Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Is testing a good idea for us?

I had an epiphany today as I was brainstorming up all the medical ANYTHING that we should get done before the end of the year as we have our deductible already met.

So, on a whim, I called our insurance and discovered that outpatient therapy (unlimited visits...wow) AND psychological testing are both covered at 90%. The only caveat with pysch testing is it has to be precerted with the provider calling to give info on need for testing.

SO...

My ds is a newly turned 6 year old in K. I'm sure many of you have heard about our saga that ds seems to be completely flying under the radar in K, to the point that the school thought I was crazy to be resquesting differentiation. He underperformed on his reading placement test and on the AIMSweb test.

He has always been a pretty distractible kid (not overactive, and not severely inattentive), so we've always shelved the idea there could be some minor ADD stuff (dh definitely has traits, and I have a sister and dad most likely with it, as well as a nephew).

My dh is extremely intelligent and got through high school without studying or doing any homework. He really hit a wall with college, took some time off, and then made it through with straight A's. He has always hated reading and states he feels he just can't concentrate on it. I ask him if reading ever feels like "watching a movie in your brain" (which is what it's like for me), and he says it's more like reading a boring user manual. However, dh still rememebers calculus, advanced physics, and random facts that I have long since forgotten from school. He's in the business world, so he has no use for this info btw.

I believe ds6 is experiencing a lot of performance anxiety at school with evals...and he gets extremely anxious and flustered when he does his timed math at home. He can do math with ease, but when it's timed - he just goes blank.

The reason I think testing would be beneficial for us (in the long run) is to see if we are on track with identifying him as gifted, help advcoate at school should we need it, and help assess if there is any underlying issues that might be contributing to this test anxiety (processing issues, attentional issues), low frustration tolerance, and perfectionism that sometimes causes him to just shut down.

I realize that his performance anxiety could make the entire assessment process irrelevant. I think if he has a good repor with the tester and there are extremely strict time limits on the test, he may fare better.

Any thoughts? Any ideas which tests would best suit him?

I agree that rapport (and with a knowledgeable gifted tester) would be crucial, but I don't understand why you feel that extremely strict time limits would help him.

Meant AREN'T strict time limits ...oops

I don't think you *need* to test at this point, and I think if you do test you'd have to go into it knowing that there's a chance you might not believe the test results for any number of reasons (your ds is still very young, you're worried he might have test anxiety etc).

That said, I've found testing to be extremely valuable for many reasons, and since it's something you're interested in doing and you have insurance to cover it, I'd do it. The upsides I see to testing now are:

* You'll have hard data to advocate with
* You'll gain insight into your child's learning style
* If there are any types of issues such as ADHD or LD you'll have a head-start on understanding what's up and can move forward as needed now rather than later

If it was me, and my insurance covered it, I'd request a full neuropsych evaluation simply because you have some concerns about ADHD and also underperformance. If you can't get a full neuorpsych eval covered, then I'd request an ability/achievement test combo. The brand name (WISC vs other) of test that is offered is going to depend on the practiioner doing the testing. We've had two different sets of tests administered: WISC + WJ-III achievement tests and WJ-III Cognitive + WJ-III Achievement. Other families I know have had WISC + WIAT achievement tests (both Weschler). JMO, and not enough of an issue to think twice if you can't get it - but in our experience it's been really helpful to have the same brand ability test as achievement test because they can be put together in standard reports in a way that you can see how the abilities and achievements overlap/compare/etc. You can do the same thing with two different brand tests, but it's a little less straightforward. FWIW I havcen't seen a report for WISC + WIAT, but our reports for WJ-III Cog + Achievement were actually more helpful itoo me - I felt like they gave more specifically detailed information over a wider range of learning and ability areas. Take that with a huge grain of salt though - I'm not a professional and I've only seen detailed reports for my own three kids

The other thing that I'd be sure to ask - you want to have an evaluator who will be willing to show you and to explain the results for all the subtests.

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - I just wanted to add one thing about learning style - although it's not typically the reason people have their kids tested, it's been really helpful for me to have that info for both of my dds. One is very visual, the other relies almost entirely on audio.

Given what you're saying, I would test him. It seems to me that it would only help to give you information about your ds and what he needs. As to what test I'm not sure, but can you find out what tests the school uses? I know our school has that info as part of their policy on gifted education. I realize the school may want to test again, but they would most likely be more willing to look at a test they knew about/ had heard of.
Good luck!

I got my 2e/eg/pg son tested last summer with the WPPSI when he was 5.5 yrs old. The tests came back scattered and inconsistent. The neuropsychologist gave us a diagnosis of ADHD, Asperger's, and anxiety disorder - which I have since learned from neurofeedback, which started in Aug, are invalid and misdiagnoses. Insurance paid for the WPPSI though.

In Feb, my son did the WJ-III achievement tests through public schools - so we didn't pay. He scored better on these tests but didn't perform completely to his ability and underperformed, particularly in math.

In June, I took my son to a 2e specialist. She looked at the WPPSI and WJ-III scores and said he was ADHD - but like I said, I have since learned from neurofeedback in Aug that this was a misdiagnosis. 2e specialist said if we did neurofeedback that it would likely take care of our '2e' issues and that if we had him re-tested in a couple of years we would probably get the test scores we expected.

Well, if we didn't start neurofeedback, then we would have NEVER known that our 2e DS didn't have ADHD. So I don't have a lot of faith now in these tests or 'experts' to be honest, even if our DS's situation is unusual.

2e specialist confirmed he was gifted - but we already knew that because he had been at two private gifted schools and I was told that he might be eg/pg from one them. So she didn't really tell us a whole heap that we didn't already know.

In hindsight, I'd say that there could be a number of reasons why a child has performance anxiety. Probably some due to self-esteem; some due to the type of learner; some due to the type of thinker; some due to attentional deficits; and on and on.

The issue is the attentional deficits and how they can affect test scores regardless of a child has ADHD or not. My two cents is that you might be better off devoting your energies to finding out whether your child has ADHD or not yourself and seeing if medication or alternative treatments, such as neurofeedback, might help.

Neurofeedback is eliminating or greatly reducing the need for medication; your insurance may even cover it. It might be worth investigating. It's more objective and based on actual brain-based activity rather than a paper-pen test or clinical observation. Brain wave activity can show whether the theta waves are too high to show if ADHD is present.

There are various books and checklists online to confirm that your child may be gifted. Like Polarbear said, the test results are not always reliable at this age or point. It's only a snapshot of child. It can provide you with a paper trail though. If the insurance pays, then I might be tempted to create some documentation. But be wary and skeptical.

Thanks so much everyone! I left a message with a psychologist today but haven't heard back yet. Despite living near a very large city, I was disappointed that my search turned up almost no one claiming to work with gifted. One very promising center is a cash-only biz. Might be a good resource for "someday".

Cdfox...

Thanks for sharing your story. Neurofeedback is quite fascinating. We have looked at gifted checklists and parental reports of milestones that can mark giftedness. I think we have a great deal of evidence to say, "Yep he's gifted"...but it sure would be nice to have a devoted and qualified opinion.

When will he be tested in school?

They don't even offer G/T anything until 4th grade (and it's a paltry "once a week enrichment" thing. No state mandates. Middle school is more promising because of ability tracking.