Ed chair about my son's request, and she agrees that if we test him in the district, the bias of the diagnostician will likely not go in my son's favor. So we are going to first try through insurance and then will pay out of pocket if we can't get it covered privately.

So here's my question -

If you were me and were going to put your kid through the entire battery of tests, what would be on your request list for either specific tests or barriers to screen for? If we're going to put him through this again, I want to make it thorough and get all the information we need this time.

I believe he has a working memory issue and would like to have that screened, but I'd love to hear your feedback of what to ask for.

ADDED NOTE: I spoke with a private diagnostician who says that the cutoff in our state for students with a diagnosed learning disability is 120 on the GAI, and my son scored a 119 with gifted scores on two of the subtests. She said one more point and he would have automatically qualified and that the diagnostician then could have advocated for qualification. UGH. She believes retesting is merited and said she is open to requests, etc. if I have specific thoughts towards testing. We won't test until summer so that he isn't trying to deal with school and testing at once.

I would travel the least inconvienient tester who really really gets 2E kids. Gosh, you might even get help with how to best help him with the dysgraphia/dylexia! (Sarcasm, sorry, it frustrates me how the testers are usually so seperate from the fixers)

I'd also consider a few month subscription to something like -
https://www.lumosity.com/
I have no idea if it's effective in general, or effective for gifted kids, but I've seen my giftie do amazing catch-ups in areas when he happened to be in a 'high opportunity to practice' environment. Like 'depth-perception.' Not something that I would have thought practice improved much.

I looked around Amazon for a book on improving Working Memory and found this:
Working Memory: Improving Your Memory for the Workplace (Alternatives) [Paperback]
Billy Roberts

Now it seems that in my use of the word, this book is about getting information OUT of working memory quickly and into long term storage, not really about improving working memory itself, but learning to you one's strengths (reasonable processing speed, practicing techniques) to overcome one's weaknesses is always a good idea, right? I can remember being in high school with an English teacher I appreciated and being able to 'dial my attention' to a setting where her words went almost directly into long term memory storage, bypassing my personal bottleneck of 'average' working memory. Maybe I was 'hyperfocusing' who knows, but I found that I didn't have to work at studying if I 'paid attention' during class.

good luck
grinity

Thanks for the link, Grinity.

And you're spot on with the sarcasm. I've had two of his teaches tell me this year that they don't understand how my kid qualifies for special ed since he's "smart enough to have graduated" from it by now. Makes me mad our state doesn't require an overview class for all teachers on special ed.

I think I'd look for a tester (if possible) who you think might go to bat for arguing in favor of your ds' request if you run into a situation like this again. I haven't been through it with my kids, but I do know families in our district who had private neuropsychologists make a recommendation based on test scores being within the standard range of error for the test. I also know that in some cases, in attempting to qualify students for our school district's gifted program, on occasion the staff who do the testing will really want a child to be successful and they'll let kids in with slightly less than qualifying scores - you're not where we are, but I think that with anything, even if you end up with a not-quite-qualifying IQ score, if you can get a teacher recommendation or private rec, and you've also got a child who can clearly communicate motivation, then it's worth arguing like crazy to get him in The one thing I've learned through the years of advocating for my kids is that chances are, there is always some totally loud obnoxious squeaky wheel parent out there who has already done the one thing the school staff is telling you just simply can't be done

Re what to request in testing - I would make a list of all the challenges you know your ds has, along with all his previous diagnoses (if he has any), and then ask the tester what tests he/she will perform. We've found that for the most part the private professionals we've seen have done a good job of figuring out which additional tests were needed to pinpoint our kids' areas of weakness. My one piece of advice would be to go through a nueropsych, particularly since you already know your ds has dysgraphia/dyslexia. That way you know that the person you're consulting with will have a broad range of assessment tools as well as the knowledge of who to refer you to for further assessments if they're needed.

One other thing you didn't mention but I'm guessing will be of value from this eval - the documentation your ds will need for accommodations on SAT (if he's within 3 years of taking it - I'm sorry, I don't remember what grade he's in).

Last thing - which is actually a question more than advice - your ds wants to move into the other class because it's more project-based learning rather than workbooks etc. Does your ds have a good set of accommodations in place at school and is he using them? It sounds like maybe it would be helpful to also rethink accommodations, regardless of what happens with the class placement.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Polarbear - in three years he'll be 13, so good call on the SAT accommodations.

The private tester is a straight $900; testing through the school is free, but I don't know if we choose that option and get an "attitudinal" tester or one with noe 2e experience if it kills the opportunity for submitting different results from the private tester.

I think I may just ask that point blank at the IEP tomorrow.

Having the school evaluate for disabilities absolutely doesn't kill submitting results from a private evaluation, and may open the opportunity for that evaluation to be paid for by the district as an IEE at public expense if you get the evaluation because you disagree with the results of the school's disability evaluation. You have to let them know you disagree with their results (you don't, however, have to tell them WHY you disagee) and make the request for the IEE at public expense before you set up the private eval, though.

Thanks, acculady. I think that is where we'll start at tomorrow's IEP.

If you haven't read through the links on this page , you might want to at least glance at them before the meeting.

I've looked through it before, but I'll definitely check it again this morning,

Thanks so much.

So the IEP went well enough. All of his accommodations will stay in place, and we added a couple more to deal with the state-mandated testing with exhausts him due to all the reading, bubble-filling, and short answers. He will have a reader/scribe for the testing, so that should help.

The math teacher was the only teacher who showed up. She says he gets most of the concepts easily but is needing almost one-on-one help for their current work on angles, symmetry, etc. He just doesn't see it. She also says when he gets stuck on a question, he just sits and won't move on. When I asked him about it, he says he is trying to ask himself the question different ways to see if he can understand what the words are asking him to do. I'm not sure if he's over-thinking it or not deciphering correctly. We'll have to see.

His social studies teacher recommended him for gifted social studies next year, so we'll be pursuing qualifications for that.

The special Ed chair recommended that the first step be to request a review of the determinations made on the last testing to see of we can get an override without new testing. That is very encouraging.

Thanks again for all the help!