Hi All

I've been lurking for a while so thought I better introduce myself and start being a contributor as well.

We are currently weighing up whether to have our DS2 (age 6) tested. Our DS1(8)tested beyond the 99.9th percentile on the SB5, but he was one of those kids who did not fit well at school and in whom teachers only saw oddity, not intelligence. Testing him was not a decision we made lightly but it has enabled him to accelerate a year and be even further extended in his areas of strength.

DS2 does not have the same personality as DS1, he is very social, less "intellectual" in presentation, yet we don't want to underestimate him (or have him underestimate his own abilities). The thing is that we really have no reason to get him tested other than to get a number. He is working a year level up at school as he is in a split class, and is very happy. There are none of the "issues" that led us to having DS1 tested.

I guess my inclination is not to test (expense being a major consideration) except that I have read that after a certain age scores may not reflect true ability. DS1 was 7yrs 3months when tested and that seemed a good age.

Thanks for reading - all opinions welcomed.

abra

slightly different scenario as my two kids are twins (non identical), we really only had indications to test one of them (although we thought the other would come out not far behind just not gifted)--> we were wrong, both girls have identical IQ's and yet VERY different personalities (one presents as quite intellectual, the other presents as outgoing and disinterested in academics)

I think it depends why you want to test. It will give you more information about your DS6 that you'll find helpful. But like you said if things are going well at school, it may not be warranted at this time.

I'm not sure what state you are in, but here in PA a parent can request evaluation which will (by law) require an IQ test at the school's expense. Other less expensive options include getting tested at a local university where sometimes they have programs available for substantially less than private psychologists. (The test may be done by someone in training... it depends on the program.)

From memory (so I'd validate) IQs among siblings are generally within 10 pts of each other.

JB

I believe that that info comes from the Gifted Development Center. While I have no reason not to believe it, I'm not sure if there is a wide body of evidence beyond the GDC's studies of kids who were brought to them for testing (so not a random sample).

Shhh. Don't tell my wife. She thinks I'm smrat.

JB

lol... and my dh thinks that he really slow intellectually which leads him to thinking that our kids must be less than bright as well (even with high-ish IQ scores).

Having more information may help you understand him better and be better able to meet his needs (especially if he tests as high as his brother and needs a skip or accelerated coursework in the future). In addition, if he scores high but feels "slow" compared to his older brother, you would have something that "proves" to a younger child that he is smart, too...

We only tested dd20, and that was because she had both anxiety and giftedness and we really didn't know what was going on. We did the full psycho-social-intelligence (and whatever else you can throw in during a full day of testing, which we didn't even realize at the time included IQ). Yeah, it was helpful (not so much the IQ) but it wasn't as if we've done a lot with it. It did help during IEP meetings, because the school was able to evaluate her more fully. As far as our next three kids, we haven't gotten IQ testing and don't plan to. I just think that there is so much more to success than one test - we know they are smart and we've been lucky enough to have the school also believe that. We did "quick testing" with dd8 to get him into a summer class with CTD a few years ago and we had ds10 take the EXPLORE last year, but those were more about a specific purpose (in the case of ds10, we were interested in figuring out where he was at, and the test was a huge help - since our school district also uses it, it was a great tool for advocacy as well).
Dd20 has felt at times the "weight" of being PG, along with having social-emotional challenges. She's now a senior in college and sometimes feels like she hasn't lived up to people's (our?) expectations. It's sad that she is going to graduate from a decent school, full scholarship, BS in biology at the age of 20 and she is worried that she might disappoint us. THAT is the downside. I'm not against IQ testing by any means, though. I just don't think that any couple of hours in any child or adult's life is really going to tell you of what they are capable. I'd rather have them focus on always continuing to work hard and challenge themselves.
Anyway, just my two cents,
Theresa

Both of my DDs tested into our school district's GT program based on group administered tests (CoGat, NNAT). We paid for IQ and achievement testing with DD8 because we suspected (and confirmed) that she is twice exceptional. DD10 asked us why she had not been tested. I answered her honestly that she had not been having problems and seemed challenged by her current teachers. I assured her that we would pay for testing if we saw a need for it. She never brought it up again.

Recently, I've been trying to convince DD10 to take the Explore test through our local talent search. I have no hidden agenda. I'm just curious. DD10 replied that she is fine with school and doesn't want to give up a Saturday. At this age I can't see forcing her to take a test against her wishes. I guess one argument for testing at a younger age is that they may be more willing to take the test.

When we had our dd7 tested it was because it was very obvious she needed a change in her education plan. With dd6 we are having her tested (this week as a matter of fact) because we want to know what she could be capable of, and for us the more information the better. dd6 is not as obvious as her sister, but she does lots of things that say "gifted" she also had eye problems that may have slowed her down. Since we're homeschooling this year I'm finding this to be true. Another thing I find her doing is not wanting to compete with her older sister (who is smarter type of thing) so I think she just lets her older sister hold the title.

I say go for the talent search testing, especially once they are old enough to take the SAT. D15 has gotten all kinds of benefits from it that we never would have imagined (one particular super duper test score that was a top 3 finisher in her age group in 8th grade has translated into all kinds of opportunities, and they are continuing to build on each other).

While both our dds present as gifted in many ways, their interests, personalities, and styles are very different from each other. Our oldest was very ahead academically by the time she started K, and our younger one, in K this year is not.

We had both girls tested and in paper they are not that different. Their verbal IQs are similar and the oldest has higher performance /non-verbal.

I think it was important that we got a sense of our youngest. We will not be surprised if academically she takes off suddenly. OTOH, if she does not, given her IQ we would investigate possible 2E issues.

My answer is ABSOLUTELY. I could have written a nearly indentical post about my two...last year. We did have our younger one tested, but only for admittance to a gifted charter school that required it. We had NO issues at all with him in school, and he was happy, happy, happy in every setting he had been in. He was bright, but not the kind of bright that has folks asking "How OLD is he?" One reason for that is because he was rarely around adults, preferring playing with buddies to the "academic" stuff that his brother clearly preferred from a very young age.

Imagine our surprise when he tested extremely close to his very PG brother (both are now DYS)...we became extremely thankful that we had done the testing when we started to see a completely different "flavor" of symptoms from him not too long after. We could use the "PG lens" and came up with possibly different diagnoses/solution sets than we might have otherwise. And we were so happy that we had done his testing when he was in a "happy place" and not in a crisis situation (our older son's first testing - the WPPSI - is what we refer to in our house as "the emergency test." We can now laugh at some of the things he pulled during that test, but it was NOT funny at the time!!).

If there's no reason NOT to test (money, anxiety on the part of the child you, etc.), I'd say go ahead and do it.

Thanks for all the thoughts so far. To add a little more... I was the younger sibling of a precociously gifted older brother, so not wanting to compete with that (and not being similarly or identifiably as precocious) I defined myself against that. He was the "smart" one so I chose to tbe the "sporty one". It wasn't until I was studying at postgrad level that I realised I was reasonably bright also. I guess I don't want DS2 to do that. We've already had a bit of a wake-up call in that we thought DS1 was the "mathy" one until DS2 just spontaneously over one summer took huge leaps with his interest in and knowledge of maths.

The other thing is that whilst DS2's needs are being met now, we've learnt from experience that things can and do change. We've already changed schools for DS1 and whilst that's not on the cards again at the moment, who knows if it will again be necessary in the future. I also know that having the piece of paper (DS1's testing) gave us the confidence to really advocate on his behalf. The new school we'd chosen were realising he was pretty bright but until we could verify that we kept doubting ourselves. Having the testing results gave us confidence and also made us realise his profile was more even than we'd realised.

Sounds like I'm talking myself into this now doesn't it?

Trouble is it doesn't stop there as we also have a DD(4), so I guess if we test DS2 we'll likely test her too.

Any opinions on the optimal age to test?
Thanks again.
abra

Is your older one a DYS? You mention scores in the >99.9th.

I think now that ds2 is 6 is a good age.

We are not in the USA otherwise we would definitely apply to DYS. Unfortunately there is nothing like it where we are.

Yes, in terms of age I was thinking sometime within this next year would be good. He has some separation/anxiety issues so not sure if he will go off with a tester without getting upset so was hoping that would resolve before we thought about testing.