Sorry it's taken me so long to come back around. I really and genuinely appreciate the comments. I acknowledge that me not responding did not say "thank you for the time you've given" from your prior replies. Please accept my apology. I did read the responses, but I'm pretty overwhelmed with where to go next so I shut down. I apologize.
The school district promised the world and I'm seeing nothing... so I'm back.
I've enrolled him in a JHCTY math course, and that's going just okay. It's not what he needs. He is not interested in more school work at home. Gosh if that isn't going to be an expensive mistake. I'm glad I only did 3-months for $800. This kid needs a totally different format. He needs to be engaged. JH is not engaging at all.
For math, the public school is offering extension worksheets, but no accompanying instruction. The teacher doesn't have time to instruct him. He's making his own methods up, which sometimes works, and sometimes is way wrong. He can only figure out so much on his own, and I don't really want him practicing incorrect math. Without a feedback loop, this is meaningless and perhaps harmful. For ELA and science, no extension.
We are in a very small district, outside of Portland, OR. The drive into Portland is ridiculous, so that is out of the question. Seattle is 3 hours north. I've got to make-do with what we have. I will look to the advocacy tips posted above, and continue to be "that parent" at school.
As the other scores are not near the cutoff (12 to 20+ points below cutoff... generally a full standard deviation below cutoff), I would tend to say no. But I will also ask whether the tester was familiar with gifted. The working memory and processing speed are significantly lower than other scores...
We didn't go into this looking for an IQ score, we went in looking for help with Executive Function. We are at such conflict at times at home, with his attention, that I feel like I've broken his spirit at times. Without a diagnosis (what I was really hoping for, if I'm honest with myself), I don't have any resources. We already knew he is very bright. This IQ number helps, but it's not the magic bullet.
The tester administered IQ at the same time as 2 other tests, in a 3-hour session.
She (Psy.D., N.C.S.P.) said that he had significant difficulty with one particular test she administered, which I understood as a dot-to-dot, called "Trail Making" within the Delis-Kaplan test. He breezed through the dot-to-dots that were 1-20, then A-Z, of course but did poorly with a dot-to-dot that went 1-A-2-B-3-C-4-D-5-E-6-F ... and so forth. He could not finish it in the time given, got very confused and frustrated, had to start over many times at 1-A... He scored a 2 on that test particular test. Delis-Kaplan score overall was 10, which the tester said is "normal".
He was also administered "Test of Variables of Attention":
"X's score of 0.66 falls within the borderline range and suggests the presence of some attention problems, particularly ADHD."
From the WISC-V read-out:
"His two lower scores, which are still well above average, are in the areas of Working Memory and Processing Speed. Working memory refers to X�s ability to attend to and hold information in short term memory while performing some operation or manipulation with it. Working memory is highly dependent on the ability to sustain attention and concentration on a task. Processing speed refers to X�s speed and accuracy in visual scanning and tracking activities and his fine motor output speed. While X would not be characterized as a child with a processing speed deficit as his score is still above average, his speed does not match his level of ability in other cognitive domains."
Circling back, I was looking for something, anything really, that says "here is the magic bullet". Here is what we do to help this child. He's falling through the cracks at school. I thought maybe the EF issues we see might have affected his IQ score, which might then open some doors here at DYS. I see that isn't the case.
