Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Experiences w/Davidson Young Scholars Program?

brandijocelyn, is your DS 6-years-old? I think with the achievement portion, they want to see something recent (the criteria mention 2 years, but I wonder with our younger kids if they might not even want more recent?) that demonstrates that they are 2-3 years ahead achievement-wise.

Others here might be better experts on portfolios, but the portfolio option seemed tricky to us. DD9 DYS took the EXPLORE and DS6 is scheduled for achievement testing to go along with his WISC scores. I simply don't feel talented enough to put together a "good enough" portfolio.

Don't give up - whether you decide to go with another portfolio or achievement testing, if you look at old threads (or even way back in this one), it isn't uncommon to be asked for "more information" and later be accepted. Best wishes to you and your DS!!!

Yes I think they want something more recent but I don't have anything good to show them. My son is 6 and had a really negative experience in preschool that sent him underground with his abilities. We have not seen the same kind of open joy for learning since. He has become secretive and has anxiety about making mistakes so he is very hesitant to show what he can do. He also struggles with some speech issues so it can be hard for him to communicate. I'm hoping a new school and speech therapy will help him overcome these things over the next year. I scheduled the achievement test with the same woman we used for the IQ testing since she seemed to be able to get my son out of his shell a bit. Hoping for good results. I'm going to just keep trying. It should be less stressful with the achievement test option since it is a more objective measure. Thanks for the encouragement.

brandijocelyn, in the past, people have submitted dated worksheets that show abilities 2+ years above the norm in math, science etc to demonstrate achievement. Maybe your son would be willing to give that a try?

I'm kind of scared of the portfolio option now to be honest. lol

I think we will see how he does on the achievement test and go from there. If for some reason the scores don't qualify I can look into getting him to do some reading or worksheets on video. Reading is where he excels most right now. I guess I thought the submitted items had to be something really out there to qualify so I submitted the most striking stuff we had which was from when he was 2 and 3. Didn't think it would be considered too old since he is only 6. Guess I should have been thinking more practical. Thank goodness they give you another chance.

Congratulations OrlFamily, JAH823!! Exciting news!

Brandijcelyn, I am so sorry to hear you need to submit more info. I totally understand your nervousness regarding the portfolio option. My DD didn't have much enrichment at home prior to her wisc test so whilst I could have done a video of her reading and she could have easily done 2nd/3rd grade worksheets, I was never confident it would be enough, partly because she isn't like my DS who has obsessions and an exceptionally good memory and I feel it is so much easier to convey his intelligence through a portfolio.

And yes, don't give up! Good luck with the achievement testing, hope all goes well

We are still whirling/so excited from hearing that our DS7 is a DYS (mostly because of his math ability)—but it's brought back my annoyance with his teacher last year who patiently explained to be that an ability to "calculate" was different from math reasoning and refused to do any acceleration. I feel like we wasted an entire year of school. I really want to go back to her and explain that this isn't about him knowing his multiplication tables or me being a pushy parent, that he does have a passion for math and felt so misunderstood/out of place in her classroom. Sorry, just had to vent!

OrlFamily, I hear your frustrations. I hope your consultant will be able to assist you in advocating for him in school. I'm not having much luck getting DD to memorize the tables despite some great advice I received here on this board so I am sure we will get some pushback from the school in the next month when we advocate for her to start 3rd grade math.

On that note, families who have been recently accepted - have you heard from your assigned consultant? I did get an email that we would be receiving a welcome call, etc, but I didn't hear from anyone or a follow up email.

hi all - is there anyone else in this months pool who still hasn't heard? I'm starting to get worried as I am still waiting for a response

It takes a while… I think we didn't hear for about a month.

Talked with our consultant today- it took a bit to schedule with summer vacations. I felt bad for the consultant, I think all of my school worries and worries about DS's anxiety/perfectionism just came tumbling out in one long sentence.
I am so appreciative of these forums and for Davidson- I really have no one to talk with except DH to talk with about DS.