[*bucket*]

Delurking.

After a lot of thought, I've decided to have DS2 IQ tested. Unfortunately the paed also suggested having him ASD assessed as well. I am quietly reeling. This is my "normal" child, my "average" one (DS1 has HFA and is gifted, DD has ADHD and many ASD traits). DS2 is 7. I should have known before now. I know he is bright, he always has been. But ASD didn't occur to me, not until I had two different people call him "quirky" within a week. That alarmed me, and it has snowballed from there.

We are booked in with a psychologist I am happy with (she did DS1s Grade 6 assessment) in May, so not too long to wait. She was really thorough and gave us great suggestions to help with transition from primary school to high school.

Which IQ test would she use? Is there a common one to use at age 7? I will be happy to find out his strengths and weaknesses, so am looking forward to that result.

Re sharing with the school, I'm not sure if we will or not. They already recognise that he is bright, and ahead of the others, but he resists attempts at extension. They try to give him work that is more at his level, but he "can't be bothered thinking". Bright but reluctant. He would rather do readers because "they are easy", even though he is well beyond them. Not sure how we will get him to use his intellect should he be shown to have some.

Does anyone else have a child that refuses to work? (DS2 won't write either). I know a lot of you mention that the school isn't being cooperative with providing appropriate work, but our school does, it's the child that won't do it. Anyone relate?

Best wishes to all.

[baddmammajamma]

Sorry I've been so slack on this thread. Autism Awareness Month seems to have consumed most of my EB energies.

inthearmsofsleep, congrats on the wonderful test results! Glad you guys had such a positive experience with GMs.

LucyE: Will PM you those sites (and anyone else who is interested).

Michaelmichelle: We shared the entire report with J's school -- mainly because we trusted how they would use the information. Also, so many kids at her school have been tested by GMs that we wanted the school to be able to compare/contrast/calibrate. My daughter's scores were really high all across the board, so we didn't have to worry about "interpretation" either. However, depending on the school, the level of familiarity with giftedness, the appetite for learning more, I could see why a parent might only share an extract. Fortunately, the way the GMs report is written, you could easily segment it.

bucket: Hey there. Wow, I bet your head is spinning. We ended up going with the SB-V, instead of the WISC-IV (those of the two you are likely to be offered). Our only reason was because Gifted Minds tests with the SB-V. My understanding is the the WISC-IV is far more common in Australia, so your son's school might be more familiar with it.

I really hope that things go well with your assessment. I have a soft spot for complex kids, but I can appreciate the desire to know what it feels like to parent a nice average kid.

We have had some compliance issues with our daughter this year at school. We use a lot of positive reinforcement, scorecards (behavioral checklists), and limited options ("You can choose THIS or THIS, but you must choose one.") We are also bringin' in the big guns this term, in the form of the Sr. Behavioral Specialist who ran my daughter's early intervention program years ago, to do some special consults with her teacher & the head of the Gifted and Talented program. We also have a (private) shadow in the classroom, chiefly to cover the times during the week that are likely to be the biggest challenge for my daughter. For instance, she is the lone girl in the G&T maths class, and as a result, is a bit reluctant to go and participate. Having someone there to help get her over the little bumps really helps!

Happy to "talk" more by PM.

[happy2bme]

Hi all,

Ive been MIA trying to get my head around a few things & we also had a big move.

I have to say we have had a really good start to the school year - DS1 has settled in really well to a new school & teacher. I was a bit hesitant initially as his teacher is quite young however she is fantastic & really clicks with DS1. We havent had any of the behavioural issues from last year.

So we had parent teacher today & the teacher reported that he is doing really well with most things - reading & writing still a bit of an issue though but he is progressing so she is happy with that. One thing that i found interesting - we hadnt told her about his IQ testing etc but she made mention that his comprehension is fantastic but his written assessments dont reflect his comprehension however he tests very well verbally.

For those who dont remember - DS's IQ test results indicated that he is highly gifted in comprehension/lanuage (GLC) but average FSIQ. So i dont know if there is a problem linking the 2 & whether we should investigate or let things pan out??

Overall I am pleased with his new teacher & feel she is working well with him rather than against him

[theypullthestrin...]

Hi I was hoping it would be ok to come in here and ask for an opinion. It has just been suggested (by a friend - no expert) that I get DD age 9 tested. It is something I've not considered before and knew very little about but have done some research. I'd been interested if others would give their opinion on whether or not they think testing would be relevant or helpful to us understanding our daughter a bit better as she is due to start a new school next year and we have had many concerns in the past. She sits performance wise at school somewhere about 3/4s of the way through the class so we've always considered her to be above average but nothing exceptional. On the other hand we've always been astounded by what you might call her EQ...her maturity and understanding of social interaction is way ahead of her peers and she much prefers the company of adults to children her own age. She has had many social issues at school that staff have put down to her not being able to see things at the same level as her peers but acknowledging she usually approaches disagreements/ group interaction from a logical/ more mature perspective than the others. However she recently sat some academic tests that put her in stanine 8 for maths (she says she can't do maths at all and struggles and her teacher last year told us it was a weakness for her) and high stanine 9 for all literacy based tests (same teacher last year told us she was very verbal (indicated mouthy) and not as clever as she thinks she is). She had a terrible time at school last year (has never loved school but this was the worst by far) and we worried she was almost becoming depressed about school and assumed it was a social thing but without teacher support in either academics or social issues we sat out the year hoping for a better experience this year. She is much happier this year as she has a teacher who really gets her in a social sense and is making her feel good about herself but now we have these academic results we have thought maybe a little bit more is going on in the classroom. Would testing be of help to us do you think? Thankyou in advance from someone with little knowledge in this area.

[Michaelmichelle]

Has anyone wonder with the testing iq score, will our child iq level remains throughout or will they decreases?

Does anybody know what is the iq score to skip a grade in WA?

Our school testing is lower than the iq score itself.

Does a child still have to undergo gifted entry in year 5 for a gifted program when we have already have an iq test?

[Helen Magnus]

O

This post has been edited by Helen Magnus: 03/05/2012, 12:50 AM

[mum of monkey]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this website and am very grateful to have found such an active thread.... This is only my second post, although it is the same as the other one
I put this post on here last night, but i have now found a "gifted" thread, so i am putting it on here now.....

So here is my story and questions,

I am a SAHM of 3 wonderful children,
My oldest child dd has been tested and is gifted, we have had the WPPSI-III, SOI and the Stanford Binet testing done.
On the WPPSI she scored overall 95% (Superior)
on SOI, 98.6% IQ 137+ (overall Total Stanine Score 90)
And i have misplaced the stanford binet test but she came in the Second from the top level.

My dd is currently 6 and a half , we initially had the WPPSI test done so we could gain early entry into NSW school as she is born in August.
We were knocked back on Social and Emotion development, and then moved to QLD, When she was 5 and a half she started Prep in a compisite prep one class, which she handled fine but was bored. This school also would not offer any extention, enrichment at all..... so we had to change school.

This year we changed schools after being granted a grade skip, but as there was only 2 schools we could find willing to do this, it limited our options.
She is currently in a multi age 2/3 class, and is extending into the year 3 curriculum.
She is also having trouble making friends. She is making some friends, but she feels extremely deeply, so, if someone doesn't play with her she get emotional, she also told me the year 3 kids are telling her that she is too young to be reading chapter books and told me thismorning that she isnt going to read the books she has been anymore and go back to easier reading so they dont get " Jelous or upset" (her words) that they are not able to read like her. She has also started to say she doesnt want to go to school in the mornings, where we have always had her wanting to go....

My ds is 5,
we have not had him tested yet as he is unable to read or write ( so i thought) until today, i had a parent teacher interview and was told he showed ALOT of the traits my dd has..... And that he is good at maths..... and extremely emotional.
He didn't walk or talk until he was 18 months old.... but spoke sentences instead of words when he started to talk.

My youngest is dd 18 months old,
She walks and is starting to talk, is Extremely curious and independant... understands everything you say to her and loves to dance.

My kids go to two different schools on different sides of the city, as there was no vacancies for my son in Prep in my daughters school.
School drop off and pick up is a nightmare.

Two days ago i found a school not far from me, that has a gifted program, (selective) using one of the tests i have already had done... Has multi age/ composite classes the whole way through from prep to year 12 p/1, 2/3, 4/5 ect... It is a small school ( 200 Kids about)

Now, my kids schools they are currently in are fantastic, but i cant do the commute next year as they both finish at the same time ( this year the prep classs finishes early)

My sons school will take my daughter in year 3 next year, but doesnt have anything but a learning support officer.... no gifted program, extention, enrichment ect...

My Daughters school has no vacancies for my son at the moment and he is on the waiting list ( how long for, i dont know)

The school i have just found can take both kids, dd in 2/3 and ds in p/1. they have availability and the gifted program.

My questions are............

1) If you were in my shoes, would you move them both or hope that a position comes up at dd school?

2)if you did move them, would you do it immediatly, at the end of the term or the end of the year? ( My husband says now, because of two reasons, first, he is worried she will hide her abilities to fit in, and second, we can do it when the uniforms change to winter uniforms ( so not having to buy books, summer uniform and winter uniform straight up) The uniform changes on 8th may.

3) I have no Formal way of showing that she has been grade skipped, it was all done verbally with the current and last years school principal, and the department of catholic education. As this new school is not a catholic school, how do i show that she has actually been grade skipped since the beggining of the year?

3) Any suggestions?

[*bucket*]

Thanks for your help and suggestions to me.

These articles were in the Age (Victoria) on Monday. I didn't even know there was an enquiry into gifted education happening, but I will be interested in the results.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/educatio...0420-1xc9f.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/educatio...0420-1xc94.html

My mother called me after reading the first one to make sure I read it as she said it described my DS2 perfectly.

There was a box in the paper listing early signs of giftedness, I couldn't find it online so I have typed it out below:

*a high level of alertness
*an unwillingness to sleep
*single mindedness
*deep engagement in play for sustained periods
*speaking in sentences earlier than peers
*a deep interest in watching and learning from others
*stong passions or interests
*reading before school
*lack of social connection with peers
*preference for adult company
*wanting to do things perfectly
*displays of high-level creativity
*breaking abstract word and letter codes
*a love of strategic games, such as chess
*making unexpected verbal connections
*curiosity about numbers and mathematics

I was interested some of these could overlap with ASD? Does anyone else think that?

Do your children "fit" with the list? (I don't think they are supposed to have everything). I can see some of these signs in DS1 (who has been tested and is also ASD) and DS2 (who is being tested in a few weeks).

[lunargirl]

Hi everyone

This is probably a vent more than anything, but anyway...it follows on from a session aimed at parents at our school today, which made me feel my child is a freak. I didn't want to vent in the venting section for precisely the reasons listed below!

I'm feeling so frustrated at how totally focused our school seems to be on reading recovery and struggling readers. OBVIOUSLY children who are having trouble need extra help, so I'm not wanting to detract from their requirements at all. But there is never *any* mention of kids who are ahead of the 8 ball. Never! I am SURE my Yr 1 child is not the only bookworm or super-keen learner in the school but there is never any guidance about what we should be doing with our children at home. It's all about how to encourage your child to read their reader to you, how to sound out words, how to decode texts and so on. DD1 is reading at a Yr 5 level, reads the atlas & dictionary for fun...you know how it is. Of course I am super proud of her, but I DO have questions about her education and how to help her at home, and I feel I can't ask them without sounding like a w*n*er. Especially as today her teacher (who is the school literacy coordinator) mentioned that her own son is a reluctant reader.

Not to mention the fact that you can't really express any concerns to other parents without sounding like you are bragging; let alone actually share in the joy of having a child who is doing well. So I don't even know who the other parents of smarty-pants kids are, to have a chat to!

Sigh.

Vent over.

[Michaelmichelle]

Hi Lunargirl

You sounded like many of "us " here before our assessments. We are very relieved to have our child tested finally .Though we havent talk to anyone about it other than the school.

It hard to talk to a teacher without concrete evidence.

It didnt open any conversations for us in fact we went even under the radar knowing the child is gifted its becomes unfair from our point of view now to compare to his own peers.

Am sure many will agree. Get tested. Someone here told me its painless and worthwhile and i heed the advice and never once look back.