Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Experiences w/Davidson Young Scholars Program?

Hi, we're considering applying to this program for our son (5 yrs. old). I'm just wondering if anyone has used their services and what your experiences have been. It seems to be a fairly lengthy application process plus the fee for another test (we had an IQ test, would need to pay for an Achievement Test).

Just wondering if it's worth it, any feedback would be great!

Shop around for the Achievement tests - they don't have to be given by a psychologist, and that lowers the cost -

YSP gives an opening to a social group for your kids that is hard to beat. The email lists for parents are fun and educational. If you have the IQ scores, try the portfolio option, or shop around for an Achievement test.

Smiles,
Grinity

Might there be a possibilty your school would do the testing and take care of the expense?

Our experience has been wonderful guidance with trying to get more appropriate education. This was very helpful because it let me know we needed to get into another school.

I would send in application with the portfolio and see what happens.

Thanks for the responses. He's only five and still in preschool, so they won't cover the expense. As for a portfolio, not much there since he's just learning to write. I could video tape him reading or doing math problems, but I'm not so sure it would be substantial enough. I could also shop around for achievement tests, but he had such a good rapport w/the psychologist who administered his IQ test.

We were informed during his kindergarten registration that the district does not have a gifted program at all. They have an accelerated program that doesn't kick in until the 6th grade. I don't know what they're going to do w/him while the rest of the class is learning how to count M&M's (not trying to be sarcastic or condescending, but as many on this forum know, that can be a real problem.)

I don't know, but I'm wondering if an achievement test is worth having just as further "evidence" (for lack of a better word) of him having a "special need" (anticipating that we might run into problems as we already have at his preschool)

Thanks.

Our school district didn't cover the costs of achievement or IQ testing, so we paid for the IQ test and submitted the portfolio. We videotaped DD then 7 reading and included some pictures she'd drawn (she was working on a series of cat drawings at the time

We also included the tests the school did do: KBIT and Raven's (they're not official tests for DYS purposes, but DYS said to include them in the portfolio regardless).

FWIW, my daughter didn't have a miserable time in Kindegarten (perhaps because it was only 2.5 days per week). She was pretty occupied just by the social stuff, so she didn't mind the "counting M&Ms" stuff (in our case gumdrops!). Plus the teacher let her bring in a book.

The benefit of waiting until first grade to apply to DYS was that we did have those other tests (KBIT and Raven's) to include in the portfolio.

We haven't used too many DYS sources yet as we've only been involved for a year, but it was VERY helpful to have our consultant send a letter to the teacher and principal offering to consult if necessary. The school's been great--DD got a lot of in-class differentiation. We've just dipped our toe into the subject-acceleration pool, and I'm thinking it will be very useful to have DYS as a resource.

Also, the e-mail lists have been extraordinarily helpful!

HTH

Video tape of your son is a great idea - get the camera out and see what you can catch! And achievement testing is (in my opinion) less bonding dependent...if you can afford to have the psychologist do it, go ahead - or at least talk to the psychologist and explain - perhaps there is a student intern who could do some of the work for less than the usual fee under the psychologist's supervision.

Smiles,
Grinity

Thanks, I think I will give the video a whirl and see what I come up with. If need be, I'll just have to go ahead w/the achievement test.

I'm new to this and have started working on ds' DYS application. What have others done--used a typewriter or handwritten the application? I'm down to stressing about these types of things! Is there a way I don't know about to type on the form although it's a .pdf?
Thanks!

Hi..
I don't think it matters. Either one is good.
My DD was not in last year but I will try for this year since via work samples or portfolio, wish her luck .
I did typed last year, actually I typed in word format in the application since room for narrative is pretty tight so I did use additional pages for that.
Actually if you have pdf writer version you can type directly to the form, but I don't have it so I used Word.
Hope this helps.

Thanks--I'm just getting started and worried about all things great and small!

Good luck to you and your DD!