Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Testing dilemma

I have two kids who are eligible for our local seminar program under the GATE banner. This means they both scored 99.9%ile on the Raven. I talked to our local gate office and they said that the local school is not allowed to do IQ testing and would/could not recommend someone who could do it.

I spoke to a friend who had a contact but had heard it is $1K.... ! There is absolutely no way we can do that.

I don't have any amazing fantastic wonderful things my kids have done that I could put in a portfolio.

Any ideas?

We live in San Diego.

Yes, that is a lot of money. Did I hear that there is/are private gifted schools in the San Diego area? If they are, you could check their website or ask them for testers recommendations. In our area there are a few private gifted schools, which I think is one reason testing is not as expensive over here ($350-500)as in many other markets.

Maybe you can get help/referals from this.
http://sandiegomensa.org/resources/gifted-children

Another idea some people have explored is to ask the pyschology department of universities.

I am also not clear the reason you want them tested. ARe they already eligible to the program or do they require further testing? Just to clarify, I think there are many valid reasons to want to do IQ tests; but I was not clear from your post what you expect to gain from this.

You can also ask for referrals on here of testers in other states - you can drive to a tester that might do it for free. Make a vacation out of it!!

Mam, thanks for the ideas, yes, there is a school for the gifted here, I hadn't thought to ask them. I looked on the mensa website but I don't see any text. Maybe it is my browser...?

I'm interested in having them tested a) so I have a better idea of the big picture and b) because I think that DYS would be useful.

Austin, that is a good idea, there are really places that do it for free?!?!

It costs $250-300 here & we're NM--not too far from SD. I don't know anyone who does it for free, but I wonder if health insurance covers some diagnostics (maybe that's wishful thinking)

From what I have learned, just administering the test should be 400 or so (at least in our area). The big bucks come in with a psycho-educational assessment which interprets test results and surveys from parents, teachers, etc, making recommendations regarding the findings.