Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Ranges/Levels of giftedness

My son was tested in May, so we are fairly new to the concept of giftedness. I am trying to understand the ins and outs and help to meet my child's needs. He is 6years, 2mos now. One thing that keeps coming up in my frenzy of research and reading is the concept of levels of giftedness (mild, moderate, highly gifted, profoundly gifted, very advanced, etc.) What do all of these terms mean? I find scales showing ranges of IQ scores and where they fall on the continuum of mild to profound, but many of the scales are different. What is right?

The main reason I ask is that it seems different learning environments and methods of teaching might be better for each child depending on just how gifted he/she is. I'm not sure how to interpret my son's scores. The psychologist did the SB5. Based on this test, my son's full scale IQ is 132, nonverbal is 119, and verbal IQ is 143. In our public schools here in FL, 130+ on any of those three measures qualifies you for the gifted program.

I was within ear shot of the tester and my son when the eval was being conducted. At one point, my son was taking his time thinking about his answer and struggling a little, so the psychologist told him he could say "pass" if it was too difficult. Well, that's all my ds needed to hear! At that point, if he didn't know the answer immediately, he'd just say "Pass!" He thought it was great that he could just not do it if he didn't feel like it. My son has not been challenged so far in school (at all), at least not academically, and he gets very frustrated very quickly if things don't come easy for him immediately.

He actually repeated PK4 for "social immaturity." I now know that he was exhibiting typical behavior for an unchallenged gifted child. He is also hypersensitive and highly emotional. He's learned to control that better, so in that regard maybe it was best to hold him back a year. However, I think he would have done that anyway in KG and actually learned something at the same time. So, now we find ourselves in KG learning nothing for the third year in a row. We have a meeting Monday to discuss accelerating him to 1st grade, where he's supposed to be anyway. What I'm wondering is...is ds only mildly gifted or highly gifted? If he's MG, am I making a bigger issue out of his boredom than is really there? Am I attributing behavior issues (inattention and talking) to giftedness when that's not really what it is? I'm so confused. Sorry for ranting and rambling on an on. I guess I want to know what "gifted level" he is and if you think I'm doing the right thing moving him up to 1st gr. Should I do a grade level placement test myself before the meeting, or should I let them do their own assessment? It's a private school. Thanks for any advice you can share with this newbie mom. I really appreciate it.

Hi JenMSP - I remember how confusing the whole levels of giftedness stuff was when I first learned about it too. The thing is, you cannot tell for sure based on one score given on one particular day. It is but a snapshot. And I would be a bit concerned about the score being lower in some areas if the tester allowed your DS to pass so easily on questions. And with the SB5, the scores of gifted kids are generally lower than the scores seen on previous versions. And looking at the chart posted on Hoagies is confusing, because there is overlap. http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm

I have a question for one of the score experts here: does it make a difference in score which grade Jen's DS was in for scoring on the SB5 (i.e., would it make a difference if he had taken the test as a 1st grader at the same age)?

Your son's FSIQ falls within the highly gifted range on that chart. Your son's verbal scores are in the EG-PG range. Because the tests do not really differentiate well at the extreme end, many people do not really rely too much on the actual number, but more about their specific child's needs. In your case, it would be hard to know whether or not a regular gifted program would be suitable, because your son seems to have been wrongly placed (he should be in the next grade). So, getting placement right is your first step. I would shoot for placement in the 1st grade gifted program, because it seems clear that he belongs there. I think whether that will be enough remains depends on if the material is challenging enough for your child and your child's personality and the teacher.

Our state's highly gifted group has a great definition of highly gifted: if his/her needs are not being met in the regular gifted programming that a school offers.

I think it would be good to be able to tell the teachers at the acceleration meeting what level you think your DS is, and it would probably help to show some math worksheets or books that he has read to support that. There are some free placement tests on some online school sites that might be helpful. Also, Singapore math has some free placement tests. Singapore placement tests

As for attributing behavior problems to giftedness, I think this is a phase everyone who finds out their kid is gifted goes through. Many times, I think it can be a combo of gifted issues and behavior issues, so sometimes you just don't know. One way to find out if it's purely a gifted issue is to see if the problem behavior goes away when your child is challenged.

Good luck, and I hope some of this helps!

ETA - It really helped me to read Ruf's book, Losing Our Minds. She goes into more detail about what the kids of the different levels might look like. And there are stories that are so nice to read, because you realize that there are other kids like yours.

Please also remember that there are many kids who are unevenly gifted; you can be PG in one area, such as verbal, and average in other areas.

Welcome

Absolutely not! Your childs personality and learning type tell you more about your childs learning needs than the IQ score or the HG/MG label.
The real question is what do you think needs to be done to help your son with his issues? If you think he is acting out because he is bored then you need to advocate for more challenging work. My advice is to find your son's strenghts and weaknesses and advocate for him based on his idividual needs.
I am sure there are many grade skippers here who can better answer your skipping question, so I'll leave it to them.
Welcome!

Welcome!!!

I agree 100% with Floridama!

Sorry for my earlier rambling answers - I agree with Floridama too! I just wanted to add that there is an objective assessment for determining whether acceleration is appropriate: the Iowa Acceleration Scales. Do you know if your school will be using this? http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/iowa_accel_scale.htm

Jen -
You can find out lots of info on a wonderful website called

www.hoagiesgifted.org

There are different ways to "grade" giftedness, and hoagies website has some info on that. But, read this link:

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

There is a difference between testing and assessment. The numbers you have are "necessary, but not sufficient" to assess your DS's needs. So, I would frame the question, What does he need at this point? Maybe grade acceleration is the right thing to do, and maybe his behaviors will improve, but you'll only know that if you make those changes. No decision is irrevocable, and if whatever change you make doesn't work out - re-assess.

I'm sure others on this board can help more with the MG/HG/PG classification...

Based on his scores and that you said he was kept back a year for "social immaturity" I would definately advocate for a grade skip. That would put him back where he would chronologically be with the understanding that even that may or not be enough in the future, time will tell.

Wow! I love this site so much. I hope you know how much I appreciate your input and advice. I have no idea if our school will plan to do its own placement testing. In fact, I have no idea if they'll even consider acceleration at all. If not, I will look at other options including homeschooling. I have a feeling they'll want to keep him where he is and provide opportunities for more challenging work. That's nice, but with 26 other children in the room, I don't see it happening on a regular basis. They do not seem at all educated on giftedness, and there is no gifted program. They are a private Catholic school, and they boast of having a very rigorous differentiated curriculum based on ability level. That sounds good on paper, but in reality there's not much differentiation going on. Last year when we voiced our concerns about ds's boredom, we came up with a plan and lots of promises were made. They were not fulfilled.

So, I could do the placement testing myself, but I'm wondering if I should have the meeting first. I know ds needs to accelerate to first grade; I'm just not sure if that school is the place for him. We'll never know unless we give it a try. I don't want to make it sound like it's a horrible school; they're just not equipped to handle differences.

I just have to stick to my guns, educate the teachers as much as possible, and be prepared to find another alternative if this doesn't work. Thanks again. I am really grateful for all of your advice.

Jen,

My oldest dd's IQ came out at 132 as well when tested at 7.5, but also with wide ranges and sections of the test that she completely refused to complete. Her scores within the subtests (even within one subtest) ranged from the 25th percentile to the 99.9th percentile. Initially we assumed her to be moderately gifted as well and that the school should have a number of kids like her. Over time we have realized that we were wrong about that.

Her achievement scores have consistently been in the 99th percentile for everything except math even post skipping a grade. Her reading comprehension was testing at 12th grade equivalency and her writing on the WJ-III was at "grade 18+" both in 2nd grade. Last year when she was a 10 y/o 6th grader, her reading scores were beyond where she would be expected to be for a college senior. Math seems to fluctuate btwn the 92nd to 97th percentile. Science and Social Studies are also in the 99th.

While she probably isn't a PG/DYS eligible kid, she is highly gifted and a grade skip seems to have been a good choice for her. She was already young for grade prior to the skip, so she didn't turn 11 until a few weeks after she started 7th grade, but she is doing well in the accelerated classes in middle school. The only issue we've really had has been her speed. She isn't a fast worker and I worry about how long it takes her to get homework completed and what that will mean as the workload get heavier.

Cricket, thank you for sharing your experience. Everyone here has been so helpful. I talked with the counselor from the school today, and while we are meeting with her and the teachers on Monday, she and I had our own long conversation about everything today. Long story short, she basically said that this school is not for my son. His teacher thinks he's ADHD. He certainly exhibits some of those behaviors, but I feel that we need to see if those behaviors get better if he's challenged. They've never tried that! Ahhhhh! So frustrating. The psychologist who did ds's gifted testing knew we were also considering whether or not our son might have ADHD. In his report, he stated that he did not feel that ADHD was a factor and that any inattention in the classroom stemmed from disinterest, boredom, and not being challenged. They'd still like me to have him evaluated further. The counselor also said that it's very unlikely that the school will be willing to accelerate ds to first grade (mainly b/c of too many kids in the class) and probably will not be able to provide coursework based on his ability level in the kindergarten classroom. She said that with such a large number of students in the classroom it will be virtually impossible to meet his needs if he is indeed, just gifted and unchallenged. I'm not sure what they want me to do! She said that if we find out he's ADHD for sure they'd have to accommodate him. What?! They don't have to accommodate him if he's gifted for sure, but they have to if he's ADHD? Does that make any sense? She also told me she thought homeschooling was a great option for my son. She said he's expected to come into the classroom, sit down, write his name on his paper, not speak until spoken to, and not get up until given permission. Her exact words were, "he is expected to conform." I'm ready to say forget the meeting on Monday. I want ds home with me! He's absolutely in the wrong place. And, it's not the counselor's fault. She was just being honest with me. I don't get the impression she agrees; she just knows how the school is run. AGAIN for letting me vent.