Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Suggestions on Full Evaluation on My DS6

I've been wanting to get my DS, who will be 7 in January, fully evaluated by a psychologist who's specialing in gifted kids, for some time now. However, my husband doesn't think it's necessary. He thinks that my DS probably just has really good memory and it is not necessary to evaluate him, since we are not going to use the testing results to do anything. I am looking for your opinions and suggestions on whether a full evaluation is necessary for my DS. What are the pros and cons?

Here is some background about my DS.

He started to show his obsession on alphabets when he was before 2 years old. He learned his alphabets from the apps and videos on iPad. He was able to say the alphabets backwards when he was 3 and started reading. He started writing and drawing the alphabets in cartoon like (like the ones he watched on video) not long after that, and also draws them in bubble letters and in 3D. He got very much into geography when he was 4 and was able to remember all the US states, most of the capitol cities, and draw the US map with states separated without seeing the map by 5. He also knows about many countries in the world (the names, continents and some of the flags).

He loves to draw and build stuff. He enjoys solving puzzles and play Brain Games, both on words and numbers. He often watches cooking shows and loves to help with cooking and baking. He's learning piano faster than other kids (well, at least my DS8)and his piano teacher says that he is very talented if not gifted in music.

He took the assessment test to get into an enrichment program in a nearby University and he's got 99.9% for both reading and math on the KTEA-II brief form test, and 99% on verbal and nonverbal and 99.7% on IQ Composite on the KBIT-2 test.

He's had some social issues before his first grade year. He would pull himself out of a group of kids in a family party and did his own thing. He preferred to talk to the adults and liked to play with older kids. So social skills was our main concern for him. Good news is that this year in the first grade, he has made several friends and started to interact with kids his own age. His teacher has informed me a couple of times that he's doing well socially at school.

He does challenge the authority and always tries to push as far as he can. So he gets disciplined quite a bit at home.

I think a full evaluation will help us to see what his strenghs and weaknesses are academically and socially. I also think the evaluation may help us understand why the way he is and determine how to communicate with him in a way that he would not challenge our authority. What is your suggestion?

Thank you in advance

We waited with DD (until she was 8) and tested earlier with DS (having learned from our experience with DD). He was tested at age 6.

Both are now DYS.

It sounds like your DS has already had some testing that confirms that he is at least gifted and perhaps HG+. Would more testing give you further information?

When DD was tested at age 8, we found out she met YS criteria - but that alone did not help us deal with her tendency to challenge authority. That's just a fun bonus we get with her. Seriously, though - the testing helped us understand that she is extremely intelligent, but her personality is completely different than her equally intelligent (but more people-pleasing) brother. Testing changed none of that, and honestly did not help us to conquer the problem. Only patience, consistency, and lots of deep breaths have helped there...

Thanks for your reply, Loy58. The tests that my DS took can't be used to qualify for DYS, but I think the results showed that he is advanced for his age.

A full evaluation might include the WISC-V (which could be used for DYS if the scores qualify). It's worth it I think to do the full evaluation. For us doing testing totally changed out educational plan for our child (for the better).

I know the testing is expensive. That is part of the reason why I haven't done it because both my DH and I have to agree to spend that kind of money. I don't think he sees the value of having the test done. Like you explained for your DS, it helped you in different areas other than just academics. I do want him to get into programs like DYS. I of course like to know where he's at

Also it would be a good report to show his current school that my DS needs an advanced curriculum in certain areas. They are taking the MAP test in early Nov and the school will provide an individualized plan for him if he scores well (our school starts gifted program in 3rd grade and 99% based on testing scores). I kind of worry about his test score though because he's such a careless test taker. Maybe I should at least wait to see his test results and decide what needs to be done.

Thank you!

I forgot to mention that I currently contacted the enrichment program provider that my DS is in, to see if he can take the Explore test that the program offers, at his age. They've made exceptions before but he may be still too young to take the test yet. They will get back to me when the coordinator comes back next week. If he can at least take the Explore test and scores well, maybe we can use that to work with the school and also apply for DYS.... It's a long shot.

DD took EXPLORE as a young 8-year-old. It was a pretty long time for her to sit and I don't think that I would have had her take it much younger.

Can you possibly just have him take the WIAT? DS took that at age 6 and it really was not obnoxiously expensive (yes, DD's EXPLORE test at age 8 was cheaper). Age 6 does seem young for the EXPLORE (just in terms of needing to sit still through multiple sections). Also, I am guessing he'd have to qualify under the Grade 3 criteria for DYS, since that is the youngest age. I suppose you could submit it as a portfolio item, but that is not as clear cut as the WIAT score would be.

I will consider the age appropriate test for him. Thanks for your suggestion.

For us, the most interesting thing we learned about DS7 (other than his FSIQ and GAI were much higher than we were expecting) was how he tested on working memory (high) and processing speed (average). The processing speed in particular has manifested itself over the last year in his fluency (which lags behind his comprehension and reasoning abilities). He has noticed, for instance, that he is a very slow and careful writer compared to others his age. That may not be solely because of processing speed, but it's likely a contributing factor.

He took the assessment as an admission requirement to a local gifted school, so we weren't really in the situation you are in where we have to ponder what the value would be. But it has definitely been valuable well beyond.