Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Can I share?

Not official test results or anything, but the best we can get living on this island in the middle of nowhere. My mom's school uses the DORA exam for assesments for their students. Not sure if anyone here is familiar with it, but it stands for the Diagnostic Online Reading Assesment. Anyway, DD 3.7 (will be 4 in March) sat down the other day and completed the test. She was tired and probably should have stopped half way through since it kept going as she lept scoring so well I guess. Appaerntly it typically only last 30 mins or so, but it lasted over an hour for her. The test self adjusts to measure the actual level the child is at. Anyway, I was blown away by her results and really have no place to share but here.

The test is broken down in subtests.

High Frequency words subtest- maxed out the test at a high 3rd grade level

Word Recognition subtest- low 6th grade level

Phonics (Word Analysis) Subtest- maxed out the test at a high 4th grade level

Spelling Subtest- mid 2nd grade

Oral Vocabulary (word meaning) subtest- high 5th grade

Reading Comprehension (silent reading) subtest- low 2nd. (although I am not sure how accurate this was as it was after an hour plus of being on the computer and she said "I'm done and refused to finished the rest LOL)

So thanks for letting me share. DH and I were shocked by the results. We knew she was very ahead and has been unofficially identified as pg by a developmental pediatrician and an education specialist, but I think we will definitly be seeking out official testing now in a year or so. Although I will have to cordinate it with one of my rare trips off this island LOL.

There is also a DOMA test for math, that my mom's school uses and we will be able to acess that as well next week. I have no clue where she is math wise, but she does do a lot of addition in her head everyday, and one of her favorite games to play is "solving for x" Where she has me write equations such as 5+x=9 or x+6=8 or 10+x=14, and she starting to self figure out multiplication, so it should be interesting. Anyway, thanks for letting me share.

Wow. I'm not familiar with the test, but what a result! Sigh... I wish you the best of luck thanks for sharing - Despite living with a pg dd, I am still blown away by what these kids can do!

Amazedmom, we used that test a couple of times, as well as their reading and math programs and I can tell you the reading results are pretty accurate. I have a dd who read Hop on Pop style books before 2 and had similar results with your dd on DORA at 3(she is 5 now). We tested her when she turned 4 and she came out not only pg, but way over the DYS threshold, so brace yourself. As my dd says often, they do come as a package with lots of intensity, so the bad news is that yours is not likely to grow out of that either, LOL.
You could work with your dd on reading comprehension. As a young 3, I remember my dd needing more explanation for "inference" questions. Modeling how that works and thinking out loud helped.
We did not like their DOMA test because it was too linear and it would not test advanced skills unless the child mastered the easy ones. My dd, and yours sounds similar, prefers anything abstract; she hated math until she discovered algebra.