Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school intro to three year old, questions about testing

Hi,

I have a 3.5 year old girl who is talkative beyond belief, emotional,highly extroverted, and so sensitive that we had her evaluated wondering if she had ADHD or something else. They gave her an IQ test (I didn't want one this early but figured they had their reasons so consented) and I think she could have done quite a bit better since she answered many things "wrong" that she clearly knew etc, she seemed to just not be at her best, but still had at least one sub score in the 99th percentile, but overall, "only" scored in the 97th. She took the WPPSi III.

I was told to read Ruf's levels of giftedness and she is all over the place, even having some things in level 5, but really seems to be more at 2 or 3 by those standards, yet the test score seemed more like a level one, but when I read about a level one in that book, she had done many of those things years ahead of what was listed and that didn't seem right. The only reason that matters is that level one gifted often doesn't require any modifications and I am pretty sure she will need them.

I know IQ Testing at 3.4 isn't that reliable anyway, but I was wondering if she would most likely need to be retested and when if we are trying to find out options for preschool and kindergarten since I believe some programs really want the 98th percentile which I am sure she would hit next time just based on knowing what she knows and what she didn't do there. Actually
the school she will be attending has extra activities for children above the 95th, but I am wondering if she may benefit from something more. Maybe Montessori? She has a May birthday. She can already do much of first grade material at three if asked (though I don't do that sort of thing with her at home--no flash cards, no workbooks, etc. She learns things almost after one presentation in passing) If she is only three now, what in the world will happen when she goes to kindergarten two years from now and the things she does are so far behind what she is capable of doing and she is prone to being a little bossy, restless, and a class clown?

I know some people think that some people just want to label kids gifed for some sort of status symbol and push them, but this isn't what this is about. She has been very challenging and already tries to act different, draw differently, speak differently and hide skills and vocabulary around age mates and I don't want her to have to do that or to feel different. She also is sitting through things at preschool that she learned years ago and is by nature, chatty, impulsive, and super high energy so it is hard for her to contain when her energy has nowhere to go at times. She is in a play based preschool and loves the songs and crafts, but much of kindergarten material if not all are things she mastered before this year and I worry what will happen in kindergarten. She will continue to learn at home, but I worry mostly about her emotional health and her behavior since she is so extroverted, talkative, and non-conformist.

I am just looking for a place to chat, connect, and give and get support since I often feel my child is different than my friend's children. Thanks in advance for reading all this if you made it this far. Sorry if any of this is unclear: I am in the middle of a killer headache as I type.