Everyone is different of course, but many GT kids LOVE testing. Mine did. It's like games and puzzles, so they're pretty fun!
Perfectionistic kids who don't realize they will miss some tend to have more trouble with testing. To combat this, I just let my son know that they have to have some that are too hard, that he WILL miss some, and that it's perfectly fine. He should just do his best. He had no problems with it then.
We had half of DS7's DYS-qualifying testing from the school's testing to ID him as GT--which is what made us realize that DS7 might be a DYS candidate--and then we paid for the IQ test. Both tests also helped us with finding an appropriate approach for school, but it was mainly for DYS that we did the IQ testing. I learned about his processing speed issues, so that was well worth the money we spent on testing!
Counseling with a big-name expert is specially arranged. Probably not a one-time-only thing, exactly, but not always on-tap either. However, talking with your Family Consultant--a DITD staff member who is assigned to work with a group of families--could be practically a daily occurrence. Most have backgrounds in education, counseling or other related fields, and they are great help with listening, offering suggestions, finding resources, writing letters to schools, etc.
