Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Too Young?

So I decided last week to get our son, who is 3 years 9 months tested. We have an appointment next Sunday with someone who specializes in young gifted children. I may have the option to enroll him early in a private kindergarten this fall, but I felt I really needed some solid support before I pushed for it. The private pre-school we are currently attending only goes through kindergarten, so I will have the option of enrolling him in public K the following year if I feel it is in his best interest.

For some reason, I am finding myself getting pretty worked up about this whole "testing" idea. Is he too young? What if I am just completely wrong? He is reading (almost entirely self taught) at a second grade level and doing math at a very solid first grade level. He has all of the other typical gifted traits. I have Dr. Ruffs book and would place him as a level 3 or 4 based on milestones.

What test will they give him? What would you do?

It is obvious to you already that he is an advanced learner. You are honest with yourself that you're not one of those parents that hot-housed him. Instead, you're one of those in absolute shock and surprise that other 3-4 year olds don't already read.

If the school you are hoping to attend does *not* require testing, then you can hold off and wait until he is 6 where you can get better results. It is pretty obvious already. One tactic I use to help those around me -- is I act just as shocked as they when I tell them my child can read already. Really, it isn't something you can force a 3-4 year old to do.

If the school you want to attend requires *proof* you should see what kind of proof they want.

I've read on this site too also, you want something "Appropriate" for your child, in terms of educational level. Everyone can agree that there has to be something "appropriate" for him.

The testing will confirm what you know already.

If you wait or repeat/ or do different test at age 6-7, you may get more information about just how advanced he is and if there are any disabilities, etc etc

Goodluck!

He's not too early to be tested but you may end up wanting to redo the testing later.

My son was tested through the school district (our old one) at 3 1/2 and they used the DAS-II. He thoroughly enjoyed the testing and wanted more more more. I guess they ended up doing everything they could up to what you could give a 7 yr old - and he STILL wanted more. So for him it was a totally enjoyable and fun experience.

I'm hoping that when they test him through our current district (in the works just waiting on them to do the evals) he enjoys it just as much. He is now 5 1/2 and even with his old psycho-educational report they still haven't done anything for him in school other than occasional 1st grade challenge work and AR tests. I'm hoping that after the evals are complete they are willing to do something (they just 2 wks ago started allowing his classmate to go to 1st for reading - I'm hoping we get similar)

I guess I am hoping a test score will help me discuss his abilities with more confidence. I found it interesting when I called the tester and he really wanted to see him. I kind of expected he would just tell me to wait. He has been doing this since the early 70's, so I am trusting his experience (especially since mine is zero)!

I do anticipate having any testing done again when he is a little older.

Do you think the public school will think I am completely crazy if I show up with a report from a test he took at just under 4 years old? I am thinking that they will... They are required to provide gifted services if the score is in at least the 97th percentile. My understanding is the test results are considered good for three years, but I could easily see them denying it because he was too young at the time of the test. Like I said...I will likely retest.

Well, I would confirm with whatever schooling you are considering for after K (ie 1st grade) to make sure they will take him in 1st after having completed K at the private school, even if he is only 5.

I know you're asking about the testing, but if early k is the goal of the testing, I thought you'd want to know that some of us have had more of a problem getting our kiddos into 1st or 2nd than early k. (We had this problem last year...)

His scores will obviously be more stable once he's 6 or so...

Good point. I really had not given the whole thing much thought. I was sort of planning on just letting him start public school kindergarten and worry about what else needs to happen at that point. I guess I was just thinking that I might as well let him enter the private K - which is usually full of 4 year olds that missed the cut-off by a few weeks (he would be younger). In our state you can enter K if your birthday is after the deadline but before 12/31 (I believe), but you have to be evaluated and accepted. I was told that some of the kids out of this private K will just enter public K or 1st grade, depending on thier development.

Then again...maybe he won't test as gifted and none of this will matter!

hi molly
i am thinking that if you don't need the scores then wait until age 6. I tested my DD at age 4 years 11 months and the scores were very high. However because they were done prior to age 6 (and it was the WPPSI instead of WISC) we feel they hold much less clout and get treated like "no big deal" even though they are 99.9%tile. So we are planning on doing it all again when she is six.
irene

We were in the same boat around age 4 as well. We knew something was going on, but I was really floored when the psychologist we consulted about what we were perceived were real issues (he had zero fear, was a total escape artist and at that point we had alarms on all windows and doors including his bedroom door!). She suggested we test him, but wait until 4 for the WPPSI but she thought he would hit the ceiling and need to be retested after 6 anyway. We thought about it, contacted the GDC in CO, and then after realizing homeschooling was our only option we hooked up with a gifted homeschooling group.

We finally decided to wait until he turned 6 because the pressure of school was off at that point since we were homeschooling. The public school had already admitted they couldn't accomodate him, and we had someone with GDC suggest that there wasn't a school in our area that could likely accomodate his needs at any time so we became quite comfortable with our situation rather quickly. My little man turns 6 next week, and we have a local tester chosen who was recommended by a couple of PG families and he will be tested this summer. We're having him WISC and SBLM tested for good measure.

Thanks for sharing your situation. How did you determine that homeschooling was your only option (was no gifted program, etc)? I have a lot of concerns about the need to potentially homeschool our son. I have a career that I really don't want to walk away from, so I am hoping that my planning ahead will help us to find some options.

I also stuggle with the fact that my husband, who I believe to be PG, made it through the public school system ok. I will say, the first time I ever saw him work for anything (in terms of school) was when he showed up at a top university to start his PhD. It was a very rough first quarter for him. For the first time he had intellectual peers and had to work for his A! So it makes me wonder if I am just over reacting and that our son will be just fine in the public school system too...

I do worry that the test scores at his age will be just tossed to the side.