[happyvegemite]

Hi,

I know there is a thread but posted here for more traffic. My DS is 8, turning 9 in a month, he is currently in Grade 3 (VIC).
I have always questioned whether he is gifted and lately I cannot stop wondering. I have done some research and he certainly shows some signs but would love to find out some information from "real mums".
These are some traits that stand out for me;
Early language skills (both expressive and receptive). I remember when DS was about 15 months I had our mothers group over and they would say "wow you speak to him like an adult and he understands".
Early reader and advanced very quickly
Excellent Maths skills
ONLY enjoys non - fiction books, finds fiction books boring, regardless of the genre/author ect. Finds Ronald Dahl ok if reading alongside me. Prefers Bear Grylls and the like
Intense interest in outdoors/nature ect and will often rattle off facts
Very sensitive and so ARGUMENTATIVE!
Last year he had issues with one of his teachers for correcting and arguing with her.
He relates very well to his Grandfather and often will say "well poppy and I are super smart" ect....

Any advice would be so well received!!!!!!

[ednaboo]

Your Ds sounds very like my DS, who is 8 and recently been identified as gifted. If you want to you can pursue IQ testing and then you will know for sure. IQ etsting is performed by educational psychologists. It is not cheap (at least $800 seems to be the norm for just IQ testing) and you can not claim it back on Medicare or PHI. You then need to think about what you will do with that info - if you want to pursue further educational opportunities an IQ test is helpful, but if you don't plan to do this there may not be much point in going ahead.

We pursued testing for other reasons, specifically issues with getting schoolwork done, which revealed that our DS has ADHD and is gifted as well. I also have a younger child who has been identified by her school as gifted, but at this stage I have no plans to pursue testing as we can still organise additional education without an IQ test. HTH.

[happyvegemite]

Thank you!

I am lucky to work on an Allied Health team and we have a educational psych I can chat too but I find it helpful to chat to other parents as I could just be over thinking it?

With assessment results I would use these to adapt learning programs accordingly.

Thank you!!

[amabanana]

If he is very sensitive, emotional and argumentative and it is affecting him at home and/or school you could talk to your GP about getting a mental health plan set up. We did this for DD and cognitive testing was done as part of her diagnosis. (Of course, I would only do that if you do have concerns with underachievement, relationships, his or your mental health etc.)
Personally, I think doing cognitive testing is really important if you suspect your child is gifted. We knew DD was bright but didn't realise that her giftedness was masking the fact that she also had ADHD and a learning disorder. Things have really improved for us since diagnosis and DD is enjoying school a lot more. Her teachers are on board and she's doing OT and visiting the psych on a regular basis. We'd never have known if we hadn't decided to go ahead with an assessment.

Best of luck.

This post has been edited by amabanana: 06/02/2013, 03:27 PM

[Mrs Optimus]

Sounds like my 9yo.

Dont know if he is gifted. He is certainly smart.

He is Aspergers as well.

[baddmammajamma]

Good advice from ednaboo. Is your son being sufficiently challenging in school? Is he being given opportunities to shine?

We didn't need testing results to prove to us that our daughter was gifted -- but we wanted to get a sense of just "how gifted" and get some deeper insights into her learning profile/relative strenghts & weaknesses. Because she also has ASD, we wanted to make sure that her gifts would get just as much attention in school as her needs. We ended up going privately for the testing, mainly to ensure that the person testing her had true expertise in working with gifted kids & also because we wanted to "own" the results (that is, we have control over whether or not the results are disclosed to anyone).

I've had friends who have tested in order to help get their child access to enrichment classes and/or to help teachers appreciate that they need to be extended (or accelerated). Sometimes gifted kids -- especially those who aren't high achievers or who also have SNs or learning disabilities -- get overlooked for opportunities -- so formal testing from an objective source (as opposed to Grandma Judy saying "My Johnny is so smart!" ) can be very valuable.

Some friends have tested "just because they want to know." And I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with that either.

My one word of caution to any parent considering IQ testing is this: it only reveals one slice of your child. I've seen far too many parents attribute all of their child's quirks and difficulties and challenging behaviors to having a high IQ, when there are in fact other forces in play (e.g ADHD, ASD, learning disorders). IQ testing alone cannot rule in or rule out those things. Of course, gifted kids can be particularly sensitive & not every gifted kid is twice exceptional -- but it is a shame when legitimate issues are overlooked because parents lock in on a high IQ score as "the answer" to everything about their child.

There's a G&T thread on the education board here, with some active members from Victoria. Perhaps some of them could offer recs re educational psychologists. If you are in Melbourne, I have a few names. As a sidebar, I also have some great names in Sydney, including psychs who work with twice exceptional profiles.

Sorry to have veered a bit off course, OP!

ETA: Snap, amabanana! We 2e mums always chime in with similar advice, don't we?

This post has been edited by baddmammajamma: 06/02/2013, 03:46 PM

[lisles]

I think I would only bother with testing if there are problems at school which may be handled better in the light of test results. If the only issue is arguing with a teacher, I don't think she would take kindly to that behaviour even if he was classified as gifted. He may need to learn to discuss contentious issues privately with the teacher rather than disrupt the class.
Are there other issues you are concerned about OP, or are you just curious?
I did have my oldest tested as she was labelled a behaviour problem in her first year of school. I couldn't understand that as I never had issues with her at home. She was spending all her time under the desk or staring out the window, never taking any interest in her work. Turns out they were expecting her to colour the pictures starting with "b" when she was reading Harry Potter at home! No wonder she wasn't interested...School didn't really take much notice of me telling them she was bored, but the test results backed me up so they had to listen. She started joining the older years for literacy and maths, which was better for her.
I haven't bothered with testing for my youngest as she hasn't had any problems. Her kindy teacher quickly realised she was a fluent reader and had her reading to the class while she marked work. She's still spending most of her time teaching other kids but is quite happy to do that and her teacher doesn't mind.
The label "gifted" is only useful when dealing with school IMO.
Otherwise, they will be what they will be - it will become clear in the passage of time what his real abilities are.

[ednaboo]

amabanana: I was under the impression that a MHP could only be used once you had a diagnosis, not for the intitial assessment? So, that is not the case?

[ednaboo]

My one word of caution to any parent considering IQ testing is this: it only reveals one slice of your child. I've seen far too many parents attribute all of their child's quirks and difficulties and challenging behaviors to having a high IQ, when there are in fact other forces in play (e.g ADHD, ASD, learning disorders). IQ testing alone cannot rule in or rule out those things. Of course, gifted kids can be particularly sensitive & not every gifted kid is twice exceptional -- but it is a shame when legitimate issues are overlooked because parents lock in on a high IQ score as "the answer" to everything about their child.

This is a really important point that I should have mentioned (I'm not saying your kid has "bonus" diagnois though!) There is a school of thought out there that being gifted explains away many emotional or behavioural difficulties. When I was trawling the www, I found one 'expert" who believes that kids can't have both ADHD and be gifted - that the ADHD problems are only due to being gifted. We went with a comprehensive assessment by a neuropsychologist. She administered a number of tests in addition to IQ. One educational psych told me she felt that IQ testing would indicate ADHD but TBH I wasn't happy with that.

If your childs sensitivities are a problem at school or home, you may need a more detailed assessment than just IQ. But if not, then IQ testing should do the trick.

[happyvegemite]

Thank you for everyone's replies thus far. All in all he causes no trouble at all. No real issues at school. Basically last year was the first year we have had any issues at all with any form of education. The teacher was very up and down with her moods and my DS found this very difficult to deal with. I wouldn't say he possess traits of ASD or ADHD at all.

I feel that he isn't challanged as much as he could be at school. Hence my reasoning for testing.