Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Having second thoughts

You are going to be her biggest advocate until she is.
First grade is a good time to start tracking her progress.
Its nice to have something for the meetings with the school.
Then there's what about next year.

Yup. The same thing happened to me when I was in grade one. I was pulled aside and tested for eligibility to skip a grade, and I (still, 39 years later, lol) remember thinking the material was beneath me, so I didn't cooperate. They left me with my age peers.

It didn't work well for me, and by grade seven I was so bored I was angry and defiant. In high school I had no study skills because I had never been challenged. I never did homework because I literally didn't know how to motivate or discipline myself. I earned only a small scholarship and failed to make the honor roll at the end of grade twelve. I never ended up going to university (although I was accepted) because at that point I had lost interest in all things education-related. sigh.

I agree with knute974 - discuss the boredom issue with the tester. You could also talk to your daughter about it as well (no one prepped me) about how it's important to do her best work even if she thinks it's boring.

Meanwhile, you could collect a portfolio of her achievements (video tape her as well) in case her testing doesn't go well... at least you'll have other tangible evidence.

Good luck

We talked to my son prior each testing and let him know that some of it might be super boring, some might be fun, and some parts might be hard. We wanted him to try and do his best, because the reason we were doing the testing was to help the school make things better for him. He did amazingly well on all his testing, especially considering his 2E issues.

Wolf is getting tested in two weeks. I've been nervous about it since before we set it up. I think it's a version of the whole "I can't possibly be gifted" thinking, just shifted to him. I know he's brilliant. No one who knows him has any doubt at all, but still there's the fear the numbers might not show it.

I just sent in the initial paperwork to the psychologist for DS, who will be 4 when we do the testing.


This is precisely the reason why we are testing.

With DS' asynchronous development and reserved personality, I am hoping the test will help answer some questions.

Like OP, I am also second guessing whether I am making the right decision. What if DS isn’t gifted after all?