Our testers (both of them) gave us advice. They said off-the-cuff things to me along the line of "Public school would have a tough time with him" or "Since you're homeschooling, be sure to spend at least 3 times as much time on his strengths as his weaknesses so that he likes school." But we also got formal recs in the form of a report that we could present to a school if we wanted to. This is part of what you're paying for.
So that you know what to expect, here's an excerpt from our report after the WISC:
Overall assessment describes X as an intellectually GT individual. This level of GTness is impacted significantly by X's intensity and never give up attitude, as he is much more focused on accuracy than speed. Additionally, when problems become more difficult he most likely will answer items correctly when the task involves written directions, rather than working items out in his head. The following recommendations were discussed with X's parents after the evaluation:
1. X's intellectual GTness will need to be addressed in the school. He will benefit from a more individualized curriculum...
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4. X is GT in both verbal and perceptual reasoning skills. However, he particularly excells in nonverbal areas. Therefore, encouraging skills in this area will most likely be enjoyable for X. Such tasks may be utilizing graphs, maps, and charts to analyze problems, creating objects through such things as blocks, artwork and Transformers, and working on reasoning problems through abstract and concrete concepts.
5. Given that X works in a slow and methodical manner, it is recommended that assignments be presented in a written manner and with short and precise directions rather than orally. Additionally, eliminating timed tests and allowing for extended work time should maximize X's ability to master difficult and challenging subjects without making careless mistakes.
Etc.
There were 7 recs, and most were pretty generic for GT kids, like that first one. #4 and #5 were the most highly individualized ones (note the reference to Transformers! Go psych!), so I used them for the examples to share.
A good psych will have an idea of what the school needs to hear to (hopefully!) be persuaded to provide accomodations for a GT child. You might just mention to the psych that this is why you're having the testing done, just to be sure you're getting what you need. But a good tester should know what to write.
BTW, this wasn't really counseling in the usual sense. It was more like discussing test results with your doctor. A brief but informative meeting to explain what s/he saw and what that means to you. Just do be sure to get the written report. That will give you more leverage with the school than "The psychologist said..."
Good luck!
