Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Why test?

My kids (MG and HG, by the numbers anyway) have been tested, but for free by the school district, using a shorter test that I personally don't think is as good (the RIAS). They are not 2E in an educational sense and their scores admitted them to the gifted program, so that was "enough" for us. I admit to wishing I had a more comprehensive picture, but it's really more for my curiosity. What I'm trying to say is that if you don't suspect that something odd or unusual is afoot, you might consider waiting and having the school test. In your case, I see that they also assess for Aspergers, ADHD and NVLD? That could well be worth it if you have any concerns in those areas.

When does your district test? That's also a big factor. We test in K/1 here.

mom2R&R, $2000 for the comprehensive testing listed above is a reasonable price (it would cost quite a bit more here... far away from Johns Hopkins!)... however, it's a comprehensive type of testing that I'd only pursue if your child is experiencing challenges outside of just wondering if he/she is gifted. If you are only testing to determine if your child has gifted intellectual ability, I'd recommend finding someone who will administer either the WISC only (or other comparable ability test), or ability + achievement test, which should cost less (much less) than $2000.

If you have no pressing need to have the scores now, you could opt to wait until school will test - however, school system testing isn't always as thorough, might include learned ability and group testing vs individual IQ testing, and might include a screener that is very brief.

I agree that having the results of a WISC or other individual IQ test is very useful in understanding your child's strengths and needs, otoh, I also would caution - what happens if you were to test and your child *didn't* test gifted? You'd still want to respond to your child's academic needs and advocate for more challenge if they need it.

Best wishes,

polarbear

What Polarbear said in the last sentence is why my DH won't agree to have our son tested. He feels that we need to meet our son's education needs anyway. Knowing how smart he is should not change how we go about this. But if he somehow did not test to a certain number, there is a chance of us not trying as hard to meet his needs. I want to qualify this by saying that he has no obvious learning issues and behavior and emotional issues. If he does, we will spring for the Neuropsych no questions.

The comprehensive neuropsych testing is probably unnecessary if you don't suspect any deeper issues. A wisc-V only probably will cost 300-400 dollars.

mom2R&R, I had the same question two months ago - whether to test DS7 (6 years old at the time). I posted my question and concerns on the forum. Most of the responses suggested that we should test him for the reasons of knowing his strengths and weaknesses, more equipped to advocate in school and a chance to get in DYS (and the benefits after joining).

We finally decided to have him tested in December when he was at 6 year 10 mos, and we do not regret it a bit. We thought he was gifted but didn't think he was "DYS qualifited" gifted. We found out his very strong areas and his relatively moderate areas. We now have one more tool to advocate to the school instead of just saying he's advanced. Now we can also apply for the DYS :-).

My DS7 only took the WISC-V but did receive a full report from the psych and a brief interview with the psych for social and personality development review since we had concerns for his social skills. The cost was $525 for everything. So I would suggest you get something like what we did if you don't have concerns on 2e and other issues. Your cost would be much less than $2K.

Thank you all. I think we'll look into a WISC-V from someone with a background working with gifted kids. We do not have other concerns or behaviors at this point. Thanks!

Maybe I missed something along the way, but we've paid $30-50 or so for the EXPLORE and SCAT tests, $70 or so for SAT/ACT, and $500 (iirc) for a SB5 test when one child was denied admission to the gifted program. NWEA, OTIS, SB5 (for the other child), and others were all free through our public school.

There seem, to me, to be plenty of reasonable options. Don't get a full body MRI/NMR/etc. scan when a simple doctor visit will do, unless there are significant underlying issues/needs.

Cranberry- I started with the public school. I was told because we don't suspect a learning disability, they wouldn't do an intelligence test. I might be able to fight that, but the testing wouldn't be by someone with experience with gifted students, so I'm not sure it's worth fighting for.

That is what would happen here too. If the child wasn't failing they wouks see no reason to test anything.