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My DD went in for an evaluation at 4yrs10 months. I was concerned about "hyper" behavior, social struggles, intensity, emotionality, and the gap between her advanced cognitive development and other areas.

The psychologist screened her for autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, giftedness, etc. I am not meeting with the tester for another week, but we spoke briefly and she did not see signs of ASD AT ALL and while some traits appear ADHDish (even to her) she is not disagnosed with that either. She did clearly and strongly say that she is gifted. The tester chose to skip an IQ test and use achievement tests instead. I hope those will be useful to schools. I have asked her repeatedly what the names of the tests are, but have not gotten an answer. I looked around online and now I am almost positive she gave her the The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement.

All I know is that she said she was testing at third or fourth grade and that math and language were equal which doesn't seem accurate to me (she is stronger in language) and she said she may have hit ceilings in both tests. I think the tests she gave were for K-3rd and she started her at age six testing and it took hours and hours for her since she wasn't getting enough wrong to stop the test. I am not sure what I can do with this information. It is a relief that she didn't see ASD and is beyond convinced of the giftedness (I am still in denial). She said my DD will need a very special academic program but we live somewhere where there is very little available.

I have thought about having her skip K, but the school is against skips, and she is short, on the young side for her class, and baby faced compared to other K students and would seem out of place with the first graders who might be two years older (starting kids at 6 is common here). She also seems way beyond her years in some ways, yet at the same time younger and more innocent in other ways. It just seems there isn't a place for her to belong, but fortunately, she does have some friends and can relate to them on some level. She is silly and tends towards sensory seeking, but can pull it together and be focused and quiet for table work, storytime, group learning etc.

Well, that is my report. I don't talk about this anywhere else so I hope you don't mind me sharing this just for the sake of sharing.

Cue the Tom Petty...


Sounds like you have a lot of little snippets of information to work with here, that can be crazy making!

Hang in there until you get those results!

hey thanks for responding Daytripper, and for the video ;-) I am not a patient person by nature so this sort of thing is always hard. I still question using achievement tests over an IQ test. She had an IQ test at three years four months, but I always felt that that wasn't an accurate picture and thought we might need an updated one. Oh well. I'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs and be happy that as of the moment, she didn't see any ASD.

Good Luck TT I'm hoping that things go well. Tell the tester about the school refusing to skip...see if shell agree to call them!

Grinity

I can give you my input as a parent and a school psychologist! Yes, it's kind of a drag how long testing can go on when the subject keeps getting answers right, hee hee.

If she ceilinged out, you will not be getting accurate numbers. This is straight forward - for example, the ceiling may require 6 items in a row incorrect. Sometimes it takes a quiet moment to double check this, but this question is answered before you run the results through a computer or anything. It's also straight forward math that if she ceilinged out, the numbers are an underestimate of her score. [duh] I kind of feel for the examiner - "shoot, I spent all this time and the kid ceilinged out!" However, if she did, she'll require more testing if getting the valid number is necessary. She may not require more testing if proving eligibility for gifted can be done with the numbers even with the ceiling.

Regarding IQ with youngsters, there's a pretty clear consensus that IQ measurements are useful at young ages but may be subject to change. Being in the field and a mom, I had my 2E fully evaluated at 9.5 years.

I am not sure why your tester used only achievement - maybe to help communicate with the school, which is interested in achievement levels? The G/T program at my son's school had the achievement scores at the 97th, but wanted IQ scores in case he was "just a high achiever." This despite the state warning that IQ scores can be depressed by the effects of the disability. PS 2E can have declining IQ scores over time as coping with the effects of the disability drains the child.

My older son is in class with a 2E who was promoted to his grade. This kid really has social problems, plus he's been puny forever. From my perspective, he has not been proof that grade promotion is a good idea. I skipped 10th grade and still remember how socially challenging that was and how immature I felt. It did drain a lot of my attention from academics, and choosing colleges was suddenly in my face. And I don't have two Es.

Some of the social interpersonal ASD stuff may be part of the asynchrony of gifted children.

Hi Grinity,

The psychologist mentioned communicating with the school and that only a very special program would be suitable. She seemed to be quite impressed with my DD, and was beyond convinced of her giftedness (more so than I am) so her conviction would he helpful.

There is NOTHING anywhere near by for us and very little gifted progaming in the school and that doesn't start until third grade (and is experiencing cuts).

We are considering Montessori for her K year but she would be with 3-6 year olds. They claim she could work to wherever her ability would take her, but I have my doubts, esp. since the programming is only through K.

I used to live in Massachusetts (near Boston) and there are so many more options there.

Thanks for directing me to this site long ago, Grinity. I know I thanked you before, but just wanted to say it again. I felt so isolated with this issue before coming here.

Hi LinCO,

Thanks for responding as both a mom and an evaluator.

I thought the tester chose a test that went up to third or fourth grade so I guess she assumed that a preschooler wouldn't need to go beyond that. I sure hope she didn't pick a test that had a second grade ceiling. That would have been way too low.

She already had that IQ test at three and that is also above what is needed for a gifted program, but for a variety of reasons, we didn't think that he truly captured her profile at that age and that it was an underestimate, and perhaps she felt she needed more support. Apparently she already wrote up the report and so I am guessing she won't want to do any testing.

Oh, LinCo, are the results valid if a child is given a test that starts at age 6 when they are four years 10 months? How can you calculate their score?

Thanks.

Do you mean the school only goes through K, or the classroom she would be in spans 3-6, bit that there are other classrooms beyond that? (6-9, 9-12...)

Montessori was an excellent option for us, but there are pitfalls even there...

hi Herenow, the school only goes to age six / K. What pitfalls did you encounter?

Ah Twinkly Happy Mother's day to you!
I hope the tester is willing to get in close with the school and explain the situation to them. It may be that the 3rd grade gifted program is the perfect place for your DD.
It is hard to know what a school will do with an outlier child, so look for a good escape clause! Even if the school can provide academics at our dd's level, what kind of peer group will they provide? The harder question is: What kinds of peer groups will work best with your little wild pony?

Peace,
Grinity