[Therese]

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[eboyd]

HI Everyone,

I posted this in the previous thread but have posted it here as well just in case people dont see it. Thanks

I am new here and not sure that I belong yet. We are getting our DS1 (6) grade 1 in Vic tested next week, unfortunately we started the ball rolling through the school before I had read up on this forum, it seems that getting tested through the school might not be the best thing however at the moment due to finances being a bit tight it is our only option.

We are not even completely sure that our DS is gifted, he is at the top of his class, has been doing the year ahead maths and still finding it too easy, the school is not sure about giving him harder stuff yet (not sure why). Not sure what his reading lvl is as even though he is doing the lvl 25 PM Plus readers he finds these too easy as well and is reading way beyond that at home.

He was really good at doing puzzles from an early age doing the 48 piece by himself by 2 1/2 and the 100 piece with help by 3. His memory is amazing, recalling things that have happened ages ago. He LOVES documentaries and gets really terrified at any movies that are slightly "scary".

He is very sensitive to others emotions and gets upset if others are hurt (esp family). We have fairly aggressive outbursts every couple of months where he will punch the wall, kick things at the wall etc.

The form the school gave us to fill out asked all sorts of developmental questions that I just couldn't answer. We moved back to Australia from NZ two years ago and I think that the books that I have the info in must be still packed over there. How important is it to be able to give them ages of when he talked, crawled etc? I just can not remember them at all. The only one I remember accurately is his walking age.

Sorry for the long post, thank you if you got this far, and you all seem like really lovely helpful and encouraging parents so thank you for that too.

Emma

[mum850]

Welcome EMma!!
Physical milestones are not important at all so don't' worry. It sounds like it's a great idea that he is being tested. I hope you will come and tell us the results when you get them.

Silver. No moderator!! So we can do whatever we like!!!

[baddmammajamma]

I'm going to give myself a raise!

Welcome, Emma! I agree with mum850. Unless there is something really unusual (started speaking at 3 months...or didn't speak until age 3), the exact age of hitting milestones is not that relevant.

Hope you are able to get some answers and support from the school that will help you help your son.

[katrina24]

Hi Emma, your son sounds a lot like my daughter - she doesn't have the aggressive outbursts but I think she has the girly version - melodramatic meltdowns on occasion. Good luck with the testing, I hope it is a smooth process. We are booked in next week too. I agree with the others about milestones - they are only looking for a general history with any unusually early or late milestones indicated.

[eboyd]

Thanks for your responses. Sorry I haven't been back on in a couple of days have major teeth drama and in lots of pain at the moment.

Our DS had an online comprehension test yesterday for grade 3 (he is currently grade one) not sure what the results are yet but his teacher has said if he blitzed it they will do the grade four one and just keep going until he struggles. Not sure what this will achieve though.

Looking forward to the Gand T testing next week though.

Emma

[katrina24]

Hi, I'm just after any insights or advice re: WISC IV vs WPPSI.

The psychologist who will be assessing DD uses either of these tests. DD will be 6 1/2 so at the upper end of the WPPSI but at the beginning of the WISC. When I told the psyc about DD she indicated that she would lean towards the WISC as she will likely ceiling out of the WPPSI, particularly in the verbal subtests. However, DD has a tendency to be a perfectionist and a little anxious. I'm worried that, with the WISC, she will come across harder items much quicker and may freak out a little if she senses she is getting them wrong. I'm particularly concerned about the non verbal scales here as I think it will be relatively weaker than verbal.

Any thoughts? I know the stanford binet is often recommended for G and T testing but it's not an option and I'm not sure DD will be scoring high enough to worry about those really high %ile score differences.

I'm happy to trust the psychologist in the end but on the other hand would like to give her my opinion to help in the decision making process (she will take on board my opinion).

Thanks,

[4joys]

Hi Katrina24 -

I am sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to remember reading something about this when we had our DS tested. I believe that the WPPSI was never designed to test giftedness. From memory, its good to test if you are gifted or not, but as you indicated not the levels of giftedness. So I believe that means that many gifted children max out the subtests leading to scores that need to be "interpreted with caution" (that is a quote from DS's test).

My DS sounds similar to your DD (perfectionist, anxious, unwilling to "give things a go"). The Psych who did his test specialised in gifted kids, and said that she sees that stuff all the time. She was great with him, and really helped with his anxieties. My DS maxed out verbal and had a relative weakness (although still well above average) in most of the coding stuff. It might be good for you to get the fuller picture that the WISC can give you, particularly if you don't want to be testing again in the near future. Our Psych recommended testing again at 6 (original one done at 4YO) due to the limitations of the WISC (which we didn't do) but we will be testing again this year, and I am still undecided which test we will go with.

Hope that all makes sense!! Good luck with your decision, I look forward to hearing what you decide.

[katrina24]

Thanks 4joys, I'll let you know

[katrina24]

I've just had a long conversation with my daughter that I could only describe as "confessions of a highly able child". As I've indicated here previously my DD has been having a few issues this year. She had an amazing FYOS but this year has gradually becoming more withdrawn and less happy. we've been trying to get to the bottom of it with limited luck, until today.

She explained to me that she feels different to all of the other year ones. She said that she feels like she is "smarter" than all the other kids and that they tell her she is smarter than them. She said she always knows all of the answers but doesn't put her hand up because she doesn't want anyone to know she knows the answers. She said she will sometimes answer the year one questions but won't answer the year 2 questions because she doesn't want anyone to know she knows them. She very reluctantly admitted that she is often bored in group time and when "people keep asking me easy questions all the time". When I asked her what I or her teacher could do to make her feel better at school she said "make another one as smart as me". I was (and am) absolutely blown away by all of this. I had no idea she felt like this. The reason she hasn't told anyone she is bored is because she really likes her teacher and doesn't want to upset her or get her in trouble. She also doesn't want to get in trouble herself or be seen to be even more different. She said she doesn't want other kids to see her work because they talk about it to her. She made me promise not to tell her class teacher any of this but has given her permission for me to tell the extension teacher (who is wonderful and understands DD well).

She goes to a GATEWAYS club and I asked her if that made her feel even more different. She said no because when she is there other kids know the answers too. She said that there are 2 kids who always know the answers and sometimes know even more than the teacher. She said she loves it because she's not different there. She thinks these two very bright boys are amazing and really admires them.

After she had spent 1/2hr telling me all of this she was so relieved and happy she was almost bubbling over. What a lot for a little girl to manage all by herself. I've never told her she is smart, especially not that she is smarter than others. We do praise her efforts and tell her when she is doing well with something. We do tell her she is clever but in the same way that we all tell our kids they are clever, never that she is more clever than others. We put much more focus on trying your best and bing persistent as well as talking about different kids having different strengths and being good atbdifferent things at different times.

This has cemented my decision to get her tested. The school are great and it is them who have identified her as. 'high flyer' but I think they need more objective information to plan for her.