Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Which test for DS4?

DS is 4, and will need to take a test for a gifted school admission. This is in case our public school does not offer all day kindergarten next fall. This charter school accepts 30 different tests that are recognized by our state, so we have many options to choose from.

DS is an active boy, he shows math talent as well as quick processing speed. He had delayed speech due to a hearing loss that was repaired surgically. He can write words, but has some sensory and fine motor skill issues. He loves legos, blocks, mazes and puzzles that are well beyond his years.

What test would be best for this age group (almost 5) and for this type of child? I want to learn about his strengths/weaknesses as well as see if he is in the same GT range as our older one. How are tests conducted at this age range?

Thanks for any suggestions

Jen

Hi,
Just a thought. It might be better to find an experienced tester who has tested 5 year olds and let them help you figure out which test is best for your 5 year old. Depending on what strengths and weaknesses you may already know about, some testers can adjust the test to help you discover additional strengths or weaknesses. An experienced tester who isn't rushed will know to give the child a break, offer multiple sessions, know how to engage the child and make it interesting, etc. Challenge/encourage the child to try and guess the answer even if hesitant.

Good luck!

Probably you would get useful information from the WPPSI-III or SB5.

My DS took the WPPSI at age 4.5. It took a couple of hours and he was given breaks.

I would try to do only those mentioned above since they are the more widely used. Of those, the Weschler is used more than the Stanford.

In general, SB favors those with non-verbal strengths; WPPSI those verbal ones.

We also did testing for gifted school admission. We tried to push it as back as possible to hope that more maturity would help. ODD was tested at 4.10 and younger one at 4.6. We had a better experience with the younger one, we liked the tester much more (more professional and knowledgeable). Her report was more useful in figuring out strengths and weaknesses.

Thanks for all the tips. DD was tested at 9 (other than school group tests) and I wonder how they even test a 4 year old child. The gifted charter school recommends two psychologists that offer some of the tests. After the holidays I will probably call both and ask which tests they administer frequently to this age group.

My son was tested at 4 also, for entrance to K. We used the WPPSI b/c it was required by the school. I would say that the most important piece of the process is choosing the right person to give the test. We used a woman recommended by our local gifted private school. They told me that she was the only person they regularly recommended because of her many years of experience, reasonable cost to parents, and knowledge of gifted kids. I was actually in the room when the test was given (she gave DS the option, so of course he asked that I stay!) so I got a chance to watch her in action and she was great with him. She had the room set up so that even though I stayed my back was to him while they were working, so I wasn't standing there looking over his shoulder, but I was present. It blew my mind how skilled she was at keeping him on task and encouraging him to do his best. My son is very intense and usually does things only to suit himself, never to please others. He is also an extreme perfectionist. The psychologist picked up on this and later told me that she used "her whole bag of tricks." For example, she told him that when she asked a question of him, then he could ask one back of her. She told him that if he would do his best to answer as if she were an alien from another planet and knew nothing about things here on earth then she would do her best to answer his questions. So, some of her questions seemed totally ridiculous (for example, things like "What is a pencil?" Of course, this is not the exact question). Anyway, since she asked him to answer as if she were an alien he totally caught on. Then he asked his questions--things like "What makes us alive?" and "What makes plants grow?" Of course, she cracked up answering these and it also gave her lots of info about my son. When she came to a question that she thought might be challenging to him, she would encourage him to prevent him from giving up and not trying because of his perfectionism. He did very well on the test, and I am sure that he could have done terribly with an inflexible, inexperienced tester. So, that would be my biggest recommendation. Ask the tester what they do for small children and how they find the most reliable scores for children who are young, gifted, perfectionists, or cantankerous! (My son was all four!) Good luck to you!