Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment testing questions 4 year old

Hello everyone -

I am a relative newbie so please bear with me...

I have been thinking a lot lately about what DS4 will need academically and otherwise in the next few years. He is about to start another year at a local Montessori and hopefully that will continue to work out fine. The last year and a half has been great for him although I am wondering if he will outgrow it. (in terms of what kinds of teachers and peers he needs) DH and I have been talking about getting him tested. I think he is at a better age now then when i first realized he might be GT (2.5y), but
not sure if 4 y3m is still too young.

Mainly we want to know about his learning style and what options we should be considering for kindergarten. Our family may be moving by the end of the year and I am trying to scope out schools, admissions policies, etc.
So weird to have to think about applying for fall '09 when fall '08 has yet to start.

I have tons of questions and have been trying to read about testing on DYS, Hoagies and other websites. I have read Ruf(excerpts), Webb, and several other GT books. There was a great post on this board about how much choosing a school could factor into move decisions. In short - a lot of info to process.
Here are two questions to start: 1. Is (WPPSI-III) the main test for this age? What has been the experience of others who have had their ds/dd tested between 4 and 4.5?

2. Is there a (relatively) inexpensive way to do testing if I only want one test? I have at least figured out that we don't need a full assessment right now. I just want to get a ballpark of what I am dealing with. And I do want someone who is sensitive to GT issues

Also: I haven't seen any evidence of 2E issues although there
are some beginnings of behavior concerns. We went on an extended trip this summer to be with family and I think ds is having some difficulty adjusting back to being at home. We live in CA.

Thanks in advance!

We had my DS5.5 tested at age 4 years 9 months on the SB-5. (We started looking at aroud 4 Years 4 months but waited the extra 5 months--I wanted to continue my GT denial for as long as possible)

We definitly had a lot of your same concerns about our son and the IQ testing gave us many insights into our son and his learning abilities. Out test included the actual IQ test and some informal assessments. We got the raw scores as well as a 5 page write up. I think you also need to find a tester who has experience with GT kids.

We did eventually follow up with some acheivement testing at 5 years 1 month but that was just to qualify for the DYS program. I honestly don't think I would do the achievment test on a child age 5 and younger unless there was a real need (school placement, program qualification, etc).

Hello, I am pretty new here as well. I posted a few posts down about what kind of testing to use on my DS, who is 4 as well. You may want to check it out because there was good advice and feedback from others. We plan to get him tested in the spring with the Binet. So I am not a great help as we haven't had him tested yet...but will in the spring. I had been really on the fence about testing him at all...but now I feel pretty good about it and confident that we are making the right decision to help understand him and get him whatever resources we can as soon as he starts school. Hope that helps.

Hi Michelle -

Thanks for your post. I did read all of the replies you got with interest. I guess I didn't feel they were directly applicable to my situation because a) I don't think my DS is at the LOG that yours is and b) I don't have the same kind of a budget for testing.

I would say my son is probably MG or Ruf level 3. Maybe. I know some other parents on this board had thought the same thing initially and then were surprised to learn their ds/dd is really HG.

I am not there yet at all. I guess whatever the LOG, many of us have the same kinds of concerns...

At least I now have an answer to one question. Sounds like the WPPSI and SB-V are going to be the tests for his age (thanks LMom and crisc).

You are wise to wait until Sprng. I would gladly do the same but I think there might be a few priv. schools that have Jan. application deadlines so tests have to be done in the Fall.

- EW

Absolutely, every child is completely different...just wasn't sure if you had seen it since you were new here too. Yes, money is always a problem. We aren't sure if we can swing it and I actually emailed the psychologist to ask about maybe doing a smaller amount of testing upfront, but she hasn't responded yet so I am not sure that is an option. Sometimes I still question his LOG, although it is clear to me that he is...I have been out of denial for some time now, probably since he was 2. We are waiting til spring because he will be a little older then and because the psychologist that we want doesn't have any openings until then. Plus we are planning to put him in our local school district because we don't have money for any other options at this point. I am going to be really stressed if the psychologist tells us that regular schooling won't work for him because I am not sure what to do then. Our school district is pretty mediocre and has no gifted programming at all. Should be interesting.

Anyhow, good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Be optimistic! Sometimes those "mediocre" schools do a BETTER job with HG+ kids! If they recognize that your child needs more and that they don't offer more as a matter of course, they may be willing to make special arrangements for your child. Since most HG+ kids need some sort of special arrangement even with GT pullouts and the like, this "special treatment" can be a near-perfect situation!

Often it's the "good" schools that are really lousy for HG+ kids, since their attitude tends to be "We're good at this, and all our kids are extra bright. Why should we give your child a thing?"

So don't panic yet. You may be a really good place. (Maybe not, but maybe!) It all comes down to whether the school recognizes that your child is unusual and if they feel it is their duty to rise to the occasion.

I was able to find several places willing to do a single test by looking at recommended tester sheet from our local GT charter school. I found that if I told them we were just looking for school/program placement, they were more than willing to just do a single test. One of the psychologists I spoke with (and who we ultimately are going to use) said that the actual testing is relatively inexpensive, what you're paying for with the full work-up is the multiple tests and the in-depth reports and interpreting the results between the tests. Where I live, a full work-up is $1200+, an IQ test is $200 and achievement is $75. Huge difference if you don't need the expert opinion!

Indeed, Kriston, you are sooooo right! I would put our mediocre school up against many of the on-paper best districts in the country for how our school has met our son's needs. I kept thinking something was going to happen to make us pull him out, but it hasn't and he is now happily settled in 7th grade with 10th grade math and a private bus to take him back from the high school. Not quite sure how it all fell together, just solving each problem as it came up.

Whether it works or not boils down to some combination of kid's personilty, school personality, good luck with teachers, and the values/priorities of the parents. There are too many variables to be able to say at 4 what will or won't work. No matter what the psych says, you don't need to panic yet (there will be plenty of opportunities in the future LOL).

Thanks for your post. Very good point, I could see some of our better districts around feeling like they know all about gifted programing since they have so many gifted students. And Nathan is unusual, LOL...so I am sure that they will see that, and hopefully accomodate him. I am hopeful and definitely trying to wait and see and not worry about it; he is a pretty charming likable kid (of course I am his mother).

As shellymos just said, thanks for all of your posts.

Looks like my next step will be finding a psych comfortable with GT to do the one test. $200-300 is much more manageable.

I think the hardest part for me (premature semi-panic) is waiting to find out what will happen with all those variables between now and fall '09.