Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Pre-test preparation

I was told that there were other posts/suggestions on what to tell your child before they are tested. I haven't found any. Please advise. My just-turned-4 DS is getting tested on Monday; and I would like some suggestions on what to tell him to possibly get him to cooperate. I spoke in depth to the psych doing the testing, and believe he will do his best; but is there anything I can do to motivate DS to share. He is not a performer, at least with this info. Maybe if the dr. put him on a stage?;) We need to see mostly if his behavior at school stems from being gifted. Thank you!

My son is being tested next week and I just found this-


http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/test_prep.htm

Also I read to make sure they get a good night's sleep the night before and to give them a good breakfast with protein the day of the testing.

He was also tested when he was 4 and it went fine, so hopefully it will go well with your son also.

thanks:)

When we had ds-then-5 tested, I turned the clocks forward an hour to make sure he would go to sleep at a relatively decent time. He likes to read in bed and would've wondered why he wasn't allowed to read as long as he usually did!

We told ds that the kind woman was going to help us figure out how he learned best, and that would help us make school more interesting for him. I don't know if that would work for your little one, but it was motivation enough for my little guy.

And yes, good breakfast. Good luck!

My DS7 was tested at 4 and at 6. The first time the neuro-psych used legos as a motivator and allowed my son to play with them during breaks. This backfired as my son LOVES legos and rushed to finish. He still scored high enough to be identified as gifted but the dr thinks his score may actually be 20-30 points higher. When he retested at 6 his score did rise a good bit but that examiner also used toys during break time and left them out in his view during the test.
Not sure if this helps you. I just know that when my son is retested I will make sure there are no toys around.
And yes - a good breakfast & lots of rest are key. I would add if your child appears to be getting ill - I'd reschedule. My son had a raging ear infection for his second test. Of course I did not realize this until he started to complain an hour or so after the test.
Good luck!! :-)

How is your son with strangers? My oldest is not the least afraid of strangers but my youngest was painfully shy. I would have to give my younger son "permission" to do his best and nod my approval before he would trust anyone evaluating him (doctors, nurse, teachers, etc...)

Mom0405,

I was in your position only a few short months ago. Here is a link to the post that I started where I asked the exact same question:

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....ring_your_child_for_testi.html#Post36379

I hope this helps. Best of luck with your son's testing!

Thanks to everyone who answered me and the other D4 Moms and Dad's in the past year with questions. I wish I wouldn't have told him it would be games and fun. Someone told me it would be. I will show him a photo of the Dr. and just call him "Mr.____" to him. My DS doesn't like dr.s either, having been so many times with allergies/asthma; but at least it's been less frequent since we discovered his food allergies.

Wish us luck tomorrow!

We also had our son tested at 4. We were also concerned about behavior. I couldn't see how the psych would get the info out of him, but she did well. She told me that she had to use "her whole bag of tricks." We did get the info we needed--I hope you have the same experience! Good luck tomorrow.

My son tested at 4 as well (just a few months ago). I just told him that he would be going talk to a man who would play games with him and would want to see what he knows. I didn't go much more in depth than that. I sent him to school at his normal time on test day and checked him out right before the test.

My son has a very hard time focusing on anything for too long so I thought the test would be a disaster but he was having so much fun that he cooperated way more than he usually does.

Good Luck!