Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Would you request IQ testing, or wait?

So interesting...fun there is another July '05 kiddo here! Do you mind if I ask what made you think 140 would be about the score he might get?? I am just so stumped about this and I guess a little nervous -- after knowing she was "different" her whole life, what if I was wrong all along? Does that ever happen? Would a kid be very precarious this way and yet have an average IQ? Or maybe a "mildly gifted" score? I do not think that me or my husband are gifted -- though I would for sure say we are bright and talented in art and writing -- so maybe?? My younger daughter does not have ANY of these early milestones, which is why it is even more obvious that DD6 is different?

My DS walked "early" at 10 months, but he didnt speak until 26 months. My IQ was tested as a child at 139, and my son is a lot like me. He has some "quirks" though so we thought probably low 140's. We did an short IQ test through the school and he scored >160. I was nervous when we did the assesment testing and the WISC IV that maybe the first test was just a fluke, but his GAI on the WISC IV was at 159. He is also my oldest so I really had nothing to compare him too. I just figured he liked to learn like some little kids liked to play games, lol.

My older son was identified as gifted through screening at the request of his kindergarten teacher. I wanted him to be "normal" (ha ha - I was still naive about the idea of a gifted kid being normal), so we pulled him out and put him in a academically driven private school. He returned to public school in mid-school, and I finally had to fight the school to get him tested for gifted after he began misbehaving in 7th grade and decided to mess with a teacher's head who told him he should've been smarter about something - he chose to get zeros on every assignment and test while still completing every question. The counselor thought he needed therapy; I knew he needed testing. It's hard to convince a school counselor to request gifted testing for a kid who is getting zeros in all of his classes. (He missed 2 questions on the screening test and went on to qualify as gifted in all three exceptionalities. The gifted classes and IEP saved us. He's now a freshman in college studying mechanical engineering.)

I tell you this long story so that you'll understand why I suggest you request the testing now. Get it on the books and have her tested when it's a positive thing.

Based on our experience, a very bright 8 year old doing the WISC IV may well find they've hit the ceilings on several of the subtests. WIth a very even profile it may not make a lot of overall difference to the final score. But if he has lows that aren't offset by the true height of the highs, the overall IQ score will be artificially lowered.

This means you're not getting a full picture of his abilities (and corresponding needs) and I've found it is almost impossible to explain to officialdom what the score means.

As a 6 year old, the liklihood of hitting ceilings is lower.

This is a very real issues with Outlier-ish-ly Gifted kids.
Also she's happy now - there is no gaureentee she'll be as happy in 4 months - that's just life.
Also she'll have fun and enjoy it.
Also - can't she take it again at 8 if she needs to?
Also - Read up on acceleration. DH and I also had that same idea, if we pick a great district with great education then even a bright kid will get their needs met. NOT

Recommend '5 Levels of Giftedness' by Deb Ruf
and a free download - http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/nation_deceived/

So the answer - for us - was that 'Gifted' comes in many shades and levels. And gifted kids have a variety or personalities. We were lucky in that my son's personality was such that he felt that he deserved to learn new things every day and he was going to 'make waves' until that happened. I'm so grateful that he happened to be born that way - as I already assumed that school isn't for learning until High School at the earliest, and that like me, kids had to be molded into dealing with the needs of the many. Ok, I called it 'being a good classroom citizen, doesn't that sound better?

But anyway, other kids with other personalities react in other ways.
Some, like my DH, aren't very interested in what other kids are doing and find a way to challenge themselves and make the most of any academic situation, and are basically fine.

Others, who are more high in 'EQ' (emotional IQ scale) just find ways to blend in, underachieve, and get so used to everything coming to them easily, that when the work finally starts to get hard, and it doesn't come 'instantly' then they give up and conclude that everyone was wrong about their smartness. That's the scary one, and young females are - in my observation - particularly vulnerable to falling into this category.

No matter what you decide, be ready - the school is 'aware' that among your local batch of bright and gifted kids, she's an outlier. She may be much better off with agemates, she may be better off with kids (gulp) one, 2,3 or more years older. Time will tell. Flexibility is key. You've found a corner of the internet where the far right end of the bell curve tail is explored and 'outlier' kids are the norm. Doesn't it always depend on the denominator?

My son is 15 now, has a July birthday, our public school system has many bright kids but many fewer gifted and highly gifted ones. Even at the local private school that attracts the local 'bright/college bound/Doctor's kids' crowd - he needed a skip in the elementary years to get traction enough to learn how to learn. He's also got ADD, so for high school we deceled to allow him time for those organizational skills to develop. Flexibility has been key. But he's happy now, and working hard, and has friends, and doing well academically, and (usually) a good classroom citizen! ((pinching self and warding off evil eye))
Golly it's hard to say the good stuff without feeling like the other foot is going to drop....
((shrugs and more shrugs))

Grinity

I also say test now, if she doesn't get 140, retest her in a year or two.

Testing has been no biggie for my DS, he was tested twice last year (WPPSI & SB-V) and enjoyed it both times.

All very good points -- this is so super helpful! I need to get to the place where testing is "no big deal" you know? I do have one of those kids who is not very forthcoming about her knowledge - she was shy to read in front of people when she first started and she isn't loud and showy in class. In fact, she could really care less who she impresses, and I don't think she sees her intelligence as a "tool" for success at all. I think to her it is simply an part of who she is and she's learned to completely blend in, and so unless you knew you'd almost never know. Of course until you actually pay attention. So, she will get lost in the shuffle if I don't insist on more for her and she will eventually be hit upside the head when something is actually hard for her and she will dumb down herself in order to fit in and it ia kind of sad that at age 6 I already feel like so many good years of learning have not been used to their full potential.

I am sure you are right -- maybe I'll finish the parent survey and when I turn it in say that I've done something thinking and I'd like to move forward with testing. Why let more years go by?

Yippee! Great that she is good at blending in - and one wishes that a careful observer would see the difference, so lucky you are in a district with trained careful observers - honestly, in most places, most 'mere mortal' types won't see it now matter how carefully they look.

Remember the old addage 'when you believe it, you'll see it!' I think that is a built-in function of the human mind. We see it,so we project that others are 'like us' enough to see it too. But even we parents of gifties spend a lot of energy in denial - both that average others are 'like us' and that our kids a 'just being cute' when they act so far away from age expectations.

It is what it is - I'm grateful that you happen to be located in a school district with excellent trained observers and that you are getting in there at a young enough age to make a huge difference.

Fill out that paper-work, and make a copy of it, just incase you are filling out DYS paperwork soon-soon. ((wink))
Grinity

Sometimes it's a bit strange how these wildly dissimilar kids come up with such similar patterns of reacting to the classic challenges of bening outliers. It isn't that I know your DD personally, it's that I know 'what anyone facing her challenges in her situation might do.' Speaking as a female, there is a lot of biological pressure to fitting in! I'm one of those people who believes that for most of us, we are built so that the biologically smart thing is also what feels good. Maybe males reproduce better if they make a habit of standing out, showing off, and not fitting in, but I doubt those stratagies help females nurture children succesfully except in rare circumstances.

And that also explains why we moms have to fight our own personalities to advocate successfully. It just isn't easy to say 'hey, my kid needs something different that what's working for all the other kids. Let's step out of the box and do something different!'
See what I mean?
Grinity

I was lucky that her kindergarten teacher's daughter was a gifted kid so that helped, too. Though it is quite shocking I am sure when you sit down with a new kindergartener to do a simple reading screening and she gets through the fifth grade level and the teacher doesn't have anymore books b/c elementary school only goes to 5th grade. : ) Even still her kindie teacher had the "old" mindset that you could not possibly know if a kid were gifted until 3rd grade. I am guessing that is when her daughter was identified. And since she is grown now that would have been many monons ago.

Grinity -- what is the DYS paperwork? And is there an IQ cut off for that? I do think that I have gotten used to some of DDs abilities so it isn't as "scary" as it once was and therefore I tend to think maybe her learning curve has leveled out? I have always been told though to just let a kid be a kid and leave her alone, and just so many mixed messages in general that make me doubt myself and my assessment of her. You know?

Gosh, this is just so awesome to get a pep talk if nothing else!