Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Assessment results - questions

My son has hypotonia that was bad enough to cause a 50% delay in gross motor skills at 12 months and the doctors he saw at a military base never recommended therapy for it. He went for regular check-ups and saw different doctors through the years and I asked questions about the hypotonia and not one of them recommended therapy. It wasn't until my special ed teacher friend (the mom of one of my son's friends) told me that she noticed red flags for sensory issues and that we needed to take him back to the doctor that we started to get a few answers. I took my husband with me and we were able to get a referral to a developmental pediatrician who confirmed that my son did still have hypotonia and that it did contribute to his problems with writing and the low endurance and fatigue issues.

He is almost 10 now and has only been in occupational therapy (sensory integration therapy but the OT says she can't call it that because out insurance doesn't pay for that) and he is getting better in some things. His piano teacher noticed the difference, but there are still things I don't understand about this, like how he is sometimes able to play really well in piano (2/3 of the way through Level 3 where you have to look at the music and then move hands to different positions and look back up at the music and play both hands and sometimes he does this really well without having practiced very much and then other times he did practice and it doesn't look like it when he plays for the piano teacher. We used to joke that it must be "misfiring neurons." But lately, since he has had OT there are more of the good days and I am amazed at how well he is doing. Another strange thing though is that he still doesn't do jigsaw puzzles quickly and the OT says this is important but she didn't explain why. I don't think that it affects him academically in any way, but I do think it might cause his IQ score to be lower than his achievement scores.

I had some people tell me that you can't really tell by achievement scores if my child is gifted or how gifted. But I found an article written by Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D. "Using Test Results to Support Clinical Judgment" that said the highest indicator of a child's abilities at any age should be seen as the best estimate of a child's giftedness. She gives an example of a child with a reading achievement score of 160 but an IQ score of 125, and says that the IQ score must be an underestimate and it is impossible for a child to achieve beyond his or her capabilities and that "overachiever" is an oxymoron. In our case my son would be a twice-exceptional overachiever which seems even more ridiculous.

The article goes on to say that the measured IQ of parents or siblings, early achievement of developmental milestones, profound curiosity, deep moral concern, remarkable associations of generalizations, perfectionism,... should all be taken very seriously in determining the abilities of a child and that in the end the diagnosis of the degree of a child's advancement must be based upon clinical judgment, not just on psychometric data.

The certified educational psychologist that tested my son using the WIAT a few years ago took his achievement scores and his early reading and the fact that he has a half-sibling who tested highly gifted into account when he told us that he believed that my son was highly gifted but we needed further testing to confirm how highly gifted, but I don't think it really matters for us since we homeschool.

I know that my son seems advanced in everything except physical skills compared to a public schooled friend who tested gifted. The public schooled friend's gifted older brother (another of my son's friends) even noticed this and he also said that he thinks my son is smarter than he is in some ways and he is four years older.

I know that my son is very different from me in the way he learns. The energy he lacks physically is there in abundance mentally. IQ tests just don't tell the whole story.

Thanks, everyone, for all your thoughts and suggestions. I think I'll start with having his hearing checked, as my insurance will cover that and it should be a simple enough process. I don't know what to do with the school. We only had 30 minutes in the meeting and there were 7 people there, including his current teacher, who spent a lot of our time defending her work with him and telling us "he is young". Yeah, well, duh! Maybe a one-on-one with the principal is next.

I will ask the doctor about his OT when we have his checkup this summer. In the meantime, I'll try to encourage more biking and swinging.

Okay, I feel really silly asking this next question, but I'll do it anyway. I read the Davidson Young Scholars thing and the minimum on the WISC-IV is a 145 score. Mine is nowhere near that but since he was so low on two of the subtests, might it be worth applying and asking them to take that "9" into consideration? Or would it be a complete waste of time because they'd just toss it out?

When we submitted a portfolio, they asked for a writing sample in my son's own handwriting--something that my child with motor dyspraxia and hypotonia would definitely have trouble doing, so we decided to wait and have him take the Explore test. When we found out that it was on the same day as one of his Cub Scout races and he didn't want to miss it, we decided it just wasn't worth it. I will not make my son miss something fun with other kids just to take a test. I would like for my son to try the Explore test next year though because I think he would do really well on it if therapy helps with some of his 2E issues.

My DD6 had testing last week and I will have similar questions to yours soon once I get results back. Cuirious, what is your tester doing about the social judgement area? I think DD6 is rather weak in that area compared how I see her other abilities.

Hi, momofonegirl,

I posted a new thread under advocacy called "social judgement" on Friday night. You might see that for ideas. I'm not sure what to do and the tester hasn't been all that helpful. He is attending some counseling sessions to help him express feelings, make decisions understanding the consequences (addressing some poor behaviours we have seen), and coping skills for stress. All her words, not mine. It's hard to tell because it's only been a few weeks, but I'm not sure it is helping. Check out the other thread and you can PM me. I'd love to have someone to exchange ideas with.