Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Should I delay testing (tomorrow!) due to a cold?

DD is scheduled to take the WISC-V and the WIAT-III tomorrow afternoon. A little background: My daughter is currently enrolled in a school which has been great for her, but it only goes through elementary. We are sure she is gifted, but aren't sure _how_ gifted she is. Our main goal with testing is to help us figure out what to do next. Qualifying for DYS would be a bonus.

Well unfortunately, my daughter has come down with a cold today. She isn't running a fever, but she's congested and coughing a bit. I called the psychologist with the intention of postponing the test, but she said that she gives tests to kids with colds all the time and it shouldn't matter. However, I'm not so sure.

Any opinions?

I would probably postpone the test because you are unsure if it would affect the test results and you feel uncomfortable about it. It may not in fact affect your DD's performance but you will probably always wonder if she could have done better if she did not have the sickness.

JMO :-)

How is she doing overall? How hard is it to get another date?

FWIW, our DS was on the last dose of prednisone due to hives when he was assessed. Still scored at DYS levels. He was acting fine, though -- just a bit more jumpy than usual.

Can she fill the apointment at short notice? If not can you afford to pay fot 2 appointments or a cancellation fee?

You still have time before having to make a middle school decision, so there's really no downside to putting it off from your viewpoint (other than possibly having to pay to cancel?, and waiting for another appointment).

OTOH, if you want to go ahead and do the testing now, I can tell you that my ds has been tested by school without my knowledge of date/time, the day after he'd had a concussion and pulled from a class that he'd been looking forward to for months. In spite of a major headache and major annoyance, he still scored almost exactly what he'd scored on his previous IQ test.

Best wishes,

polarbear

If you can put it off, I would. If not, don't worry. I discovered my DS had an ear infection the same day, after he'd taken his test. He did well!

Thank you for the replies. I didn't realize that it would take a day for my post to actually appear here, so I didn't read any of the responses until after my daughter had already taken the tests (yesterday).

After some discussion, my husband and I agreed that we just wanted a general idea of what sort of educational accommodations she is going to need. I am sure that having a cold isn't going to cause the difference between a moderately gifted and a profoundly gifted score, so we'll be accepting of whatever results we get. Of course, if she misses DYS by one point, we may regret our decision.

RoyalBlue,

I'd also add that no matter what her score is, you'll still want to see her appropriately challenged at school It's easy to get caught up in the talk of moderately vs profoundly gifted etc, but the reality is that most schools (at least where I live) are programmed to teach to the middle or focus on pulling up low-achieving students. There's also differences in student personality to consider too - being PG doesn't guarantee motivation. So - don't let the results of one test deter you from looking for appropriate challenge for your dd if you think she needs something "more".

Best wishes,

polarbear