Just Do It: Gifted Assessment
February 28, 2008 by SwitchedOnMom
[This follows on the previous post, 5th Grade: A Cautionary Tale (Part Two) ]
Although I filled out the paperwork in March, it wasn’t until June that we were able to get dates for a full, two-day psycho-educational evaluation for C. at the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Diagnostic and Counseling Center. I chose CTY because I figured, why not go to the experts when they are right in my backyard? Whatever the results, they might carry more weight coming from them.
I explained to C. that she was going to meet with some people who understood kids like her, who would talk to her and give her some tests in order for her and for us to better understand how her brain works and how she learns best. As a result C. was totally relaxed about the entire thing–and it certainly didn’t hurt that she got to miss two days of school. She went in “confident, friendly and eager.”
The first day I spent considerable time talking with one psychologist about C. in the small library while C. worked with other psychologist elsewhere. At one point during the two days, one of the women came in and asked me to take a look at a writing sample C. had just completed. It was a story about her young childhood in Africa…perhaps some actually remembered, but much more likely gleaned from photos and family stories. It included the sentence: “The sky was a potent turquoise color that seemed the quintessence of perfection. Looking down, one could see the insignificant brush strokes that marked our toil up the mountain.” The psychologist looked at me intently for a reaction. “Yes, that’s C,” I said handing it back. It was typical of her writing and I chuckled at how she had managed to work in her favorite vocabulary word of the moment, “quintessence.” For her part, the psychologist responded that she had been blown away by it, that in her 7 years of testing it was the best sample she had ever read. I didn’t know what to say.
At the end of the two days I had a private meeting with the psychologists to go over the results. The WISC-IV, Woodcock-Johnson, Gray Silent Reading Test, Stroop Color and Word Test and others had been given. They told me that not only was C. gifted, but she was very gifted. She was, in psychologist-speak “very superior,” falling in the 99th+ percentile range–in some cases >99.9th–range for her age. She had hit “ceilings” in numerous places and so the numbers generated on, for example, the WISC most likely did not give a true measure of her abilities. On one measure of reading rate and accuracy the psychologist used the word “extraordinary” to describe her performance. Surprisingly, memory was, relatively speaking, C.’s weakest area.
The psychologist suggested C. take the SAT in 7th grade. She referred us to an organization that exists to support children like C. and their families. C. needed to be in a very challenging academic setting and effort should be made early on to establish a “point person.” She made numerous other recommendations, including some counseling for C. to learn how to handle her intense emotions and to address negativity of the past. It was the first I had ever heard of Dabrowski’s overexcitabilities.
The full report arrived mid-summer and all 15 pages of it ($125 per page) was worth every penny we spent. In many ways it just confirmed things we had always known or suspected, but it was incredibly affirming to have confirmation and interpretation come from an expert, neutral “outsider.” It was affirming to have actual numbers and, most importantly, to own the data. We did not have to beg or cajole it from the school system. It was ours and it was valid. It would be a tool we could advocate with.
Reflecting on it, I only wish we had done the assessment years earlier. Our path might have been easier. Which is why I will now tell anyone: If you have the least suspicion that your child may be exceptionally or profoundly gifted, get the testing done. If things just aren’t going smoothly, something seems “off” for your child, get the testing done. Follow your instinct. Get it done early. Don’t wait until after 5th grade.
I wish we had something like Johns Hopkins here. I know my daughter is gifted, I just don’t know the extent. And she just lives and breathes those “overexcitibilities” (when she was a pre-schooler I found the book “The Spirited Child” and it fit her to a “T”). We may be moving to NoVa this summer. My daughter will be 13… hope it won’t be too late for the testing to make a difference for her.
Christina, if you do move to the area, nationally respected gifted expert Nadia Webb is in Harrisonburg, VA. Here’s the link to her practice: http://www.nadiawebb.com/
In the meantime, read, read, read all you can. And sign your daughter up for the SAT.
Good luck!
Thanks so much for that link… she looks like a great person to contact. I’ve been doing some reading (working on a Nation Deceived right now) - it gets overwhelming so I read in fits and spurts. I looked at CTY’s talent search program but it’s apparently too late this year for the SAT/ACT. Wonder if we can sign her up for the test another way?
Anyways… thanks so much for blogging about this stuff, it is a huge help!!!
Glad to help, Christina.
Secret #1: Even “underage” you don’t have to sign up for the SAT through a Talent Search. Your daughter is 13 so you should be able to do this online at the College Board site (the College Board’s online system won’t allow you to create a record for a student under 13.) Or do if it’s more comfortable (or your child is underage, see below), do it the old-fashioned way and go to your local high school, pick up a paper registration form and send it in. The difference is that scores won’t go to CTY/Duke etc. to qualify for their camps etc. and they won’t be reported to her current school (if she’s in school…you haven’t said). Also, the child most likely will be considered a “normal” test taker and take the test in a room with high school age students, not a separate room. Which depending on the child could be unnerving. But you’ll have the scores, and that can be important to you if you need them for advocacy purposes. If she should apply for one of the Talent Search programs, you can always present the scores later, I imagine.
Secret#2: You don’t have to be in 7th grade to take the SAT for the first time. That’s the age that the Talent Searches have established. But there is no lower age limit–you just have to register outside the Talent Search system. Now admittedly there are very very few children who are willing and able, and for whom one might want to consider testing at even more unusually young ages. But this blog is about those very very few, right? And I would say emphatically that if one does go this route, these children should NOT be pushed into it, coached, prepped etc. This is not about grooming, prestige, keeping up with the Jones, “gaming the system” etc. It’s for those very very few exceptional children who are up to a challenge and for whom one would like an out of level estimate of ability. And it’s just one measure, albeit a well understood one. It’s not a substitute for a full-on psycho-educational assessment, but If you don’t have access to, or the ability to pay for a full assessment, SAT scores can still be useful for advocacy. Again, the child has to be on board and up to it, not be freaked out. None of this is “necessary.” It’s just a little known option to consider and which might apply in some select situations.
Whew…a lot more than you expected!
At some point, I’ll most likely have my DD tested by Dr. Linda Silverman at one of her periodic clinics in the Bay Area. Right now she’s still a little on the young side for a long battery of tests. I’d hate to shell out all that $$$$ and have her get bored partway through & decide not to cooperate.
[...] like a bizarre form of torture to make a 12 year old take a college entrance exam, I did so on the advice of another mom of a gifted child. See, the SAT can gauge a gifted child’s abilities more accurately than the grade-level [...]