Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Need help obtaining non-verbal assessment

Hi,
This is my first post here, I'm hoping I can get some insight as I don't know what else to do at this point. I have an eight-year-old son who needs to be in the gifted program. His teachers have recommended him for the program each year of school so far, but the problem is that he doesn't talk to adults, and because of that he can't take the verbal IQ test that is required for his entry into the program.

I don't like to use the word "shy" because it goes beyond that. He doesn't talk to any adults other than close family and never has. He has no problem talking to other kids, which makes his teachers think he's just being stubborn. He's not just being stubborn. He very much wants to be able to talk, but he can't. He's been in tears over not being able to make himself do things like give oral book reports and participate in the spelling bee.

His standardized test scores are ridiculously high, he is reading high-school-level books, there isn't any doubt that the program would benefit him. As a volunteer in his classroom I see him finishing his work way before the other students and then sitting there fidgeting and squirming in his seat for half an hour while the other students finish.

The school decided to send him to meet with the gifted teacher once a week although he hasn't been tested for the program. So he can get used to her, and so they can "gather data." I was called in for a meeting last week where the gifted teacher said that he isn't responding or participating so she doesn't think he should be in the program. I thought they understood that he's not going to be volunteering to speak or maybe even not answering questions. I don't know how else to get them to understand that he's not just making a choice to be difficult, he really can not make himself speak.

I have a degree in education and I know that there is a big emphasis put on making accommodations for every student, yet there are no accommodations being made for my kid.

What I'm hoping to learn here is if anyone knows of any non-verbal assessments that can be used to test for the gifted program. I know the criteria is different for each district, but maybe a non-verbal IQ test exists out there that I can talk them into using.
Thanks!

Ravens progressive matrices is a non verbal test. But I agree with Master of None, your son needs to be formally diagnosed as he clearly has a significant problem. Selective mutism was the first thing that came to my mind, but I am not a psychologosit.

I'll also second the advice to get a private eval - getting your ds into the gifted program is one goal, but there's another piece of the puzzle that needs to be addressed - it sounds like your ds may have a very real disability that he will need help with and accommodations for. I also thought of selective mutism. FWIW, I have a ds who has an expressive language disorder - although my ds' expressive language disorder primarily impacts his written expression, it also pops up in not-so-obvious places in verbal communication too. He struggles a TON with talking to adults, particularly teachers at school. He's working with an SLP and it's helped him soooo so very much.

Having a diagnosis, if there is one, is worthwhile for several reasons. It's going to give you something you can use to advocate for accommodations and also use to advocate for a different ability measure to be used for the gifted program admission. It's going to help you determine how to get effective help for your ds, and it's going to help your ds to know for himself, and to be able to have the adults he's spending his time with at school, know that it's not just him being silent purposely, or something "wrong" with him (kid-think), it's something that is different and can be helped.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I wonder what would happen if you either went to the school with the results of private testing or asked for them to test for services related to his not speaking to adults. That sounds like selective mutism, and the longer it goes on, the more difficult it is to treat it, so I would want to be addressing that level of anxiety pretty aggressively.

Thanks, I didn't realize this had ever posted so I just now saw your replies.

I guess I don't know a lot about 504 plans, accommodations could be made based just on anxiety? I've been reluctant to take him to a psychologist again-- I've done that in the past and of course he wouldn't speak to her so no progress was made. It just stressed him out so much just to be there that I gave up on it.

I'd love to have something official though. Because it seems to be a problem at the beginning of each school year- a battle to get each teacher to understand that he's not just being rude or refusing to participate.

Search for a psychologist who has expertise in and treats selective mutism. It is treatable, but you are right that just bringing him in for traditional talk therapy is not going to work, because he won't talk to the therapist. You should definitely read about the treatments in the linked wikipedia article, and then maybe read up some more on treatments that sound promising to you. But you need to do something, and do it soon, because the longer this goes on, the tougher it will be to treat.