Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Should we apply DYS without IQ testing?

Yeah. This is the step we will take next once we get the official written avaluation and see where does this take us.

We are still thinking about school options, whether to stay in the current public school (very good in terms ranking, does provide additional enrichment opportunities, but opposes grade skipping), or go to private school. We could also maybe get him tested at Chicago Public School system and go to public gifted schools in downtown Chicago.

The tester seemed to think that if the child is happy in current school, we should just wait and see.

Grace... CPS isn't the only system with public gifted schools. I am not sure where you are located but I think Downers Grove has a magnet school as does Schaumburg (This starts in 3rd grade).

Thanks frannieandejsmom,

We live in west suburbs, so I will check out the Downers Grove system. Your information has been extreamly helpful!

Yippee Grace! Great news. Start downloading the application and fill out what you can. Remember you need 2 letters of recommendation from non-family members. Do you have anyone in mind? This can be hard, because so many people have denial about high levels of giftedness.

But the scores are very very good.

Smiles,
Grinity

I only have one in mind, DS' Kindergarden teacher in Montessori school he went to, who is also teaching my DS4.5.
She never said a word of "Gifted" about DS7 but mentioned casually to me that DS will be smartest in his first grade class.
Now we are having major motivational issues with DS4.5, as he does not want to do anything and constantly spacing out in the classroom, especially with a younger teacher who is pretty strict. He refused to do anything with her. DS4.5 is the one we don't think is nearly as smart. We nearly pulled him out of Montessori last year as he was just wasting time there and not making friends at all. We were going to put him in a traditional preschool where it's "fun" activity all day long.
Of course, like everything I do, it takes me forever to take an action. I have not transferred him so far. I am still not sure if it's good or not.

Since DS' processing speed score is significantly lower than his other scores, I did try to calculate his GAI score, which came up an incredible 157 ( DS has 19,18,18,18 in Verbal and 18,18,15 in PRI)...

The reason I wanted to post this here again is that I was honestly surprised. I know my son is bright, but he is not THAT bright as his GAI indicates, 3 points from the highest possible score? It can not be..

My son is ok at school, enjoys enrichment classes and recess and lunch (yes, his favorite part of first grade), having two/three good friends. Other than being very emotional and likes to negotiate on every possible thing you ask him to do (except for reading and computer games), he seems to be a normal 7 year old boy to me.

We have never taught him anything , other than occasionally testing him with harder questions to see how good he is; and again, we've never gone beyond 4th grade math.
He likes science a lot and knows every little fact about dinosaur; reading is his favorite thing to do other than computer games.

So the score seems unreal to me, with this, I feel like I need to do some advocating for him at school, which I honestly have not considered until now. We are in a good school district, so we see many kids as smart as him, all of them go with the flow, is my son really different? Or as many people will say it's just a score, don't look to much into it....

Your thoughts welcome.

Grace

Hi Grace, we're in the same boat rowing with one oar after testing DD7 in May. Her GAI was three noses behind your DS and I wasn't even sure she'd score into the gifted range.

My confusion was expecting every child with those scores to be very similar. I had no idea the gifted population is so diverse. Some are not high achievers at all despite getting the opportunities.

If it's any encouragement, two of the things you mentioned about your DS being emotional and his endless negotiating fit my DD to a T. She drives my DW batty negotiating everything. She also has been playing computer games since age two.

What I've learned is that right now DD's chief need is to be around other children like her so she can be comfortable being who she is. She is seeking deeper relationships. She tends to prefer kids several grades above her and is very sentimental. Her main concerns and interests right now are not academic.

We also had her start taking piano lessons. These are great for gifted kids because it requires learning yet it is also creative, and they can grow more or less infinitely at it yet there will always be someone better than them.

I just want to point out that that processing speed score, while in the average range, still represents what could be a significant bottleneck to being able to express his giftedness in everyday ways that make people go "WOW!". Many people equate intelligence with mental quickness, not with depth. It could also be a flag for other issues, such as an undiagnosed LD or an attention problem, both of which could easily mask really exceptional giftedness.

Pro,

My son started playing piano this summer. He improves rapidly and enjoys it. Music seems to calm him down quite a bit. However, like most of things he does, he would not put too much efforts into it. So when the tester said his slow speed was most likely due to his perfectionism, DH and I exchanged a look, we were like " he does not seem like a high achiever to us".

Similar to your DD, he has not shown much interest in the things his same age peers enjoy, such as Pokemon.

Aculady,

Thanks for your reply.

That totally makes sense. As I said in my previous post, DS is not a high achiever or people pleaser. he never wants to win or show people what he is able to do. All he does is driven by his own interests.

He does have attention problems; he could never pay attention especially in his kungfu class or soccer camp, when the coach is explaining something. He seems to be in his own world most of the time. That made his dad and I so frustrated about him. Could that be related to ADHD? But when he reads a book, he is so deeply in it, so one can easily distract him...

Anyway, I have not been able to discuss these issues with anyone other than my DH. Being able to openly discuss this on this forum is great.