Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Finally getting tested, have some questions

OK, I looked up NVLD and some of it fit, but a lot of it didn't for my DS. So far the only thing I have ever thought he tics all of the boxes for is ADHD. Well, all but the moves from one activity to another quickly. My DS is just the opposite, we can't get him to switch activities even with bribes and timers

It might be useful to mention that I was diagnosed with ADHD at 8, but without hyperactivity. My family never thought that it was a correct diagnosis though, as I was fine at home according to them. I was also given an IQ test at the time and despite my mom being convinced I was pretty smart due to early academic skills, I was scored at low average to borderline MR. This is the main reason I am worried for my son.

I have no idea what my actual IQ is, but I know that assessment was incorrect. I never really got good grades in school (and I failed things like gym, shop, typing, and other "easy A's"), but when I got to college and got to chose my own courses I was generally top of the class and the person who destroyed the curve. I remember once getting back a test I had gotten a 98 on and the next highest score was 54. I quickly learned to turn my returned work over as soon as I got it so that everyone wouldn't be annoyed with me.

I also remember being in the top reading group in elementary, but when I was in 3rd grade the schools introduced this new subject, phonics. I failed phonics each time while reading at the top of the class. I still don't get the idea behind phonics for people like me, who read words as a whole and apparently much quicker than the average person. I can actually read upside down faster than most people can read right side up.

My low IQ score and diagnosis of ADD landed me in the IU for years in a special classroom basically doing nothing because the teachers didn't have work at my level. When I finally returned to regular school I was years behind and hadn't learned any of the stuff the other kids had. My parents had to fight to get me out of the IU, even the IU didn't want me, they kept saying I was the best behaved and highest performing kid in the IU. But the school didn't want me back.

I eventually got out of that school early by testing into a program to go to college for my senior year. To this day I hate public schools and completely distrust the school system. I had terrible teachers, including one who said that I looked evil because I used to have some remnants of a lazy eye when I looked up at her. She always told me I weirded her out and looked possessed. Nice lady.

I would rather never send my son to any type of school than have him unhappy. I'm at an odd place where I need to balance all of his different needs and work with the IU for now. If I could just get his behavior "fixed" I could get him into a good private school and go from there. Now that he is 5 and still hitting, tantruming, super hyper and unfocused, and generally very difficult it is becoming more apparent that if I won't accept public school I'm going to need to prepare for the possibility of homeschooling. All that I care about is my sons happiness and I'm willing to do anything for that.

So this IQ test feels very scary to me. I want it to help us figure out what is wrong and also to show us any special strengths and I think it will be helpful with understanding some of his behavior. At the same time I worry that he will perform poorly like I did and his full abilities/needs won't be discovered at all.

Sorry to write a book again, I tend to do that

That very much fits the profile of 2E gifted/Aspergers. Your descriptions of your child do remind me of mine (now 12) in some ways.


This can happen not only with ADHD, but any other dual-exceptionality that makes the test a poor fit for the child's actual skill set. For a child with ASD, there are lots of social judgments he will miss, which can depress the score on a standard IQ test.


The law offers much better protection now than it did then. Now schools are required to place children in the least restrictive environment in which that child can be educated. And the child is entitled to an appropriate education, which you clearly did not get. I'm so sorry.


Your child has more rights in the public schools than he does in the private schools.

I would highly recommend ABA therapy-- it is not always a walk in the park, but it is highly tailored toward teaching the child the self-management skills he's missing. We have found this process essential to getting our DS to the point where he can do well in school and socially.


If he does poorly on this IQ test, you should look at the Raven or the Differential Abilities Scale. These are also IQ tests, but they are formatted differently. Many 2E kids who do poorly on the more "standard" tests reveal their gifts on these alternative tests. Yet the tests are recognized by experts as valid. Just a different way of capturing the data.

Hang in there and trust your judgment about your child--
DeeDee

My sons father and his family are also a nest of LD's, tic disorders, ADHD, and probable asperger's. Dad himself was in the gifted program. He doesn't really have much of any memory for anything, but he thinks he didn't meet the cutoff for total IQ and they allowed him in anyway for certain extremely high splinter skills in mathy stuff. I personally feel very strongly he is either asperger's or maybe an oddly severe ADD. He is a programmer and loves his job and enjoys programming in his spare time as well.

Luckily, so far my son seems to have my amazing memory skills. He also seems to have both of our strengths, my verbal and his dads math. He is definitely smarter than I was at the same age. He's not just a bright kid, he's an often amazing kid. He is honestly better than many adults at logic games and puzzles and we buy him adult level maze books with 3D and multi-level mazes that confuse even his therapists.

Anyway, everyone has helped me to feel much better. It's only a few days until the test, but I have moved onto a calmer place. Playing lots of games with my son in hopes that it gets his brain warmed up for testing. I feel confident this test will show something helpful.

Today we tried out Cart Before the Horse that he had gotten for Christmas but not yet played. He sat and worked at it for over an hour and had a great time. I was happy to see this as that should be about the length of time he will need to concentrate for the test.

On the other hand, it was obvious when he was done. He started standing on his chair and staring in the distance for more time than he spent working at the task. He needs a lot of help moving on though, even if his behavior shows he is clearly done. Hopefully the tester will pick up on that sort of thing and stop the test for the day even if he insists he wants to keep going. His lack of focus is not an indication that the work is too hard, it is just what happens when he runs out of attention.