Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment One child is gifted - do I get the other retested?

Hi Dottie,

The test used was a modified IQ test - as far as I understand it. It's based on Cartell Horn Carrell theory (which I hear is the way things are going). It had 3 components (well 7 but they only used 3 in this version) crystallized knowledge, fluid reasoning and visual processing. I asked them how it translated into an IQ score and they explained that people aren't using IQ scores any more (this in spite of the fact that it's all I see everywhere on the internet). In any case it is based on the same elements as IQ tests. I hope that helps. I'm not sure if the previous test (the one my older son took) was an IQ based test or an achievement test. I know that it had a writing component which many agree can create a biased score.

Thoughts?

This is the company who does the test.
http://www.ctcinsight.com/index.html

If anyone has any comments on it I would be interested.

Again, I'm in Canada.

That's reassuring to hear - I think. Thanks for sharing that.

Thank you for this comment - that is a very good point (that he will get a more accurate picture of who he is).

The characteristics you mentioned sound like my son, who is gifted/LD. The list you posted sounds like a list from Dyslexic Advantage for a child with Stealth Dyslexia. Many of the characteristics also show up on other Dyslexia sites.

I am going to echo the other posters - please get your son tested privately. We did private pyscho-educational testing in order to get an IEP, extended time on tests and the use of a computer for writing essays. This really helps with his writing, and an area that was a weakness is turning into a strength as ds gets older.

Some of the group testing instruments miss gifted/LD kids because they may think differently or don't work fast enough to finish. My school board did some research on a number of group tests and decided to keep administering the WISC-4 in order to identify the gifted kids, because of the high number of false negatives on the group tests.

This is my son to a T, lol (except for the math difficulty - he loves math). He also seems to do ok reading out loud (although that's when we catch his language processing issues, but he'll still happily do it, so I don't think it counts as a "difficulty").

Are visual-spacial kids are harder to test? I remember reading that somewhere.

Ditto for us... DS8 is very visual spacial, and is currently undergoing CAPD testing (although so far he is doing fine - he even scored well above age level in the pitch sequence component, which may simply be a reflection of piano lessons). He's been diagnosed with a language disorder (for receptive he's at the 0.5th percentile) which suggests that maybe his visual spacial strengths have been enhanced as he compensates for that. The question remains is whether is deficit is just in language or all audio. We go back tomorrow for more CAPD work (he's now had five normal hearing tests).

My kids are both enrolled in a drama camp this week. Yesterday as we were leaving, DS8 was chatting with a boy in the class (10). Nice kid. They talked back and forth, and then the boy said to my son "you didn't hear a word of what I just said, did you?" ...DS8 said "not really" and the boy just shrugged. I felt kind of frozen - I can't just run up to every kid and say "his brain scrambles language - can you please be patient?" Maybe he needs a t-shirt that says that or something ;p (kidding). sigh. I wish I knew how to help him.

It makes you realize how tricky 2e can be to test - it's like trying to focus a camera lens through a dense screen door. The disability is like the screen preventing you from getting a clear picture. Tillamook if you suspect your oldest son could be 2e, find a tester who specializes in it.

I contacted SENG recently to inquire if a trained psychologist could miss 2e and was met with a resounding YES - it happens all the time if their experience is primarily with "regular" gifted. From what I've heard/read/experienced, the presence of an immediate family member who is gifted (i.e. younger sibling) is reason enough to get a second test, but this time with a different doc.

Good luck

I'm no expert by any means. This is just my personal experience as a MG V/S learner myself, and the father of another. I suppose it's possible that what I'm suggesting is a memory deficit for your son is coming from the perspective of someone who has superior memory and doesn't know it... though if you ask my wife, I'm the one with the memory deficit.

Of course, nearly all my communications with my wife are verbal, and I have clear difficulties remembering verbal information. If you tell me your name, I'll forget it immediately. If I read your name, I'll recall it pretty well. If I write it, I'll never forget it. So clearly, my memory abilities are linked to my VS mode of thinking.

But yeah, multiplication tables and spelling were things I excelled in. We learned multiplication tables in 3rd grade, in a self-paced manner, and I mastered them long before any of my classmates. That same year I won the school spelling bee, and only lost at the district level because I got over-confident and tripped over my own tongue. When I'd spell a word, I'd see it in my mind, and read off the letters. If I was writing and I misspelled a word, I'd usually notice, because something about it didn't look right.

Earlier I mentioned how you probably have an idea of your son's memory abilities already from direct observation. People used to use the words "photographic memory" around me at a young age, and now they're using them with my DD. At 18-24mo, she became the family finder. If we had lost something, she'd remember seeing it somewhere, even if she hadn't had any access to that location for weeks. My understanding of VS learners is that this is a typical behavior, because of the nature of storing memories as visual information. I may be wrong again, because all of this is coming from my own (perhaps flawed) perspective.

I'd strongly recommend reading the Eidie's http://dyslexicadvantage.com/
book. They talk about 'non-linear' thinkers in a much broader way than the classic 'Right brain thinkers/VS learners' model. They stress that the key is 'global v. detail' thinkers - and adding that some global thinkers are strongly visual, and some are not. The ones who are strongly global but not visual turn out to be our weak spellers who suffer over the math fact memorization. This fits me well, not sure if it fits the rest of the world, but a useful book I think.

I have just looked up the previous test (the one my older son took) and it was an achievement test not an IQ test. That might explain him being missed. That gives me more conviction to pursue further testing within the school system. I'm glad you asked that question.
The test my youngest son took is the test I describe above.