I'm applying my DD8 to DYS. I believe her strength is reading, comprehension, and vocabulary. She has agreed to do a video talking about some books she is reading for the portfolio.

Her IQ score is WISC 156. She is well rounded. I don't have achievement testing. Do you think this could show what DYS is looking for?

She is not camera shy and can talk alot with many details. I thought I might ask her questions to prompt the talk if needed but, just let her be herself. Any suggestions with the video.

One thing I think is interesting, she figures out who the characters are in the illustrations when reading the book by looking at their details. Is that typical for her age?

Yippee!!!!
That's great news. My standard advise is 'just do it' and don't try and make it perfect. It seems like your video idea is perfect and yes, go ahead and let her talk aloud about her thought process of how she figures out the illustrations.

(I don't know anything at all about what is age-typical, but even if it is age-typical, she is probably going about it in a gifted-typical way.)

Remember that you don't hurt your chances by not having the achievement testing. In the long run, they'll just ask for it if they need it.

Smiles,
Grinity

I think the video sounds great! We ended up doing achievement testing because I kept procrastinating getting the portfolio together. But like Grinity said, you can always do the test later if they say they need it!

Good luck, Kate

Thanks, sometimes I just need a little that's ok, go for it.

It's funny that I just don't feel like she will do it that "Gifted" because her behavoir/abilities are so common to me. But I just forget until, I see the difference around other kids.

I wish I could get achievement testing on her but no $. I would love to see where she is here and how she would compare to her brother. But I really don't need it except for DYS purposes.

When I sent a portfolio video, it included ds-then-5 talking about his current topic du jour -- severe weather. He talked for about five minutes about tornadoes, classifications of tornadoes, famous tornadoes, etc. I would ask a question, and he would go from there.

Find something she's extra-knowledgeable about, and go from there!

Have you considered having her test through one of the talent searches, like NUMATS, BESTS, or CTY? Very inexpensive, and often very useful for school advocacy.

Yes, I would like her to do EXPLORE but I think that is in January. I'm going to wait and see what happens with the application. I had the IQ testing done thru someone DYS knows very well, so maybe that will be enough with the portfolio since she is beyond borderline. I'm really not in a big hurry with this, except her testing is a year old. Actually, I've been sitting on this for a year with it half done.

How's project DYS-DD going?
It is hard to overcome those internal barriers!
((friendly kick in the pants))
Smiles,
Grinity

Well I did the Video. She did great. It could of been a commerical for the book series she is reading. I don't think it's very PG but if they go for cuteness were in.

I don't really think the portfolio is PG enough to replace testing. I think we will have to get testing.

Her portfolio/app is half the size of her brother's. She just not as "showie". But she beat him on the IQ.

It's all done and in the mail. Feels great! Now I wait.

have someone with non-gifted kids watch it to get a real perspective. I have only been around gifted kids since having kids and my first born is PG. I thought ALL kids were like that! 2nd born is MG and I often forget how gifted she really is lol So, if you want to be sure about the video remember your view may be different than others!