Testing Gifted Kids ?

[Mskanga]

I had my second grader tested last year for one specific reason , the teacher kept telling me that she lacked attention and she thought she was ADD. I know my daughter and I know what she's doing , but when I told her that she was getting bored and she needed more challenge she did not believe me.
So I had her tested and I was literally told by the school psicologist that they do not do an IQ test until they get to 4th grade because it changes dramatically until then. They do a whole other set of tests and the results actually surprised a lot of people , they found out that her processing skills were 99% far superior from the rest of peers her own age ( which explained why she gets bored while the rest of the class is still trying to master anything ) but in one area she fell a hair short because she rushed and couldn't be bothered to do it right ( family trait here , let's rush and get it over with ) so she did not make it to the official state gifted program.
The school though has an un-official gifted program where they basically do the same things with kids that are recognized as potential gifted , they had this program in place before the official gifted came along , and they continued to do it , so basically she is doing the same things but not recognized by the state.
The oldest one did not make the gifted by one point on the IQ , but all the other areas she did. We could have pursued the issue and she would have gotten in , however when we saw the gifted programs in place for junior and high school , we decided that she had more possibilities staying out of it than in it , and if at some point down the road we want to pursue it , we can .
Both principals and her teachers said that she was a very well rounded kid with her academics and her activities and they all said , given what the gifted program offered and what she did , if it was their child they wouldn't change anything , I thought the same thing.
But the bottom line for me on this was , I proved the second grade teacher that my dd did not have ADD, just getting bored ! When the psicologist and principal showed her the results infront of me and told her that she clearly needed challenge , her jaw fell to the floor!

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Mskanga, in cases like yours, I definitely agree that testing is valuable. My big bugaboo is undiagnosed learning disabilities in gifted children--my DH is such a person--so I did have DS tested for that. No problem, he just learns "differently" than other kids, so the same kid that could comprehend the Wall Street Journal at 5 couldn't tie his shoes. ARRGH! But, that's just him!

And Zandy585, I totally agree on the perfectionism stuff--My DS is so quick to say he's "stupid" because he did something wrong (like not put his dishes in the dishwasher!). Now, I will freely admit that my family has its share of "Midvale School of the Gifted" moments--from the Far Side cartoon where the kid is pushing the door that says, "PULL". But DS can be very, very hard on himself. And it's weird, because we don't expect perfection, and in fact, encourage our kids to challenge themselves rather than worry about getting things right the first time. But they are expected to put their dishes away after dinner.

 

[Christine]

This isn't entirely true-there are plenty of tests that look at IQ and achievement abilities in ages well below 3rd grade-technically there are even instruments for infants, although those are definitely debatable as far as their accuracy. I'll agree with you that there are many ways to identify a child as gifted, however it is absolutely not true that "giftedness" which is an ill-defined concept to begin with, cannot be measured much earlier than 3rd grade.

(Nearly a school psychologist)

Sorry, I should have clarified that "in my school system" there is no formal testing for giftedness until they reach third grade.