Good Sunday morning,
I posted the other day regarding my dd12s ACT scores and wondering about testing. I then deleted it as I wasn't sure what questions I wanted answered, as opposed to "someone please tell me exactly what my child needs, in detail, year-by-year to meet her intellectual and emotional needs." Obviously, that question, well, can't be answered in an online forum. I got the ACT results and I had a little anxiety attack. So, the general thing is that she meets DYS criteria in all areas but math. Not really concerned about that as she hasn't learned much and we as much told her to do what she could and not worry about it at all. After all, this test was just to see where she was at, not to prep her. And it was to help her overcome any anxiety about standardized testing. Guess I don't need to worry about that.
I was here a few years ago as a result of dd's school issues and trying to decide what to do then. We decided not to do any testing and just try and find a decent educational fit for her, which was NOT the school's GATE program. In looking back, clearly even though it was a gifted program, it wasn't really doing much at a significantly higher level.
Back to the point, now we have decided that testing is absolutely essential to determining dds schooling going forward. We know we are going to keep her where she is for 8th, as it is as a whole an academically accelerated program and she has essentially had a grade skip. Unfortunately, it is still very easy for her and she is frustrated by her peers. She does have friends, though, and she has no desire to change schools right now. But, high school is something we need to evaluate on an objective basis with real information/tools for that decision making. We have the ACT scores, now for IQ and/or other achievement scores. As for DYS, perhaps that will be a resource we can rely on as well, but no matter if or if not she meets this program's criteria, I need tools for advocacy and a knowledgable psychologist to help guide us.
We found on Hoagies a link to some psychologists and there is a psychologist about 5 hours away from us in Georgia. We are in a small city (Mobile, AL) and I am wary of using a local tester due to dd's unique personality - giftedness and ADHD and likely OEs.
So here's the question - is it worth it to go that far to get the test? What tests should I be looking for for primarily verbally gifted learner? WISC IV alone or something that helps with verbal ceilings. I seem to recall something about one of those, but can't remember what that test was called. I looked on Hoagies again but can't find it.
Thank you much for your time,
Sky
