So we're thinking about getting our son IQ test . The school has been asking us to nominate him in gifted test by the end of the year . I was just wondering , is there a place where i can get his IQ test ? Can i request this in any pyschologist office or there is a certain place for this ??

Thank you .

If there are no behavioral concerns, you might want to start with the local university, if you have one near you. You can often get a professor to test for much cheaper than a private tester. As for finding a tester in your area you might want to check out the 'Regions' section on this site, or on the Hoagies site.

If it's just the IQ test you need, and you have no secondary concerns, here are a couple of other places you could look:

- Local Mensa chapter.
- Local homeschooling resources.

We've been getting in troubles at school because of his behavior , although he's a straight A's student . Had a talk with the teacher and principals this week and she's wanting us to nominate him for a gifted program . We even took him to a psychologist this morning , and she also recommends us to a gifted test and iq test . She also suspecting our son to be gifted . But she's saying that i can take our son to Sylvan Learning Center for IQ test , i thought pyschologist does this kind of thing , instead of tutoring center ?

Maybe the school will arrange and pay for the testing. That's what happened with us.

My question would be, if the school has a gifted program, why don't they have their own testing program for it? Why are they sending you outside for it?

A trained psychologist can observe your child and make note of any issues that may have hurt his performance, so that's why, if you suspect any issues other than giftedness, it's important to use one. This can be especially important if the child is very young. Otherwise... it's just another test, and as long as the criteria for it being properly proctored are met, it can be done pretty much anywhere. In that case, Sylvan wouldn't be a problem, if that's a service they offer.

Well the school said that they want to have him tested for gifted program . I just didn't know if test for gifted program is the same with IQ test or not .

He's 8 years old and in 2nd grade . The reason that i was asking about having him tested outside school , is because that maybe i can get the result sooner other than having to wait by the end of the year .

He's been in so much trouble these past 2-3 months (behavior problem ) , mostly because of talking in class , arguing , doing things to keep him busy after the job is done and ended up distracting other students , etc . He ended up in couple detentions already because of this . I even took him to a pyschologist and they said they didn't find any mood disorder or ADHD etc . But just assuming that he needs to be challenged and that it'd be best to have him tested for gifted program .

We met with the principal and teacher last week and they're explaining to us that he's very smart , bright kid , but according to them he's very lagging in his social skills . When he's with his peers , he would just be worry to impress them by being funny , throwing silly stupid jokes and ended up being in trouble . Although when he's hanging out with older kids , and adults , he's acting just fine and he can carry conversation with older kids and adults. The pyschologist earlier saying that it seems like he's about 10-11 years old other than 8 years old when they're talking to each other . Our son things he's different because he's not street smart ( this is his words ) but he's book smart . He feels like most of the time his friends don't understand him that he would have to explain again and again for his friends to understand .

Now because of all the problems at school , should i just wait to let the school do the testing by the end of the year , or should i get him tested outside school assuming we're getting result soon . So at least the school will stop labelling him as a trouble maker ? He hates going to school now because he feels no matter what he does is wrong , he used to love school , he even wrote it in his journal , now he feels like the only thing he likes about school is friends , other than that he feels like he's being watched like a hawk , every single movement can be a 'clip changed ' in class , losing recess , or sitting by the wall or worse write up and eventually detention or suspension .

Just a little background , when he was in kindergarten he was tested for reading and his reading level was at 3rd grade and during 1st grade his reading level was in 5th grade . He figured out multiplication on his own by 1st grade . During thanksgiving he was required to draw or write what he's thankful for , he drew planet earth and said he's thankful for earth because without it , human will never survive ( this was early 1st grade ) . And by now he knows how to do multiplication , simple division and 3 digits addition and subtraction ( with regrouping ) . He's very creative , he has so many questions that sometimes it gets overwhelming for me to answer all of his questions . We were also told back then that the school suspected him for being gifted ( we were in private school before we moved ) and we had to relocate etc , and all of those being pushed back and we never followed up with that , until this problem showed up .

Different states/school districts set different criteria for their gifted programs, but it usually consists of some combination of ability and achievement tests. The key word there is ability... the term "IQ test" is seen as non-pc in some circles, because there's a history of racial bias behind those, so don't be surprised if you're not hearing that from the school. But that's basically what an ability test is... an IQ test.

I'm not saying don't test, but I can see three reasons why testing independently is unlikely to result in an acceleration of intervention:

1) It's March already. It's not seen by schools as a time to make drastic changes.

2) You're dealing with a bureaucracy. They tend to have prescribed rules they have to follow. So while they may appreciate your independent testing, they'll still be rule-bound to perform their own evaluation before they can act on the data.

3) There are a number of ability tests out there, so it's quite likely you'd end up using one they're not familiar with. And they'll still want him to take their test, so they can compare apples to apples.

The biggest benefit I could see to independent testing is to draw attention to his abilities so the school could start the process, but it sounds like they're already on board there. It also sounds like you have no reason to suspect there's an underlying disability, and no reason to suspect that he'll underperform on the school's assessment.

Thank you for your reply. And another thing ,

Will an IQ test for regular person will be the same with IQ test given to gifted person then ?

Yes.

My advice- if the school knows he's gifted and they do not accelerate him, chances are they will not. I think you should seek other options. It will not be an easy road though and you might seriously consider one parent being a predominant educator for him, as schools will NOT be able to accommodate all his needs. I would look into an online virtual school. Try it out and share your experiences.

If you do this, you are giving your child a wonderful future life rather than one of mediocrity and torment.

Thank you Bluestar for the advice .

Outside the school , since he hasn't learned anything he already knows , he studies with me at home . I gave him more stuff for him to learn , more books that he can get more knowledge . Because even at school , the library books he can borrow was limited to a 4th grader book .

The school just started mentioning about the gifted test about couple of weeks ago . And it all started from his behavior that was very disruptive from talking too much in the class . The school realized that he's very smart , and though he does all those things in the class it doesn't effect him and his grade but it does effect other students who's trying to learn still .

We'll see how the school handle this , and we'll go from there .