We recently had our Daughter tested for the Plano, TX GT program PACE. They sent us back the scores and said they are recommending her for the program. We 're just confused on how the scores translate and what we should do at home to help foster her learning. She was also recently diagnosed with ADHD which is adding a whole other level of complexity to this. Her scores are as follows:

CogAT Verbal ability - 113
CogAT quantitative ability - 119
CogAT non verbal ability - 133
NNAT nonverbal ability - 135
MAP reading achievement - 99%
MAP math achievement - 97%

Any help would be appreciated.

Welcom GreeneTiki -
Did you find: http://www.pisd.edu/parents/advanced.academics/gifted.pace/index.shtml

Based on that document, it looks like PACE is looking to identify students who are functioning at or above 2 standard deviations (96%) on nationally normed tests... Your DD's MAP Achievement and NNAT and CogAT nonverbal are all scoring above their cut off.

How old is your DD? What grade is she in? How are things going for her in school?

From the web document, it looks like the kids are clustered in groups of 4-10 identified students and given teachers who have had some level of training in gifted. There is also a pull out program that provides services 30minutes to 3 hours a week depending on the grade level.

Like every other gifted kid, one has to look at how life at school is going for the child and see if there is a nice mix of learning, learning to have good work ethic (the emotional learning of dealing with the fact that learning is challenging at times) and relating well to classmates.

It is impossible to tell from scores alone if any educational program is going to work for any kid, but with the above scores it is at least reasonable to think that what the school offers might be a good fit.

How are things going with the ADHD?

Love and More Love
Grinity

Thanks for the link. I had looked at that and it makes some sense. Our Daughter is 6yo in 1st grade going in to 2nd.

Things have been rocky for her at school. She has the same problem I have suffered from my entire life in that she has a hard time focusing and completing her work. But she still seems to be retaining the info.

Luckily she has a very good teacher that understands her challenges with ADHD and has provided some creative solutions for helping her to stay on task. Like providing more space for her and allowing her to stand for parts of the day.

Her ADHD has been trying both at home and school. We have just recently started her on medication about 2 weeks ago. Haven't seen much improvement yet but will discuss that with her Dr at the next appt.

She is an Extremely happy child and makes friends very easily but also gets emotional at times.

Good luck GreeneT,
I book that I have found very helpful for my ADD/very gifted son is
Transforming the difficult child Workbook by Lisa Bravo

If you try it and have any questions, feel free to post or PM me. It's a little embarassing to love this book so much, but after reading book after book that only help 'a little' it's great to read a book that 'squeezed my brain out like a rag' and returned my brain cleaner and stronger than before.

Glad to hear DD is happy and enjoying her friends,
Grinity