Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment 4 Year Old Testing and Sensitivity OT Therapy

Maybe look at this: http://txgifted.org/

No specific tester recommendations, but perhaps you could connect with local parents

Suevv, thanks! I hadn't thought of university. Will check it out.

aeh, Good point about private testing. They have to make some diagnosis, but I like the idea of the testing setting and it being one evaluation administrator. I know it's going to be limited at this age. Honestly, I'm not looking for much. I know a test later on, say age 9, is preferred. The school system here is not in any hurry to find a disability. They want kids to fall into the average scale. They are not prone to skipping grades and GT classrooms. I know it's going to be a year to year, teacher based struggle for us. Thanks!!

DeeDee, Thanks. Someone else mentioned Texas Children's to me today as well. It's a huge children's hospital here. I am still milling around the neuropsych evaluation. Need to read more about it. He mas very mild sensory issues, social in the sense that he gets overwhelmed with large crowds and loud noises as a result from those crowds. He does best with 2 to 3 playmates. That's going to be a very hard transition into kinder.

Thanks everyone! I did receive a tester list from my pediatrician today. Now I just have to cross reference with insurance. Hoping some portion of it will be covered. Now, these test. There are so many! I need to read about those as well. Which is best for age 4?

Not sure if any of this helps you, but we went through an OT eval about 6 months ago when our DS was 3. I was convinced he has SPD, but the OT said he is "sensory sensitive" but does not have SPD or any other diagnosis. This is a child who has hated water since day 1, still screams when taking a bath, and has a whole other host of sensory experience sensitivities. Some of his reactions are more from emotional overexiteability than sensory, but they blend so it's hard to know why he's having a meltdown. We did the ASD eval with pediatrician and then saw a child psychiatrist, who echoed the same findings as the other two, does not have SPD and is not qualify as ASD. She actually said, "He's a genius in a 3 year old's body, it's hard for him."

In regard to worrying about public school evaluations, I did them myself, had 2E kids in many classrooms and I just differentiated like all Special Ed teachers do. I would have NEVER fudged numbers, there is an integrity to those tests and the people using them. The school psychologists are trained professionals, often times they come from other professional environments like private practice.
We are trying to decide to go public or private for evals, and the main upside that I can see for going with the public school system, is that a principal is more likely to hear what the school psych has to say rather than believe what a piece of paper says from a private eval from someone they don't know. The schools usually use the Special Ed teacher for the acadmice assessment and the school psych for the cognitive. They aren't perfect but can be very informative.
I hope whatever way you go, you find solutions and hope for your child. : )

I just sent you a PM.

And for completeness: I actually do the bulk of the testing myself, other than very well-defined specialist assessments, like speech/language, OT, and APE/PT. Not unlike what a private psych would do. So not all school evals are piecemeal.

GGG, I think we might be looking at private testing now, then public once he is in school. My husband and I are still deciding. It's hard, all these specialists, and fighting for what your kid needs. Just because your son is a genius doesn't mean he should not receive help. Did you get a second opinion? That's another thing, should I get a second opinion, especially after OT evaluation?

Questions, thank you for the PM!

Aeh, You do the testing yourself, at home? Do you have links or resources I could look over? Never thought about doing it myself. Are you trained to administer these tests?

Jkim, Just noticed the link. Thank you!

School district denied testing until he's enrolled in school and trying for the GT program. Thinking about private testing or just waiting until GT testing.

OT evaluation today. Said DS was on the very edge of not needing therapy. So, we are opting to do some activities at home. She said sensory issues were very mild and his handwriting (grip) just needs a bit of work. It's not that he can't do it, he doesn't want to stop and do it. He's so busy inside his head that he dislikes slowing down to focus on writing.

Now, I am setting up a meeting with his PreK teacher. He's just bored in her class. How do I explain this to her without stepping on her toes?

Oops, confusing you...I'm an assessment professional. I don't test my own children, though (at least not for high-stakes). I meant that a single person (the psych) does or can do the bulk of the assessments in a school eval, with the exception of a few specialized ones, like speech & OT.

There really are some things you could do yourself, though, that would be informative, though possibly not accepted by the school system. You can take data on some aspects of academic achievement, such as oral reading fluency, reading inventories, writing fluency, math fluency, sight word vocabulary (e.g., Dolch list), knowledge of isolated phonograms. You can also use validated screeners for ADHD and emotional indicators. You can also find checklists for developmental milestones, that may include language and cognition, that will not give you an IQ, but will give you some sense of the range.

What aspects are you most interested in? I can point you in some directions for downloadables.