Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Overview of Davidson Young Scholars program

Hello everyone,

Since this is the area to discuss anything Davidson Young Scholar-related, I thought I would provide a little background information on the program to those who may be unfamiliar. For the most comprehensive, up-to-date information, please visit the Young Scholars website: http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/.

Through the free, national Davidson Young Scholars program, students and their families receive support in several areas. Parents collaborate with a skilled team of Family Consultants who provide individualized services based on each family�s unique needs. Consulting services include:

Educational Advocacy and Planning - Help for parents and teachers to find an appropriate educational fit for the Young Scholar.

Talent and Interest Development - Assistance with locating summer programs, local and distance learning options, enrichment opportunities and other educational needs.

Child and Adolescent Development - Access to relevant resources and nationally recognized experts.

Annual Summit - Young Scholars and their parents are invited to attend a special yearly event that hosts a variety of speakers, discussions and special activities.

Informal Regional Gatherings - Parents frequently plan local get-togethers with other Young Scholar families in their area.

Online Community - Access to private Young Scholar parent and student networks through discussion forums, chat rooms, electronic mailing lists and website.

Applications for this flagship program are due the 1st of each month. Apply today!

If you have any questions, please email DavidsonScholars@davidsongifted.org.

I am sharing information about Davidson Young Scholors Program with agencys and parent groups in my state. I am on committe's participating as a stakeholder. I am sharing creative ideas and information in positive constructive ways to improve programs. I recently shared information with State Department of Education,Parent Center,


... I am advocating for gifted children. I advocate for everyone, as everyone is important! I want to share information about this program as a resource for all school districs to utilize. As Linda Silverman mentioned, all across America there are people that aren't being identified as gifted. The book,Smart Kids with Learning Difficuilties, provides the charts and information that parents need to have to correctly identify gifted child. I have permission from Linda Barnes-Robinson and Prufrock Press to use information from the book to educate parents and professionals in my state. Gifted forms need more disclousure of how program works. Ideal, model program is in Montgomery Maryland. Parents who are interested in a program that meets the needs of all children and have 2-E program with online resources, Universal Design, awsome parent interaction ,should check out this program and share the information with their State Department of Education and school distric and PTA president to share with parents so if they want these improvements they can do a Parent Survey, to submit to their school board requesting them.

I need to know exactly what testing is utilized to qualify a child that is 2-E as GIFTED to participate in your program. Non-verbal testing allows for unique design of brain and allows for enviormental stressors that affect brain function under stress that lower scores on conventional IQ testing. If VMI is 148,dev.18,99% and non-verbal score is 132 IQ,dev17yrs + and Stanford Binet IQ is 110 at 12 yrs old and child is generating creative amazing things but struggles to read write and spell. But is doing algebra in their head, memorizes cards in everyones hands playing card games, duplicates art work, excellent marksmam, plays chess, auditory learner.... Please respond in post so all parents can read how we can recieve the supports we need for our children in every state in America. Where are the lists located of these resources for parents to use, to utilize so we are equal partners in our childs education? All PTA Presidents in every distric in America need this information to share with the parents in their distric so parents can advocate for their children. As long as it is information that is not available to the public, nothing will change. If anyone knows of another model school(besides the one in Montgomery, Maryland) that meets the needs of all children I would appreciate the information being posted so all parents have access to information. Eric Jensen's book Enriching the Brain has information on ideas for a model school.

Please forgive my not responding to people on this blog. I have done research for years but have just recently learned to run computer and got e-mail so I could be in the loop.

I wasn't quite sure where it was best to post this. So, I decieded to pick the most important topic that all topics lead back to. This one! Thank you for providing this blog. TMI Grandma

Are there currently any existing or planned international DYS programs? I know that I'd love for one to be available here in South Africa and I am sure that many others world wide would benefit from something similar.

Hello,
I am also wondering whether there are any plans for DYS outside USA? We are in Australia.
Hhbella

Does it matter if a liscensed professional gives the IQ and achievement tests, or is it ok to get the testing done through the University by students to meet the application criteria for the program?

University students are supervised by a licensed psychologist professor and it is perfectly fine.

My son just got his testing done at the local university. And they test on a sliding scale fee. I am waiting for the results because they do all the work and then have to present it to the professor (and possibly classmates I am not sure). I signed consent for video taping only for use with her professor (so they go over the video tapes too). So it takes a little longer to get the results but I feel the results will be valid and it should be accepted because the professor signs the report too.

I have DYS envy.

I would think there might be quite a difference if the child tested is a 2E kid since there are so many things that can go wrong and it really needs to be someone with the experience to administer the tests.

But each grad student is in a different place. She was at the end of her studies so she is able to test alone with dozens of directly supervised testing sessions under her belt. A new doctoral student would have the professor right in the room with him/her.

I would love to get my son involved with the Davidson Young Scholars Program.
He was tested by the public school system when he was 3 and identified as gifted at that time. He is 10 now. I need to have him tested agin in order to qualify for the Davidson program. I wonder if private testing at $600+ is my only option. Unfortunately, this is not a viable option for us. Are there any other, less costly ways to get the proper testing done?

One way is to ask your school for updated IQ and achievement testing for helping develop educational planning and learning concerns that you have for him. Ask that a meeting be held to discus which tests will be given (at that meeting ask for a WISC or SB and then ask what achievement could be given and know which are on the Davidson list and steer the committee towards one from the list).

OR you can call a local university and ask in the Psychology department (or even the College of Education too) if they have low cost testing done by supervised grad students. I even asked for someone very familiar with gifted students (they couldn't guarantee it but by luck of the draw and having asked they did match me up with a grad student who was specifically involved with gifted research and had experience). My university had sliding scale fees and even more money off because we participated in a gifted research project (just a few extra questionnaires/scales and he did one extra thing with her).

So, I am new to this. Is private testing the only option to qualify for the Davidson Young Scholars program??
I know that we can wait for our public school system to test, but I don't think that they give enough data to qualify for the program.

It depends on what you ask them for. If you ask for a special education evaluation (say, with a question of underperformance or twice exceptionality), the default would be a comprehensive cognitive measure (most likely the WISC or SB), and a wide-ranging achievement measure (such as the WIAT, KTEA, or WJ). Of course, a sped referral might not be very convincing (or appropriate) if he is doing well enough in school that additional gifted services are warranted.

I would just ask the schools what they would do, so you know what your options actually are.

Mark,

I think a large part of the value Davidson offers is to connect families with similar-ability children. Is there any interest on the part of Davidson to admit international candidates to a second-tier level of membership which offers just access to the private forum? This would be a low cost way to expand Davidson's reach and provide social and informational value to isolated PG families.

Just an idea!

Hi Aquinas - thank you for the suggestion, but at this time DITD is focusing its attention on US students. Of course, this forum and the Davidson Gifted Database will always remain open to everyone.

Best,
Mark

I am wondering if I have to scan the full IQ testing report, which includes everything from how my son acted during testing, background, recommendations etc and is very long. OR do I just submit the page with the actual WISC results? We have qualifying WISC and WJ-III results.

The details for applying, FAQs, and qualifications are found in the QuickLinks on this Davidson Young Scholar (DYS) webpage.

Here is a link to a related thread about DYS questions, and a link posted by the forum moderator as an Overview of Programs.

Sometimes you can get a school to do WIsc if there is a question about a specific Learning Disability and giftedness.

I am in the worst county in California, but things got a little better when that fact got publicity. It usually took a Child Psych and an educational lawyer working with the family. often, lawyer was free, because school would not comply with laws,

Right now, DSM (psych dx manual) is not favorable to Gifted and Learning Disabled diagnoses.

Hello � New member here. Forgive me if this isn�t the right place to post or if my questions are not appropriate. Background: My 9 yr old had a special ed re-evaluation this winter. Some areas of WISC showed a 20-point increase. Likely explanation is that her perfectionism affected the score at 6 yrs 0 months when she took it the first time, though it was still high back then. Also, that psychologist told me she stopped some of the test because my daughter was too distraught when she didn�t know the answers. Anyway, I found out about DYS program while searching for resources to help with our situation. For school, she has gone from public to private to unplanned and sudden homeschooling. We live in a rural area with limited resources. She is also 2E, with social-emotional struggle, no learning disability that affects academic achievement. I am working on an application and hoping this program is a good fit for us. Her scores meet the requirement. My question is about the parent form. I am guessing that reviewers would appreciate brief and concise answers, but our situation isn�t easily explained. I�m struggling with what to include and also seem to be going more in depth on a few questions to give the whole picture. How should I approach the application? How many do they review per month? Thanks for any guidance or maybe I just need reassurance

Welcome JAJ!

Sorry for the delayed response. To reduce the presence of spambots on the forum, the first 5 posts of new members do not appear immediately, but are held for moderation. Once approved, these new member posts may have aged a bit and therefore not be listed as "Recent Posts." (Therefore may go unnoticed for a while.)

Glad you found the online information for qualifications/application for the DYS program. The parent questionnaire of the DYS application does not require long answers. For example, it asks parents to "... describe an incident..." which tends to suggest providing a small insight into one occurrence of observing your child which helped you, as the parent, to understand that your child had a non-typical intellectual profile and different learning needs and/or learning style. A gifted child's insatiable curiosity and unquenchable thirst for knowledge is not limited to academic subjects.

Links about perfectionism and anxiety may be of interest. Here is a brief roundup:
- roundup on perfectionism and anxiety
- post on perfectionsim
- another post on perfectionism
- post on anxiety
- Understood.org, Stress & anxiety

Many people pick up on social skills, body language, friendship, and societal norms through casual observation in everyday situations. Unfortunately some may not. This may be due, in part, to observing many inconsistencies (such as different rules and expectations for different people). Some may benefit from direct teaching of social skills, rules and conventions. This teaching may help increase comfort and ease in social situations, and may also help children articulate if they have witnessed and/or been subject to inconsistencies, such as favoritism and/or unjust social pressures.
- book: 100 social rules for kids (hat tip to sanne)
- direct teaching of non-verbal cues
- direct teaching of friendship
- direct teaching of perspective taking
- link to an article on the Davidson Database, Tips For Parents: Gifted Children's Friendships
- post with roundup of articles on friendship

Hope this post helps provide some reassurance!

Thank you!

I have a couple of questions. Assuming my child has qualifying WISC scores and a reasonable teacher recommendation, is admission likely? Or do I need to really take time to make the application as compelling as possible to build a case for admission?. I can do the later I am just pretty burnt out these pandemic days.

We had eight SAT cancellations which would had qualified the kid. And of course this year the SAT isn’t even an option. So we finally did private testing….

It is my understanding that a compelling case for admission may be helpful if scores are on the cusp of qualifying-and-not-qualifying.

Otherwise, I believe that scores which clearly qualify, accompanied by a solid nomination/recommendation, will lead to being a DYS. I also believe that the recommendation does not necessarily need to be from a school teacher... it could be from any adult familiar with the student, their interests, mode of thinking/learning/working which distinguishes them from other children and indicates they need or would benefit from additional help/support for their "giftedness." For example, over time successful recommendations may have been written by a principal, a tutor, a club leader, etc.
https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-programs/young-scholars/admissions/how-to-apply/

The full list of eligibility info is found on the Davidsion DYS webpages.
- https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-programs/young-scholars/admissions/eligibility-and-testing/
- https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-programs/young-scholars/young-scholars-faqs/
- https://www.davidsongifted.org/gifted-programs/young-scholars/admissions/

Thank you. One of parents I spoke to was sort of cagey about the process. Your comments make me suspect that was because she needed to “build a case.”