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Have any of you had difficulty with having a child assessed for school gifted programming?

My son is 2e and has difficulties with certain aspects of testing (for example, he sometimes refuses to do things due to lack of confidence and has difficulty with writing due to fine motor issues).

Despite being among the top kids in his class after a grade skip, he was not referred for testing for the gifted program. I referred him myself, but think his difficulties will interfere with a fair assessment. For example, he refused to do the writing part of his educational assessment for his IEP because he is used to having writing assistance and no one explained to him why he couldn't type or have assistance, so they scored him as being unable to answer (making him look like he is academically behind if you read the assessment report). Additionally, his social delays interfere with his ability to show skills on the checklist like leadership. At the same time, he reached fifth grade math as a grade skipped second grader for his school evaluation while doing all of the work in his head (he taught himself to multiply and really impressed the evaluator).

I think they are stalling because I requested evaluation last year and they are now saying I will find out next summer whether he is accepted. My daughter was tested and accepted within a few weeks, but she fits the stereotype more (well-behaved, cooperative, social).

Has anyone dealt with issues like this?

Do you know what the policy is in terms of them accepting kids into the program? Scores on certain tests? Teacher recommendation? Find out that policy and what area is making them "stall". Here, the school board approves the policy so there is something win writing, although administrators were not necessarily forthcoming with the information (or they interpreted it in bizarre ways or attempted to change it without it going through the school board).
With our district testing, they figure out which kids are scoring above a certain percentile on computerized math/reading testing, and then send those parents a permission form for the kid to take a cognitive abilities test. Then they pull all those kids out as a group. If a child doesn't meet the initial reading/math cut-offs a parent can still request cognitive testing (although it would be harder to ultimately qualify for anything without the reading/math scores). Based on the CogAT and the reading/math they decide if kids are eligible. So I'm not really clear on the process in your school. Are they pulling kids out one-by-one for some sort of IQ test? Do you have outside scores you can submit? Right now, is he missing out on gifted programming? I assume you have been in contact with some sort of g/t coordinator (or someone who arranges this testing). If you don't get anywhere, I would figure out who supervises her, and call that person. Ask for a copy of the g/t policy.

Does he have a 504 plan or an IEP in place? If he is formally receiving accommodations in the classroom on testing, he should receive the same accommodations on testing for the gifted program.


FWIW, my ds also didn't appear "gifted" in the generic terms that many teachers "see" as gifted - so he also didn't get boxes such as leadership checked off on the checklist our district had. In fact, he showed so little outwardly toward teachers in terms of intellectual differences (they all saw the 2nd e as defining him) that his teachers first refused to refer him for gifted assessment, and then when we (parents) referred him the teacher claimed she couldn't fill out the teacher checklist because she didn't know him well enough. What worked for us (we did get him in - this was elementary school) was advocating with the private testing we had and just not giving up. DS is also one of those kids who, in spite of scoring extremely high on the WISC scored lower than the gifted program cut-off on the CogAT, which is our school district's first-round gifted program screen, and he was given the CogAT *with* his IEP accommodations.

Although I don't know anything about your specific school district, you were successful in getting a grade skip for your ds, so I suspect that you'll be able to advocate successfully to get him into the gifted program.

I'd start right now with finding out what exactly the policy for qualification is in your district, then dig into finding out why it would be such a long delay until you find out if he qualifies. I'd also request that he have the same accommodations on his gifted program screening if he receives accommodations regularly in the classroom.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, the grade skip was negotiated with different people from those who handle the gifted program. They use the KBIT-2 and checklists from teachers and parents with no hard cutoff. Instead, a committee reviews the applications and makes a recommendation for each child. So there can be quite a bit of subjectivity, for good or bad.

I wrote what I hope is a polite letter requesting that they consider his disability in assessing him and saying that I hope that 2e kids are welcome in the program.

I will add the information about letting him have the accommodations from his IEP for testing. I know there was concern about that invalidating the test previously, but maybe they could at least consider it in advance and then evaluate the scores with the knowledge of whether he had accommodations. I wish I could get his IEP evaluation changed so it didn't look like he lacked skills (it says very clearly that he has average intelligence and academic abilities while his teachers have all said otherwise).

He did relatively well on the ITBS last spring by grade (not age), but I know that is basic skills and may not help.

So did they give him the KBIT-2 yet? If not, I don't understand why they are stalling. I think that's probably all you can do, unless there is a teacher willing to stand up for him and speak loudly. Not sure if it would be worth it to obtain outside scores like the WISC (assuming they would consider that).

No, they haven't done the KBIT-2 yet. I requested it last spring. The special education department have said he should be able to participate, but the gifted coordinator isn't doing it. I'm wondering if appealing to the special education coordinator could help because they shouldn't be able to deny testing to special education students.

I'm concerned that he may not do his best on the KBIT-2, but it should play to his strengths on the WISC-IV and SB-5 and he should be able to do well if not scared or upset. I can't just use his prior testing because we do not have all parts of the tests; we will have to take him back for a full outside evaluation if needed. He did better than my DYS daughter on some parts, like block design.