Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School new - how do i know if my child is gifted?

Hi all,

Brand new to this site, and learning about my child and school.

my kindergartener tested with a GCA of 125 (verbal ability 143/99.8%; Nonverbal reasoning ability 111 no % given; and Spatial Ability 107 68%) - is that gifted? Is that enough to get the school to differentiate his curriculum? He's having behaviors, but i think a big part of that is b/c he's bored. Yet when I read the CA definition of gifted, it talkes about leadership and all around excellence. So, I can see he has a high IQ, but is that technically gifted?? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ANSWERS! I really appreciate it.

Hi username,

Dr. Deborah Ruf wrote a book on five levels of giftedness. But for a summary, check out the link:

http://www.pagiftededucation.info/documents/RufEstimatesofLevelsofGiftedness.pdf

I don't know much about test numbers... but as far as if your child qualifies for "differentiate curriculum" will likely depend on your state and school district's policy.

Hope this helps....
Mag

Hi Username,
(great name, BTW)
I'm really confused by the test scores you wrote.
Question #1 - which test was it? Was it given individually or as part of a group?


Don't worry about that 'leadership' or 'all around' stuff. The main question is: Is this child learning in the classroom, Is this child 'learning how to work at learning?' And - what is causing the behaviors. His Verbal abilities are certainly gifted - his other abilities seem more average. If the test is one of the reliable ones, than perhaps the internal differences are causing the behaviors - it certainly can be disconcerting to have that much of an internal range. Or, as you say, it could totally be just that there isn't much to do for him during the day, idle hands and devils workshop, all that.

I would suggest that you set up a meeting with the school, show some of his work that he does and enjoys afterschool, and urge them to let him try spending time in classrooms with older kids and see if the behaviors go away.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Those certainly sound like gifted scores to me as well with a lot of unevenness which is not uncommon in young gifted children. Did the school tell you anything other than the scores? Can you request a meeting with the GATE coordinator for the school or district to see what they can offer?

We, too, have some definitions of gifted falling into leadership ability and things that I see as personality attributes like a pp (prior poster). (DS, by the way, means "dear son.") Our school will also id a child as gifted based upon ability as well, though. However, that ability must be coupled with high achievement, so a child with scores like your ds's would also need to be achieving at a place similar to his ability or he wouldn't qualify for a gifted identification or differentiation.

As you can probably see, how a child is identified as gifted varies a lot from place to place.

Let us know what help you need and we'll see if the collective experience here can be of any assistance.

LOL! Ya' think?

Reminds me of the 'half a worm' joke:

What's worse than a gifted kid with strong leadership skills?

A gifted kid with variable leadership skills and a strong desire to gain enough experience to grow into strong leadership skills!
Grimity

ALL OF YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ANSWERS!!!
Yes Dottie, it was the DAS-II. And it was given individually. He does have some splintered levels - even on the Nonverbal Reasoning Ability tscore:111, it was made of Sequential & Quanitiative Reasoning: tscore 69, 97th% and then Matrices: tscore 46 34th% - for a combined score of 111.

Thanks Grinity for the comment about the difference in skills causing behavior and being disconcerting. never thought of that, and its a good point. i think he's a bit adhd too. Love the idea of letting him spend time in older classrooms to see if behavior improves.

Ironically, the school won't promote him to a higher grade b/c of his behaviors but they're doing NOTHING to help with the behavior. and then they tell me that his behavior is not affecting his learning! but he hasn't learned a thing there.

Thanks Cricket2 for letting me know uneven scores can be common at a young age. Also, how can he even have an opportunity for high acheivement at school if they won't give him anything to work on? Just do it at home?

Grinity, my son has not learned a thing in K. and he is NOT "learning how to work at learning" . its so frustrating.

I have a meeting with the school this thursday morning to go over what to do. we had an SST in the beginning of the year, but the teacher isn't really following it, then the academic testing and BASC-2 (behavior assesment). Most recent, an OT eval (which showed no sensory issues) and a behavior analyst come in to see why he's acting the way he is. boredom is definetly one of the factors. So thats what our meeting is about this thursday - going over the 2 most recent evals, and to see if the school is willing to implement a behavior plan, and change the way he spends his time at school. frustrating b/c we're doing all this testing, but nothing is really changing in the classroom. i'm between a rock and a hard place.

We did also the WJIII achievement - which also showed a range. the lowest was SS 106, GE of 1.1 on Math Fluency b/c he quit testing even though there was more time - he just said he was done. the highest was on Story Recall-Delayed SS136 and grade equivelant of >17.8. most scores put him in a GE between 2.1 - 2.9 2nd was 1st grade, then some in 3rd grade, 1 in 4th and 1 in 11th. overall, stronger in language/reading than math.

Our school does have GATE, but it doesn't start until 4th grade.

its like they're not doing anything to help him be successful, not setting him up for success, instead focusing on the fact that he is disruptive in class - cheif complaint is not following directions the first time, and being disrespectful, ie talking back to teachers. But not doing anything to get ahead of those behaviors. like the fact that he's bored, unstimulated, and frustrated.

I think they just want him to fit in the box. He is sooooo outside of all the boxes!

Wow, thank you gals for your insight and sharing your experiences. Everyone gave me helpful information. wish me luck for Thursday! and feel free to give me ANY AND ALL advice!!!

Cheers!

That's the Catch 22 isn't it? We've run into the same issue w/ my younger dd. My oldest was hsed for a brief time at the end of 1st that seemed to give her enough time to come back into 2nd calm enough to achieve highly enough that they recognized her as gifted. My youngest has really gotten scr***d by the educational system &, yes, we are supplementing at home at this point or she will never be achieving highly enough to be gifted in their book despite an IQ score over the 99th percentile. If we can find a way to make it work financially next year, I am hoping to just homeschool her entirely.

Hsing certainly isn't the only answer, though. I'd see if they can give a trial with subject acceleration for your ds in his strong area(s) with the agreement that you'll move him back to the std classroom in 4-6 weeks if he isn't meeting certain criterion. I'd have those criterion be quantifiable, though, not just that the teacher doesn't think it is a good fit. (Specific scores on tests, etc.) I'd put the request in writing and agree that you take full responsibility for his emotional wellbeing should this not be the right fit. I'd also attach supporting documentation like excerpts from A Nation Deceived. (We can get you a link if you don't have it.)

Oh and if you haven't read it elsewhere here yet, when dealing with the schools get EVERYTHING in writing. When asking things of them do it in writing. After you meeting write up a summary and send that in to make sure everyone is on the same page and heard the same thing.

Remember the phrase, "All children are entitled to a free and appropriate education." In CA that phrase can carry a lot of weight.

Also if he already has plans in place aren't they legally required to enforce them?

Thanks! will definitely request the subject acceleration - that sounds great.
How frustrating re your dd!! Where's the logic??!
And, yes, I thought if its in writing it has to be done. Sad that I'll have to police them. We're getting it in writing, and we're recording the meetings. whats the Nation Deceived?

That worked out quite well for my dd#1 prior to skipping a grade two years later.
It is research on acceleration of gifted kids: http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/nation_deceived/