A friend guided me to this forum. We have a DS9 who we think is gifted. His Explore scores exceed the DYS cut off.We want to get him tested. Any suggestions for a psychologist who is good with gifted kids in Raleigh NC?
Thanks!
Welcome, Salvio!
DS was tested by his school after we received his Explore Test scores, so I can't offer any tips on testers. Can you go to his school next year (this is assuming you don't homeschool) with test scores in hand and ask for gifted testing--specifically individual IQ?
Congratulations to your ds for his accomplishment!
Hi, Salvio!
In our experience and opinion (also living in the Research Triangle area), there is not any such specialist, at least particularly if there is any suspicion/possibility of 2e-ness. We went to Atlanta (Dr. Spomenka Newman, with whom we have been very happy) but I understand there are also testers in Virginia listed on the Hoagies' Gifted site who might be great. Plus if there isn't any suspicion of 2e I think there are many more options, including for example Dr. Kari Lenox at Silber Psychological Services. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss more.
Best wishes,
Dbat
There aren't any, I think the closest is in Charlotte. We went to NC State's Psychoeducational Dept for testing. Both our boys enjoyed the process, at the time 6 and 8, our now 8yo is a DYS, our 10yo narrowly missed it though hit thresholds in three of the Explore categories this past January. We were very happy with them. They also do testing per Wake County's requirements which was important to us. I guess the main consideration is why are you dong the testing? If he took the Explore yet it was likely through Duke's TIP program which means he was already recognized as gifted through the school system if you are enrolled in public. Third graders are tested early in the years, IOWA and CogATs are administered, only those over 95th percentile are accepted into TIP. Wake's threshold for AIG resources is the 92nd percentile in either math or LA.
I'm well versed in County policy and have contacts at the AIG office if you need them, just say so!
Shannon L.
There are a ton in Charlotte that do the testing. They are also very inexpensive. ( I paid $175.00) Here is a link to the gifted schools website. The list is in the application packet. I have heard good things about Dr Gotlieb
http://www.scholarsacademy.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=197643&type=d&pREC_ID=423855
Thank you all for replying. I apologize for getting back so late to this thread. I should have waited until we got back from our long vacation in Asia visiting grand parents.
You have confirmed what I had feared. I don't think DS will do well travelling just before testing. He is a anxious kid and travel would just add to his nervousness.
Thanks KADmom.
Dbat, he does have anxiety issues which we have ignored all these years since it was not disrupting his life. This was another reason why we decided to go the testing route. He also has vision issues which went from just needing higher power glasses to "he might have a clot at the back of his eye" level of scary at his last checkup. That has been ruled out for now but we are planning on getting him to a Pediatric eye specialist at Duke next month. So there is a possibility of 2e.
Shannon, you are right he is already qualified for the WCPSS AG program - he was called "very strong" in both Math and Language Arts. But he is not in a Magnet school so the AG part just involved 45 mins of pull out twice a week.
Maybe we need to plan our next vacation to Charlotte and sneak in a testing then. Thanks for all the input.
We are in Charlotte, and used Dr. Gottleib for our testing this past summer. She was great with our shy DD, however I wish I had learned more on the difference between the types of tests beforehand. She used the WPPSI-IV.