Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Hit a wall -- looking for testing in Bay Area

I am so disappointed and frustrated...

DS(6) is bored in 1st grade and talking/joking in class instead of doing his work. (From my observations, he seems about Ruf level 4.) I've talked to his teacher about providing more challenging work, but she wants him to complete the "boring" stuff and will only provide extra projects later in the year (as opposed to substituting more advanced work).

I also asked if he could be tested for giftedness, and she agreed to ask the school psychologist. Well, what she just sent us is a recommendation to see an educational psychologist who specializes in learning disabilities, psychological disorders, social skills deficits, etc. Aaarrrrggh...

He does not have a learning disability, for certain. And my gut is that he doesn't have ADD or ASD or any other 2E condition, but he is simply bored and needs to be extended! How can I help his teacher to understand that?

It appears she is pretty clueless about giftedness (she is young, so may not have had much experience). She is viewing this as primarily a behavioral issue and it's starting to develop into a battle of wills between her and my son.

If anyone has any recommendations for testing in the Bay Area (CA) please let me know!

Thanks, kcab... I took a deep breath and calmed down. I did just call them to see if they can assess GT. It's not something they specialize in, but they are licensed to do the testing. I asked them to send me the info packet anyway, but would still like recommendations from other parents before we make a choice.

(trying to find my serenity here... I am shy and introverted and find all this drama very stressful! )

Here's the link from Hoagies but most are in Southern California.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/psychologists.htm#uca
DD7 didn't act up in class so I finally gave up on getting an assessment through the school. Since I was paying for it myself, I found someone who specialized in gifted children. It's up to you to balance the cost/stress ratio but you've found a sympathetic place to work through it. Another thing to consider is some schools won't take an assessment from someone that's not on their "approved" list.

I'm not in Cali and did private testing in my state. No one would give me any recommendations of where to do it, although I now know they were mandated to help me. Anyway, I called the local state college. Turns our their psychological services can do it. So I figured what better place to get it done than the people that train the testers to begin with.

We had good experiences with three different psychologists at the Children's Health Council . They don't specialize in testing gifted kids, but their psychologists all seem to be well-qualified, experienced and open to working with our family on gifted issues.

I just traded emails with the school psychologist... they don't do testing through the school unless they suspect a learning disability. Rats... I was hoping to get it done at no cost... stupid California.

It's great that the school is ready to help kids with LDs, but I find it sad that someone with exceptional abilities is left to fend for themselves, or even penalized (in effect) for being smart.

Thanks for the suggestions, all... I really appreciate having a place to come to for support and advice.

Gifted Development Center provides testing services in Northern California area. http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/About_GDC/catesting.htm#ab

Hope that helps.

hmmm. In my current district (southern CA) you are supposed to be able to get an assessment done by the teacher k-2, even before official program starts in 3rd grade. (not as good as full-on testing, but maybe could help?) Did the psychologist say the no to something like that?

check your district web site. or see if the psychologist has some info on this

also, state guidlines are here http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/gt/gt/

I PM'd you but I wanted to add- there are very few psychologists that specialize in gifted children. Most see kids with LD issues, on the Autism spectrum or with SPD. But that doesn't mean that they don't have experience with gifted children- which I think is what you really want to find.

My son was originally tested by a university student and it was a disaster- she was being trained to work with much older children and had never seen kid for gifted testing before. She wouldn't answer his questions and when she did, the answers were totally inappropriate for his age. Who would tell a 5 year old that behind the two-way mirror are people watching him to see what he is doing? Not a good way to get accurate results!

So you want to focus on experience- both with the age and the giftedness!