Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Looking for Help & Guidance

Hi all,

I'm new here, and am hoping to get some guidance and suggestions.

My son is in 2nd grade, and attends a gifted magnet school. His Kinder teacher recommended him for the gifted magnet, but we had never done any testing. He has never been the highest-achieving student in the class. He does very well, but is not "the top". His teacher complains that he is "silly" in class, and can be the class clown. He claims to be bored.

We (his parents) always figured he was a smart kid, but nothing out of the ordinary. We recently received OLSAT results, and he scored in the 99.9%, missing only one question. We were surprised. He is supposed to have "intellectual" testing next week, but the district has no money...so what used to be an IQ test with a psychologist is now yet another paper & pencil test (I think the NNAT) in a group setting.

At this point, I'm not even sure why we should bother with the NNAT. All it could get us is a designation of "highly gifted" as opposed to just "gifted"...and I don't care about that. Seems silly to have him sit through another "ability" test.

So here's my question...is there any reason that we should consider private IQ testing? Are there any opportunities or programs that my son could be eligible for if he tests well? He thinks like a mechanical engineer, and I have no idea how to challenge or encourage this type of thinking. Does he need more than what he is getting in public school? I don't want to do him a disservice.

This is my first stop for help. If anyone is able to refer me to places to find information, I would really appreciate it. I'm at a loss. Thank you!

Welcome!

The NNAT-2 is actually more highly-regarded in testing circles than the OLSAT. It also has norms that are 9 years more current.

We haven't needed formal testing for our children, as we homeschool, (and I'm an assessment professional, so I have a pretty good idea without it,) but I'm sure you'll hear from many others on here on their experiences having their children tested.

Hello!
My 2 cents. While my then DS8 was already identified as gifted, I think I understood I needed more information about him. However, that information was going to be used to decide whether to send him to the gifted magnet, which your DS is already in. It was a tough decision though for us because we were considering transferring him from our high-performing flashy school down the street where he'd been for 3 years to the gifted magnet. The results on the private IQ testing convinced us that we needed the magnet for him. 3 years later it's clear it was the best decision for him and us. So bottom line is that private testing gave us a wealth of information that we did not have from the OLSAT.
Good luck!

Thank you all for your replies.

I suppose I will just let him go ahead with the NNAT. I asked the school if they could do a test that has a verbal component instead, as that is where my son's strengths seem to be. The school said they are looking into it, but I'm not holding my breath.

Has anyone heard of other gifted kids being "silly" or the class clown? I've asked my son why he does the things he does, and he says it's because school isn't fun (it's "boring")...and he wants to try to make it fun for the whole class. I don't think that the work is necessarily too "easy" for him (maybe, but I don't know)...it's just that he's simply not interested in what's being taught. The teacher seems to want me to change my son's behavior. I'm at a loss.

I would not have had my child tested except the school required it. However, having the results is helpful and I do think there is a real difference between levels of giftedness (gifted versus highly or profoundly gifted).


YES! You are definitely not alone for the class clown aspect. This happened for us around 2nd grade. We have had a couple teachers who "get it" and are able to provide more challenge, but for the most part, I have found that teachers simply do not.

I like how your son wants to make school fun for everyone.

Yes, yes, yes. We've been notified at various times that our boys were clowning around in class. It usually is an indicator that they are not otherwise productively engaged in activities. It can also be, from what I've observed, normal kid behavior. We have talked with our kids when this happens about not disrupting learning for the other students or making things harder for the teacher. Does it work? It depends.

Beyond that, I've never figured out exactly what it is that a teacher expects we can do remotely to control behavior. (Beyond advocating for the right challenge, which helps, but is not foolproof.)

I can imagine that the school/teacher finds the class clown role to be troublesome. And bored/unengaged kids (much less bored/unengaged gifted kids) will often goof off or around to have something to do.

This is the sort of thing that some form of ability test might help with. Depending on the relative scores, a gifted magnet school might be drawing in a large number of students that are at the lower levels of gifted. Loosely speaking, a 145 is as far from a 123 as that 123 is from 100. So to the extent that a moderately gifted child can be unengaged in a normally paced classroom, so to is it possible for a highly gifted child to be unengaged in a moderately gifted paced class.

A few quick thoughts: A very good score on an iq test might open the discussion to some level of acceleration. The Iowa Acceleration Scale is more designed for acceleration decisions in a regular school environment, but I could see using it's format in a gifted magnet school. Moving to higher level classes might help with the boredom issue by adding back in more challenge.

Thank you again for all the replies! It's nice to have a place to discuss this. I am on some local parenting boards, but I do not feel comfortable bringing up this topic. I am uncomfortable talking about a "gifted" kid. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's just really uncomfortable (embarrassing?) for me.

Despite being at a gifted school, I do not believe the teacher "gets" my son. Maybe next year will be better. He's actually a really sweet kid, and his teacher appreciates this. But she said he is just too silly.

I have talked to him about the issue, and explained that he can't be disruptive so as to deprive other kids of their education. But it is difficult to parent remotely, as someone posted above. And another problem is that...he *is* funny, and I have trouble not laughing at some of the things he has done or said. Bad mom ;-)

Again, I really do appreciate the feedback and support. I think I will see what happens with the NNAT. If it is consistent with the OLSAT, then I might consider IQ testing in order to determine if some type of acceleration is needed.

Thank you all!

If you take a busy active brain and don't give it something to do, it WILL find something to do....