Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Help processing test results and new adhd dx 2E?

Hello,

Was hoping some veteran moms/dads could help me sort through a few results and school related things with my child. He has had a relatively good experience with classroom behaviors and school work until this school year. I have thought he was also gifted, but a mom can be biased. I had him tested to gifted program in kinder and this year in second grade and he does not qualify. He has a first year teacher that is kind and soft spoken ( I consider my child a bit of a class clown,) though I believe his(teachers) classroom management skills are lacking. The school was suggestive of ADHD so I recently had him tested outside of the school for ADHD and battery of exams that test for IQ and for learning disabilities. The testing center report led with,' Parent report,scale elevations,test performance,,and observed behaviors are all supportive of ADHD, combined presentation. Thank you for your time and input. regardless of gifted I want him to be in an environment that helps him do his best. Any insight greatly appreciated. TIA
WISC: VCI:118 (s-12 V-15)
VSI: 114 (BD-12 VP-13)
FRI: 134 (MR-17 FW-15)
WMI: 97 (DS-8 PS-11)
PSI: 123 (c-15 SS-13)
FSIQ-125 GAI-127

2nd grade cogat CAT-113 verb-102 NV-124 NVRA-138

kinder Cogat CAT-119 verb-109 NV- 132 NVR-125

I'm only going to address a small portion of your post.

Parents are actually the most reliable people to recognize highly intelligent children - remarkably more accurate than teachers. Trust yourself!

My son took WISC at 6 years old. IQ was high-average, not "gifted". At 7 he was diagnosed with ADHD. At 8 he retested WISC while medicated for ADHD. With ADHD treated, his GAI was in the "extremely gifted" range.

I'd been second guessing myself and being overly passive with his school because of my lack of confidence in his abilities. I regret not trusting myself. I wish I'd known how profoundly untreated ADHD can affect WISC testing.

Because of the experiences I've had, I suggest you look at his test results as a minimum. You know he is *at least* GAI 127, which is 96th percentile for intelligence. That's significant!

I would expect that his classroom behavior would improve if he was engaged and learning at school. However, what I found with my son was that he was unable to be engaged and unable to participate without medication. (A few years later, this is no longer true. Treatment needs may ebb and flow over time.)

Please hang around for a while, your son needs you to advocate for him so he can get his needs met. Being 2e is hard!

Note that his strongest area (which is in the GT range) is in abstract fluid reasoning (FRI). Long term, this is one of the better predictors of conceptual and abstract learning abilities. It is markedly stronger than his other indices (by 16 - 37 points), which suggests that the FSIQ and GAI are probably not the most comprehensive representations of his ability. In addition, WMI is similarly markedly weaker (17 - 37 points), likely because of unmanaged ADHD symptoms. I would agree that it is possible that retesting after a couple of years of more effective management of ADHD (whether through medication, self-monitoring strategies, or maturity) may find much higher scores all around.

Whether he ultimately falls into the GT classification or not, he is clearly a highly conceptual and abstract learner, who is likely to benefit significantly from careful attention to just-right challenging instruction in the zone of proximal development. As much as GT learners need challenge, ADHD learners also need it, as they tend to be more successful with engagingly-difficult material than with too-easy material, that cannot grab their attention. If he happens to be 2e/ADHD (both GT and ADHD), then appropriate challenge will be doubly important for him.

Thank you guys already, validation gives me strength for advocacy.