Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Hi everyone... new here

Just wanted to say 'hello'. Found this site doing some research... I've got two kiddos - Emily (5, in K) and Ethan (7 in 2nd.) Ethan's been a 'handful' ever since he was little. He spoke his first word at 7 months (car!) and learned to walk at 11months (away from me at the security check-point at the airport!!) and learned at age 2 that if he screamed for about 10mins at daycare they'd call mommy or daddy to come pick him up! *sigh* We had a rough time for a while, but eventually found an in-home daycare for him when he was 4 with the most amazing woman/teacher. She discovered his love of writing and reading and learning in general. He has always been super active, overly-focused on activities that he enjoys, and exceptionally silly!

We are in the process of having him evaluated, and will hopefully be having him tested before the end of the year (the pediatric psychiatrist's office does Naglieri, and a diagnostician from my step-mother's school - stepmom is a principal @ a h.s. - is going to do one of the Woodcock-Johnson tests.) The reading tests at school (Reading 3D) which are meant to identify problems show him being a full grade level above in reading (though, he's reading books that are in the lexile range for 6-7th graders at home) and he makes nearly straight 100's despite his constant behavior problems!

I am trying to figure out what on earth to do with him next year! Leaving him in a traditional classroom just seems like a recipe for disaster.

Anyway. Hello to you all, I look forward to reading more and interacting with you all!

Hi epoh and welcome to the board.

Good for you for getting the testing done. With luck you will get some really good data. I don't know anything about the Naglieri. Perhaps someone else can weigh in with information/comments. If you are thinking about a grade skip or acceleration, you will want to make sure that your school is comfortable with the test administered.

The Woodcock-Johnson seems to be a pretty standard achievement test (and one that is accepted by DYS, whereas the Naglieri isn't), but I'd be sure to check with the school about that as well. (If you are really trying to get things buttoned down, you don't want the school coming back and saying "we can really only take results from test xyz. That is assuming that your school is acceleration-friendly. Which I guess is a big assumption.)

How is your communication with the school/teacher/principal? Do they see your son the way you do?

One thing about the Naglieri that you might want to think about is that it only measures non-verbal reasoning, so it can seriously underestimate kids who have verbal strengths or non-verbal/perceptual learning disabilities. Is there a reason that the pediatric psych doesn't want to assess verbal domains as well?

herenow - I'm going to assume the school would want to do their own testing after we present them with the results, but honestly, I want to know, now, for my own knowledge where Ethan's at. My step-mother is convinced that nearly all his behaviors are due to him being gifted, while my husband is convinced he's 100% ADHD. I'm personally not sure it's that clear-cut, either way.

Ethan's teacher has been pretty good so far, but we haven't really challenged her much, beyond adjusting homework to his level (replacing Moody Judy books with Harry Potter). Our experience with K and 1st lead me to believe the school is fairly open-minded to adjusting work to a particular kids' level, but the problem is they still want the kid to ALSO do all the regular work/tests, which is what is really bothering me. Ethan gets basically straight 100's (sometimes marks off for handwriting/not capitalizing letter) and is nearly always bothering his classmates by being silly, destroying things (tearing up paper, crumbling erasers, etc) getting up out of his seat, OR, having a freak-out (as I call them) when moving from one subject to another when he feels he hasn't finished his work to perfection.

I guess I just feel like he might need a totally different environment from traditional school to really excel!


aculady - I've heard that. I'm assuming the psych's diagnostician uses Naglieri because they see very young children in addition to many ESL/non-English speaking patients (the area we live is predominantly hispanic.) I'm very interested in having the WJ testing done in addition to the Naglieri, because Ethan is VERY verbal.

You might want to consider asking if they can administer the WISC-IV instead. It assesses verbal reasoning (including social comprehension), processing speed, and working memory in addition to non-verbal reasoning, and assessing those additional areas, while not diagnostic in itself, can often give useful information about any other issues (ADHD, spectrum disorders, NVLD, fine motor issues, etc.) that may need to be investigated further.

We have another appt with the pediatric psychiatrist on Wed so I will ask about the WISC-IV then. I've also emailed my son's teacher to ask her (she's been with the school district for 25yrs) what resources they have available. I'm assuming I'll be on the hook for the cost of the Naglieri test (the ADHD computer testing was $250 out of pocket) and we'll pay for the time of the lady that will be doing the WJ test for us... if the school can pick up the tab for any future testing that would sure make my pocketbook happy!

I am glad you are asking about the WISC IV. It seems like you might have an underestimate/incomplete information for your sons IQ with the Naglieri. As you know, these tests are a lot of $$; you'll want to be confident that you'll be getting actionable information.

So, semi-depressing conversation with my son this evening after soccer... I had asked him last week if they were doing multiplication or division at all in school yet (he likes to do math problems that I rattle off while we do our evening dog walk.) Tonight he told me he asked his teacher if he could do multiplications and harder math work and she told him they would do that later in the year and he needed to just do what he was told for now. . He's not learned a single thing in math so far his year at school.

Wow, this is just my opinion, but if it were me I would discuss the situation with the teacher asap. This is more than just about getting harder math. Your ds advocated for himself and the teacher blew him off. That is not a good lesson to receive. IMO, our kids need to know we will stand up for them when they need us. If my son came home with this story, I would ask him if he wants me to discuss it with the teacher. And then I would do everything I could to get results for him. My DS is also in 2nd and in a similar situation regarding math, although I don't know if he has asked for harder work himself yet. But in preparation for our upcoming PT conference, I asked him if the work he does at school is too easy, too hard or just right. He said mostly it is easy but math is super easy. I asked him what he would like to change about school and he said he would like harder math. So, that is my goal for the conference, get him some more challenging math!

Thanks, I want to talk to Ethan a little more before I go to her. Knowing my son, he may well have blurted this out in front of the entire class in the middle of a lesson! He's not exactly known for his tact, lol. He knows I've been talking a lot with his teacher to get things to change for him, though.

I think I might also pick up some 3rd and 4th grade math books and see if he and I can figure out what type of work would actually be challenging for him!

ETA: This work they are doing in his math class is all prep work for next year's TAKS test. This is what I've heard is all he'll be doing through the rest of his public education, studying to state proficiency exams. I'd be willing to bet $50 he could pass that stupid test today.