Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment To test or not to test, I need advice.

We have FINALLY found someone in our area who tests bright kids and seems to have a reasonable rate on their sliding scale fee. She would administer two tests, I believe WISC and Binet, maybe a different one if one of the tests didn't work well for Wolf. She says the whole process should take around four hours in two two hour increments.

Besides applying for Davidson, why should we test? Is it worth the money? What is a reasonable fee for that? What other things would we need that oh so important number for?

The fact is, knowing Wolf, we would be much more surprised if he didn't qualify for Davisdon than if he did. We don't need the number to know how smart he is; he doesn't give us a choice with that.

Oh and given a choice which tests would be best for him to take, both qualifying for Davidson and in general?

Not that I have much experience, but if you can do it affordably, why not? I would imagine it would still be illuminating somehow, with all of the subtest info, more than just the one number. Do you think he's 2e in any way?

Also, I just recently brought up the whole giftedness subject with my mom and found out, much to my surprise, that I had been tested through my school in K and 1st, and even more surprising, that she still had my results despite our many moves. I found the information interesting (although I wish my mom had acted on it instead of just filing it away!). I would guess that your son is more informed about his giftedness than I ever was, but perhaps when he is an adult, he will still be looking for more info about himself, and you can offer him the results... just a thought.

I also sent you a PM.

"Affordably" is the issue. We are low income and even the sliding scale number is a LOT for us to take on. I'm basically looking for any information that can help make that expenditure seem more balanced than just the fact we need it for Davisdon.