Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment To test again and when?

Hello,

Our DD6 was tested with the wpssi-III at 4.3 years. She tested gifted and hit the ceiling on verbal and performance. Should we test again and why? I have heard the WISC is better. What are the benefits or not? Any thoughts from parents who did both?

Thanks!

Were the scores high enough to apply to YSP? It's hard to do that with so little 'headroom.' One reason to test again is to apply to YSP.

Other than that it depends on your circumstances. If she's doing well in school academically and socially than it may not be needed to ever test again.

Wanna say what thoughts you are having to make you think maybe you should test again?

Smiles,
Grinity

hi! I feel dumb Grinity asking what is YSP? :-)

She scored 138 overall but the tester said this was an underestimate as she hit 2 ceilings in the test. she also said that because she is highly visual spatial that the picture concepts was not accurate because she kept relating things that are not the scoreable answer. The symbol search was also low because of her need to perfect the symbols and write each one so carefully- so I'm interested if her processing speed has improved at all.

And we tested her when she was very distressed and generally unhappy. After testing we got her in a more challenging school but also smaller class, her confidence grew, so I just wonder about what's changed if anything on testing.

I'm glad to hear that your DD is feeling better now. How is her 'need to be perfect' going in general? We often find that when the school situation improves, the kids are less wrapped up in being perfect - some parents can even use this to gauge the school situation.

Smiles,
Grinity

Thanks- this is very helpful Dottie. I think at the school we are moving her to in Jan will require a retest in 1st grade so maybe we will wait for them. I have trouble knowing if she is profoundly gifted- sometimes she blows me away by her comments and questions and I am in shock and then sometimes she is just a kid- but maybe it is like this?

Unfortunately Grinity she is still a perfectionist and very detail oriented. Drawing and painting is by far her favorite activity and if she makes one "mistake" she will throw them away (I try and same some of them!). She certainly struggles with having that whole to part thinking. And it, whatever that is at the time, is perfect in her head and when she can't make it that way the world falls apart. Although emotionally she has come far in this reality- she can accept more but it is not that easy for her.

Another reason for retesting perhaps that just popped into my head is she has a lot of those over-excitabilities and emotional intensities, visual issues, sensory issues, and I was told these usually present in kids with higher scores according to what I have read. Any thoughts on that?

Good luck with the new school situation - hopefully you will get the testing you need and your daughter will get the challenge she needs. Keep working on the prefectionism! Try to model aloud your own self talk when you get frustrated.

It's hard to estimate LOG - they are all certianly 'age appropriate' at times. Deb Ruf's book '5 levels of giftedness' might help. Time spent in classrooms observing other kids of similar age can help.

I'm not so sure that OEs are 1:1 to LOG. I like better the idea of accepting each kid where they are, getting self-support for the extra stress the OEs cause, and I'm hoping that meditation will turn out to be helpful to teach everyone in the family to modulate the OEs. I was lucky in that we didn't know about OEs, because I would have probably just thought I should live with them, until after we already got help with them from and Occupationial Therapist who specialized in 'sensory integration disorder.'

I like the idea of OEs, but I dislike that there isn't much one can do about them. I know that mine have improved dramatically since I started meditating in August.

Love and More Love,
Grinity