Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy To test or not to test - yet ?

My son is 6 (June birthday) - he is in 1st grade,in public school, and since November has been going to 2nd grade for math, and spending one 30 minute session a week with the gifted teacher for math enrichment (along with six 2nd graders). This has all been done without any testing, which is great ! The gifted teacher prefers not to test 1st graders, but to wait until they are in 2nd grade. We do have a gifted school here, which starts in 2nd grade - however, even if he qualified, we don't think we'd send him there. The gifted teacher WILL test him now if we want him to - but should we ? What would it really achieve ? Yes - I am very curious, but is that a reason to test now ? Or should we just wait until 2nd grade ? What if he gets tested now and doesn't do well ? What to do ??

Our district tests in the 1st grade for the gifted program. But DS6 was tested in Kindergarten. Hands down, we made the right decision. But DS was also grade skipped. I think if I was in your shoes, and I felt that my DS needed to be grade skipped, I would test now. But if I felt he was getting exactly what he needed, I probably wouldn't.

Your son is lucky to be challenged at his level in a public school!

You might have read this already, but here is a link that you might find interesting:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/why_test.htm

We decided to test our children hoping to find a better educational fit for them. Ideally, we would like to keep them in public school. But our school district is very conservative (they won't even offer the test so we have to do private testing) and not big on deviating from the norm. We are hoping the test results will support our request for single-subject acceleration.

Good luck!

Hi NCPMom - welcome!

First Question: what is this gifted school like and why wouldn't you send him?
Second Question: if the school starts in 2nd grade, and the testing usually is done in Second Grade - how does that work?

Also-
Is your son happy? Does he like going with the older kids? Is he bored the rest of the time? Is he pretty normal in other respects but just loves Math?

My gut reaction is that if he is gifted enough to be singled out to go with the 2nd graders to the gifted Math time, he has made an impression on someone, somewhere, as 'more than ususally gifted.' Yes? My guess is that they don't even usually offer testing in 1st grade, so why now? Actually, that's a very good question!

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Why wouldn't we send him to the gifted school ? Mainly because the school he goes to is 5 minutes walk from work (I run a daycare) - PLUS, his school specializes in "Math, Science and Technology", which is perfect for him. I think, for now, we'd rather keep him there than uproot him. The gifted school only goes to 5th grade - so if we did send him there, he'd move again to go to middle school (there is no gifted middle school).
He is very happy at school ! He is the perfect kid in class (!), works hard, listens well, behaves himself, has lots of friends etc etc. Although 1st grade work is easy, he is happy to do it. He loves going to 2nd grade math (although he finds it easy, too). His says the enrichment class is harder (they're doing "Hands on Equations"), but still doable. He never complains about being bored.
He likes easy. Apart from math, he is ahead in his reading, too - there is one other child in 1st grade at his level. He gets his own spelling list each week (and also chooses to do the regular 1st grade list)- always gets them all right.
I really don't know if he is gifted or not. He sounds nothing like many of the other kids on here I read about, he didn't really start to read until Kindergarten, though numbers have always been his thing. I do do extra stuff at home with him when school is out, which he enjoys - he has a 4th grade math workbook that at times seems too easy. When he DOES come across something he can't do immediately, he'll get extremely frustrated - but once he calms down and realises he CAN do it, all is well.
Maybe I'm scared that if we do test him, that he'll not do well and lose what they are already offering him ? I don't know. Guess I'm confused at the moment - he's our only child, so learning as we go along ~! Jenny

It's so hard to know what to do with happy/contented kids.
'Easy' is a great thing to be when you are in elementary school, but 'easy' can be addicting, and 'easy' doesn't teach work ethic, which I happen to think will get a kid farther in their grown up life than 'easy.'

I don't think you have to worry about him losing what they are offereing.

I wish that the school went past 5th grade, but that makes me more interested in knowing what's up and testing now, so as not to loose a year of such a limited program. I'm not even saying that your son 'should' go to the gifted school if he tests optimally gifted, highly gifted or profoundly gifted - just that you will have more insight into what is going on with him, and it will help the local school know what to do with him.

I would visit the gifted school, see if the work looks challenging 'enough' - it may not be worth making a change. Ask what happens to the kids after 5th grade - there may be Middle Schools with tracked classes that suit the children well. (How far up does your current school go?)

observe, observe, observe.

At your daycare, you have opportunity to observe a cross section of kids. How does your son seem in comparison to the other kids at your work? Did your son attend your daycare? What kinds of things did his teachers 'just natually' do for him?

Welcome - test or not yet test!

Just ask the gifted coordinatior 'why' she thought you might want the IQ test now - ask is he 'that different' from the other gifted children? (Tell her that your bossy Cousin Grinity is pressuring you for these answers, you would never be so 'forward' - LOL!)

Smiles,
Grintiy

Easy got me NO where... instead, it gave me more problems accepting challenges and understanding and accepting my own capabilities as an adult. DS6 prefers easy as well, but now that he has been challenged and has started to learn to accept he cannot be perfect at everything (VERY slowly but surely), he doesn't "fight" non-easy as much.

It sounds like if you test now, you will have more options open. I think it's always nice to have options...

Well, we got ds's conference info yesterday - it's on Feb 8th, it'll be for 30 minutes (instead of the usual 15 minutes), and the gifted teacher will be there as well as his regular teacher. Hopefuly he'll be able to help us with our questions - I have e-mailed him once or twice, but he's not very forthcoming in his replies - so hopefully he'll be better face to face I'll let you all know what we decide to do !

Well, we had ds6's conference last night, and it went great. His 1st grade teacher, the ULE (gifted) teacher, and the 2nd grade teacher who he goes to math with were all there. They had nothing but good to say about him, he's the perfect student etc etc. We talked about testing, and the ULE teacher would like ot test him in April (he did explain the timing and why it was the best time, but I forget why exactly). We're in no hurry, as we won't send him to the gifted school even if he qualifies. They said that when he gets to 2nd grade in the fall, they will send him to 3rd grade math. Also, the ULE teacher is hoping to let him go to the ULE classes before he is tested !! He says he needs to check with his superior, but sees no problem with it !! So if that works out, he'll start next week - I'm not exactly sure of the schedule, but it would all be on a Tuesday. All in all, a great conference, and I'm SO happy that they are offering so much before he's even been tested !! ~ Jenny