Good evening everyone,
So here I am finally with the results from DS7 testing....I should be shouting out hooray really, but perhaps I'm just too tired after staying up with DS22months who was sick all night or just kind of let down by a PhD. lady who sat in on the meeting as a "gifted consultant" for the district. (who by the way hasn't even met my son, but gave me the standard lines I've heard to many times).
Now to the meat of the post I hope. My DS7 is a first grader (had the Dec. birthday so he had to do the extra year of preschool) and is currently doing a 90 min. Lang. arts block in the am. with a 2nd grade class. The district doesn't start their gifted screening until the end of 2nd grade and since I felt DS couldn't wait that long and the subject acceleration really wasn't the best option for next year, I finally requested that he be tested. Besides those reasons I was hoping for him to be placed in the 3rd/4th grade gifted self contained class. They agreed to the early testing/screening for their gifted programs and after waiting almost two weeks we got the results and recommendations for next years placement today.
They gave DS7 the WISC-IV on day and the Woodcock-McGrew-Werder Mini Battery of Achievement (I never heard of this one...I was hoping it was one on the DYS list, but alas it is not). He did really well and would meet the requirement for the DYS, but if I want to go that route I'd need to have him do a talent search test I guess since I'm thinking the district wouldn't do another achievement test.
So here are a few questions on the tests...has anyone noticed the last part of the WISC-IV is processing speed...why would they put that on the end when your brain would be a bit tired? Symbol search is one of the areas that he didn't do well on...what is that exactly? The school psych. said that he was somewhat fatigued at the end of the test which may have impacted his score.
Does anyone have experience with the Woodcock-McGrew-Werder Mini Battery? He scored superior in all the areas, but from what I read it may be a quick and dirty test?
So now we are down to recommendations...The district has a third/fourth grade Alpha self contained classroom which I thought they would offer. They didn't recommend this option since it is more like 4th or 5th grade which would be too much of a skip for him they said. You would think that it would be a normal 3rd/4th grade class for gifted students right?
To try and make this post shorter, he he The school district is offering a skip to reg. 3rd grade with a teacher who has taught 2nd so she can detect "holes" in his learning. They would then also offer the gifted pullout which is once a week.
So I better wrap up now....(I started this post earlier and have lost steam). Please feel free to share any information or experiences.
Thanks,
Moni

I agree with Dottie, a kid who scored 99.9% on WISC-IV should be in GT class. Is there way to compare his GE achievement scores with the scores of the kids who will enter the GT class next year? That way you would know where he would fit in the GT class.

A skip to 3rd is a good start though. No doubt about that.

Spend time observing all the possible classrooms. See if the self contained class is worth fighting for. Show evidence of his actual work level from home. Ask if he can be an official 2nd grader who is in the 3/4 HG class with plans to repeat the experience in 3rd grade. Keep telling them what you think. Find out how old the kids in the 3/4 class actually are.

Best Wishes,
grinity

The skip is a good start, then follow closely and go from there. The problem here it that it appears they don't identify the kids til third grade. It's hard for them to accomodate kids within district policy, if the gifted policy isn't addressed til then.
I'm finding that the sticking point in our district is they can't seem to do anyting "special" or different for just one child. They have to have a "group" in order to justify a different curriculum and if they haven't identified any other kids or the parents haven't been assertive like you have, their hands are somewhat tied. I've found it's good to figure out what the district policies are because sometimes there is little the teacher or principal can do, per district policy. Once you know the policies, it's then a little easier to navigate them and figure out how to get a realistic education plan put into place.

Neato

Dottie,

Do you know which of the subtests for PSI was 5th and which was 10th?

Thanks

PS: I keep wanting to sign off as D&C but that has bad memories for me lol I guess I should have given more thought to my username.

Hmmm He had 5-6pt spread between Coding and Symbol search. Psych said he was getting tired at the end yet Comprehension was one of his 19 but it might explain the low Symbol search.

Thanks dottie!
DC

I started to do the same thing, and stopped myself when I saw it on my screen! I went with "Dazed," but do you prefer "DC"? I like that because it makes you sound like a capital person!

<snicker>

LOL I like Dazed as well. It describes me fairly accurately most days!

How about Dazey?

Or DazeC?--same pronunciation, different spelling!

LOL Dazey it is!

Hi Dazey!

I should try and be more positive right? Thanks Dottie ...yes good verification. I didn't even think they would test him since he wasn't officially a second grader which is when they start their screening process for the gifted programs. Their main point was all about having him up to standard on his writing since there is state testing they are sooo concerned about. It is all about elaborating on your ideas really. My son is a straight to the point kid and having him do the RARE response to questions is a challenge to him. Personally I think it is rubbish.
I made my point of any holes would be filled quickly and I got it is all in the process...yada yada. Education isn't all about facts anymore. Anyway I got the lady to get me some Science kits to work on with him at home this summer and they were going to see if they could squeeze him into the 2nd grade math time, but at this point being so close to the end of the year I don't see it happening.
They of course will evaluate how the skip to 3rd grade goes and perhaps who knows if they would put him into the Alpha GT 3rd/4th class. They did say he could go to the Alpha program in 4th after seeing how he does.
Thanks for the link Dottie on that test. The school pysch. had an intern do that test so perhaps that is why it was used? I read that it could be used by paras?

I just want to chime in that my son's lowest subtest scores all occured in the first 3 of 4 tests on the SB-5. He seemed to get more comfortable as time went on. Wierd, huh? Our kids are all just so different.