Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment DS4 where do I go from here?

Hi, I've never posted here before, just looked around a bit. Now, I always knew that my boy was bright, but I just figured he would start school early, maybe skip a grade later (not unheard of in my family).

He just took the WPPSI-3 yesterday, he is 4 1/2, he received a full score of 149.

He got a lot of 17s and 18s and a couple of 19s. We've missed the cutoff for entrance to the gifted school we want to get him in, though we're gonna try anyhow. Also, we want to get him accepted to DYS, but I guess with his score we'll have to retest? Or make a "portfolio?" We still have 6 months for DYS but I want to know what to do now.

ask me anything else you want to know, I would just like some guidence please.

thank you
(I'm still a bit in denial, his father and grandmother are in shock and his daycare lady isn't suprised at all by his results)

also (sorry for the long post) do you think that he hit the "ceiling?"

thank you for your reply!
Yes, the school (which we will need a scholarship to even try) puts their minimum entrance score at 95 percentile, the doctor who tested him (she gets a lot of kids for that school) said that he is even smarter than most of the kids there (he was 99.9)! (it's even harder to brag in print)

wanting a higher score is for DYS

as far as achievement, he does 2nd grade workbooks, though we have trouble keeping him challenged enough. The most amazing things that he can do have to do with building. I bought him a K'nex set when he was 3, and another one as a treat after the test yesterday. He built the ferris wheel yesterday and the "stomping robot" today. The problem is that he needs help with just because his four-year-old little hands can't snap all the pieces in (his fingers can't even open the box-it takes more strength than he has)(would a video of that work even though we have to help him?) Achievement - he is just all around bright - not sure what to do there?

also, DYS mentions "assesment" tests, is this in addition to the others or what?

apparently I am just going to be venting today(:

thanks for any help!

Welcome to the board. My younger one is 4.5 old boy too.

Assessment test is the achievement test Dottie talked about. It's another test but this one tests knowledge - math, reading, oral language and written language.

You may want to do the test when he starts K. At 4.5 he won't be administered all of the subtests and you may not get the results required by DYS. For example he may not get the reading comprehension subtest and therefore not have the Total Reading score.

thank you,

Can I ask why he wouldn't get all of the subtests (and what test should he take)? As far as reading, he starting reading books independently before his 4th birthday, and he is now reading chapter books (easy reader ones like "frog and toad" and "bones the detective") he finishes them in like 30 minutes time. At daycare she works with him a lot on comprehension (I just had a little girl, so I'm not working with him like I should be)

I guess I really just want to know so that we can plan and prepare. Maybe I am feeling that it is more, I don't know, urgent or something, because his scores were so much higher than I had anticipated.

Congrats! Good question as to where to go from here though, I don't have the answers for that. My DS 4.5 just had testing completed as well and we are anxiously awaiting the results. He sounds very similar to yours (except for the building skills...that is pretty amazing!). Anyhow, we did the SBV and the WIAT for the achievement part. But like other posters said, their are subtests that 4 yr. olds aren't old enough to take technically. Our tester still gave him some of the subtests at least. Like she did reading comprehension and some more of the math stuff since those are big skill areas for him. He was tested out of level so I am not sure what DYS does when kids are tested out of level like that. I guess we will see if he meets the criteria or not. I really don't know what the tests will tell. Welcome to the board!

He wouldn't be given all the subtests not because he couldn't handle them but because they don't have norm data for this age group. In order to get a score they need to compare your child results to the results of the same age kids.

Not surprisingly comprehension reading wasn't administered to the sample of 4.5 year old kids they use as a norm. Therefore they don't have any numbers to compare your son's scores to and he cannot obtain any meaningful score. You can still obtain grade and age equivalent and perhaps scaled score compared to 5 year old or the first month of K but you won't get 4.5 year old score. Most testers won't even administer such subtest.

DS4 can read a chapter book cover to cover in one sitting all by himself but unfortunately that won't show up on achievement testing till he starts K.

Yes, that does make sense to me LMom. We will be meeting with her in a little over a week to go over it, but I believe in her explanation to me, she said that she was doing some of the subtests to compare him to 6 year olds. She did explain that there were no norms for some of the subtests on 4yo's, but I guess she felt that they could still compare him to 6 year olds and have it show his capabilities. Not quite sure if that is what she was trying to say, but it seems like it. But obviously, I could see how the scores wouldn't be quite as good if that is what she was doing because he isn't 6. Not really sure. That will be one of the many questions I have to ask her when we meet. I do think she knows what she is doing, as she is fairly well known working with gifted children and is quite knowledgeable. She has given me some great resources.

A bit of a side issue, but to pick up on LMom's comment...

Just out of curiosity, what counts as a chapter book in this context? Our DS4 didn't start reading particularly early compared to many of the kids on this site. It may have been because of the introduction of a second language as he turned 3, just when his reading might otherwise have been clicking in. Or it might just be because reading wasn't his thing early on. In either case, he's become pretty focused on reading lately, and now he reads relatively fluidly. Still, he's better than he gives himself credit for, and he's easily intimidated by books with fewer pictures and smaller type. We've been reading Flat Stanley lately, for instance, and although he's perfectly capable of reading one page at a time, there is no way he would sit down and read the whole thing by himself. Is that a chapter book? He's more comfortable with something like Frog and Toad, which he could read completely on his own but which I assume doesn't really count as a chapter book. Can someone clarify the terminology? Is there a natural way to figure out what level these books are?

BB

In this case we are talking about

Magic School Bus Chapter Book "The search for the Missing Bones", RL3, lexile 550, 9 chapters, 75 pages pictures included

He usually doesn't read a longer book in one sitting but if Mommy wants to stay in bed a little bit longer ... He stared reading when he was 2 and he is pretty good if I can say myself. We never explained to him how to read in his other language. To our big surprise he figured it out all by himself, no computer games, no reading toys, no hints, just the alphabet.

He is now into Geronimo Stilton and needs help with about 1-2 words/page.

As for our older son I usually refer to Magic Tree House books as chapter books. That was his favorite reading at the age of 3.

Baseball Dad,

Here is link to a Lexile db
http://www.lexile.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?view=ed&tabindex=5&tabid=67&tabpageid=313

It's not a perfect tool but it gives you sort of idea how difficult the words in the book are (not the context itself though).