Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment good time to test four year old

Hi,

I am considering having my DD4 evaluated for behavioral issues and they may also give her an IQ test. She had one at 3.4 and did quite well on it, but I am curious how accuate of an estimate that was.

The only reason we might NEED a score is to understand if the behaviors we are seeing could be related to being gifted, or something else, and helping teachers become sympathetic to the frustration of being so far ahead of her classmates. She hides skills at pre-school and so we might need a psychologist behind us.

Anyway, I have heard that IQ tests reflect a pattern of children developing in bursts so testing from month to month could actually give different scores. Is that true, and if so, when would be a good time to test? She is four years and five months old.


Thanks in advance,

Not sure about the exact time to do the testing. We had DS6 tested at 4years and 8 months and we feel the testing was very accurate measure of what we were seeing. I have heard that it is better to wait until 6yo as results are more accurate, but we wanted to get it done before K because we knew he would be unable to go to a regular K classroom. I don't plan on doing any testing again with him unless we need to for something. Of course, he has asked me a few times to go back and do testing with the psychologist because it was fun. But we could go to several amusement parks for less and that would be fun too : ) Good luck!

Thanks Dottie.

She is home with me and her two and a half year old sister, but does attend pre-school three days a week for a few hours.

The behaviors that can be challenging for me are her intense energy, constant talking, swings of emotions, and wanting high levels of stimulation. She is receiving OT for sensory seeking and perhaps that is our answer, but I do still wonder if I am seeing ADHD, giftedness,or something else with the go go go go go go motor. She also has a gap between her cognitive skills / language and her gross motor (catching balls) and the type of fine motor skills required to dress herself (though her drawing, writing, and sculpting playdough is wonderful). She can do third grade science and reads at a very high level, but cannot put her own shoes on for instance. She likes preschool when they are singing, dancing, and doing some structured activities, but is highly annoyed by doing "academic" things that she mastered three years ago. She has started acting out during free play and lashed out at another child. She is very gregarious, but really hasn't clicke with the other kids until recently when she seems to be bonding with a sweet little girl whose sister is gifted.

Sounds like maybe a mismatch with the preschool? My DD did better in a non-academic play-based preschool.

IMHO an updated IQ score is unlikely to tell you anything that her previous one didn't. If you're wanting the preschool to either give her harder work, or excuse her from academic skills she's already mastered, achievement testing might have some value - but unless there are absolutely no other preschool choices available to you, I'd anticipate it would be easier to find a preschool that's a better fit.

Thanks, we have been shopping around, and have not found a better preschool. Are choicse are limited and it does seem to be good for her in some ways so we are not ready to pull her out.
Her teacher is closed minded about giving her work at her skill level, and so I am mostly starting to think about K next year.
She had mastered K work a long time ago, so worry / wonder how open her public school will be to giving her more appropirate challenges.

Hi TwinkleToes,

My dd (nearly 5) really struggled in a preschool that had an academic focus (not with the academic tasks themselves, just the fact that she was so far beyond them). She was a perfect angel at preschool, doing no more or less than she had to. However she was terrible at home (and of course the preschool didn't see it, so refused to give her more appropriate work). In the end we pulled her out and put her in a completely play based program. While it isn't perfect, it has been such a big improvement in behaviour. She is skipping kindergarten next year and starting school in first grade, so I have some concerns about a transition from total play to the more structured (and still below competency level) first grade, but I figure I can only manage the here and now in the current circumstances!

Re testing, we had dd tested at 4ys 3 months. She did suffer from test fatigue and refused to continue with a couple of subtests. For the portions of the test dd did complete I would say that based on what she is doing at home, it is a pretty accurate reflection. We had her tested because we wanted something to take to schools when we were looking around for one for her. In hindsight I would have waited as long as I could (prior to her starting school) as I suspect she would have been much more responsive to testing and more cooperative if we did the testing now for example (though in the end what we have is more than enough as she still has scores that would be comfortably DYS qualifying - if we were in the States - despite her lack of cooperation, and a report from the psych stating her results are an underestimate.) This, combined with a sample of her work, was enough for the school we chose to commit (at this stage) to doing their best to accommodate her. However this school was the 4th or 5th we approached - numerous other schools completely avoided us as soon as we raised her 'advanced' abilities (lol, the nuanced language we have to develop!) What I am trying to say in a very round about way is that having a test behind you won't necessarily help if someone already has an unhelpful approach to dealing with gifted kids.

Good luck