Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional HELP!! Assessment Issue for Autistic Daughter

My daughter is in 3rd grade. I have been fighting for her since before kindergarten!! She was diagnosed with Autism at age 5 right before kindergarten. She began reading at 3 years old and we suspected her being gifted. She went through a special education assessment in kindergarten and the ended up giving her the RIAS for the intelligence scale due to her lack of focus and hyperactivity. Her non-verbal scored were in the 99.6 percentile with an overall score in the 96 percentile. We were pleasantly surprised!! At first the school did not want to give her the gifted label. I had to fight for it and took my issue to the head folks in the school division. In the end I won half the battle. They labeled her gifted in reading but not math or general ability.

My daughter was accepted into Mensa as well.

Her programing has been ok. I have been fighting for them to give her more math instruction. They say she is not gifted in math, but she learns concepts within in time or 2. She is a walking book of knowledge because she remembers everything she watched and reads.

Two other times now she has been turned down for the math identification. This last time was the kicker. See, she needs that label to be in the Gifted Class at her school next year. A class that everything is taught at a higher level. A service that she needs!! In december the school said this program is a fit for my daughter both socially and academically.

In January the test results came back! Not good. They gave her the Nagliere. I was concerned with this test due to her ability to focus often is off. This test requires a lot of focus and I am thinking it is not as good of a measure for my daughter as the RIAS. Her school is not saying that she cannot be in the gifted class and her scores do not fit. I pointed out that based on her newest scores she would not even be considered for gifted in reading. She was assessed this fall and is reading and comprehending at the upper middle school/high school level. Her math achievement is at or 1 grade level above. I am thinking that she is underperforming in math due to lack of teaching because they will not identify or work with her in math!

I am going to have an IEP meeting with all the big folks in the county and discuss her FAPE to be in the gifted class. This class gives her more like peers both socially and academically. I have already pointed out that the 2e child cannot be identified the same way a typical child is. In fact I am stressing that they use more of an RTI approach based on her actual classroom performance and gaining of higher level skills taught. She currently has straight A's and does not have to put any effort into her school work. I am trying to argue that her membership in Mensa should be some proof of her giftedness and they should give her a chance.

Does anyone have some suggestions? Good articles about assessment and 2e children. Anything to help my fight for my child!!

Thanks!!

Welcome.

Both the RIAS and the Nagliere tests are less than 30 minutes so I do not understand why the RIAS would have her more focused than the Nagliere. (Maybe I am missing something).

I would take a step back and think through why you want her in the gifted class for math if she is at grade level or 1 year above. Does the class work at grade level or above and if so, how much above. You would not want her in a class that she cannot be successful in.

We had challenges getting both of our 2e children identified as gifted - for our ds, the challenge was getting past some preconceptions about his abilities, for our dd the challenge was uneven test scores and achievement that appeared to outstrip ability (according to those uneven test scores).

My first piece of advice is to review and be sure you know the exact admission requirements used for the program in your school district. Although your dd has high scores, it's still possible that the scores that the district is requiring are higher.

Next step is to gather your supporters - teachers or psychologists or whoever that believe your dd belongs in the program.

You also need to think through the challenges your dd had in testing. If she's had issues with focus on previous tests and the scores aren't as high as you think they should be based on what you know of her abilities, then you can consider having her tested privately with either the WISC or SB-V or WJ-III Cognitive Abilities test. You'll want to try to find a tester who you feel your dd will be able to work with and who you feel understands children who have challenges with focus. The upside to doing this further testing is that if her scores come in high enough, these are widely-recognized ability tests that it's difficult for the school to argure "Oh she's not gifted" when a child scores above the 98th percentile (or whatever bar the school is using).

Another key piece for 2e kids is understanding their needs in *any* classroom - what they need to have FAPE in terms of focus, output, listening, whatever their challenges are. Until we had this piece successfully in place it was difficult for us to get gifted services for our children. While that shouldn't be a requirement in theory, in practice it's simply a lot easier to advocate for a 2e child to be included in a gifted program if they already have accommodations in place and are successful in the classroom they are in. It sounds like your dd is doing well in school already, but be sure to think through - will there be additional challenges with focus (or whatever) in the gifted program (is there an increase in homework, timed assignments, expectations, etc), and if so, are accommodations in place to be sure she will be able to be successful.

Sorry this turned out to be such a long ramble - I hope some of it helped!

Best wishes,

polarbear

I'm thinking there must be something wrong with the numbers presented here, because my understanding is that Mensa requires a RIAS score in the 98th percentile. That's overall IQ, not just a subtest.