I'm having a hard time identifying someone who would be a good, qualified person to nominate DS. If you submitted a DYS application, whom did you use?

DD's occupational therapist did it for us. She did a great job, too - she talked about how she had recommended a book for DD that she usually recommends to teenagers, because I had told her how high DD's reading level was (she was nine at the time). The very next session, DD had obtained the book, read the whole thing, filled out most of the quizzes, and wanted to discuss specific issues related to her reading. I don't know how much the letter mattered, since DD had qualifying IQ and achievement scores, but it was a solid nomination.

A physical therapist DD had seen for several months about 3 years prior to our application... she went to the same Y and would periodically see DD around and always really "got" her, once had even brought for her specially a box of old issues of Imagine magazine.

A teacher at school. I doubt that the letter was great, but he was accepted. I don't think that it matters much if you have the scores.

2 DYS and for both we used a teacher (different for each). I, too, think that having the scores is key. If the scores are solidly within the criteria, I would not agonize about the rest of the application.

Best of luck!

Ds was in vision therapy at the time so we had the optometrist write the recommendation. He had experience with typical children ds's age and could identify ways ds was beyond the norm.

We used a GT teacher with decades of experience teaching elementary and middle school. However, the key is that the Nominator can explain well why she considers the applicant to be among the 99.9+ percentile, assuming DYS still uses the same set of questions. In other words, the Nominator should understand what 99.9+ percentile means in real life, has had sufficient interactions with the applicant, and believes that the applicant is 99.9+ percentile.

On the other hand, if your DS has qualifying scores (actually, you only need a single index score from a single test with the recently revised minimum qualifications), it probably won't matter unless the Nominator actually suggests that your DS is not DYS material (highly unlikely).

You know what's funny about this? If the stats/norms are to be believed (and I see no reason they shouldn't), most nominators likely will never have seen another kid in the 99.9+ percentile. So we're asking to opine on something totally outside their experience.

ETA - I'm just woofing a little here, though, because I don't know what the nominator questions actually ask.

The school librarian that our DD worked with to find out why Pluto was no longer a major planet in 1st grade. A truly amazing woman!

Our ds's AIG teacher filled it out. She had gifted kids of her own and I suspect she is gifted herself.

We used a family friend who has known our son for a few years and seen his progress. The friend is in the field of education. Good luck.