Gifted Tests

My son is in the gifted program. I didn't see the test he took, but he told me it was easy. Where we are, they don't do a whole lot with it at the elementary level, so my son's been pretty bored with school at times. He'll be in middle school next year and we hope there will be more challenging material. He's looking forward to next year because he's already read so many books for the Accelerated Reader program that are on the middle school list. My philosophy is, get through the boring stuff (home work, etc) then if there's anything else you want to know, I'll help you find out about it. My son has a wide variety of interests and I do my best to keep his mind engaged. His learning doesn't stop when his school day ends. He gets straight A's, reads at a 12th grade level in the 5th grade and is a black belt in taekwondo..

It really varies.
You should ask the school/Teacher, whomever is giving the test.
Is it being given at your request or the Teacher's?

Sometimes, they don't always like that a parent knows exactly what the test is... because they want it to be natural and not rehearsed from the child.

Good luck,
Susan

Hi Jenn,
I am a Gifted teacher in Florida. It can vary what will be on the test, depending on which one will be given. There's nothing she can study for it. But I always tell interested parents to work on patterns and to identify things to their children by synonyms. For example, "Look at that dog, they can also be called canines/puppies/mutts/currs/etc". This helps your child learn different names for things. Did they already do a preliminary screening? How did she do on that? If you have any questions, you can message me. And don't worry about the j's. I teach a number of super intelligent Gifted kids who can't spell or write words worth a lick. They all have their talents.

Hi Jenn - The school psychologist or guidance counselor probably won't tell you details about what is on the test b/c they don't want you to try to "prepare" your daughter for it. Don't worry about trying to prepare her for the test...my dghtr was just tested a few months ago (at age 6) and it's a combination of verbal and written questions. My dghtr still writes certain letters/numbers backwards also (6/9, B/D, P/Q, 5/S, 3/E)...it's totally normal. The testing is good and isn't putting pressure on her (as long as you don't put any pressure on her about taking it)...it's a needed element in the public school system in order to (hopefully) be assigned a Teacher who is Gifted qualified &/or have some coursework that will be challenging to her as she moves thru school. In Hillsborough County (where I live) once a child has the Gifted "label" they will always have/keep it thru their entire school career. If you don't make a big deal about her taking this test she won't be worried about it at all...the adminstrator giving the test will make it as "fun" as possible. I didn't even know when exactly the test wld be administered to my daghter & in hind sight that was the best way to go.
K. ;)

is she having this test thru the gifted program at school? my niece did this some yrs ago and from what she did in the gifted classes (she's now in high school & has been in gifted since 1st) is that they did the same work only more of it. now however, (from what my daughters teacher tells me) is that they group several grades together and then they can do the next grade work if need be. the test should be online for your school board. really from what i've been told they don't typically like to test until they are at least in 2nd or 3rd grade bc it's too much. however you don't want your daughter to get bored. i had the decision to get my daughter tested also and i decided not to bc it doesn't really make a difference until they are in middle school anyways. they treat the kids different and normally separate them from the other kids in the school so they are isolated. (anyways that's been my experience for the last 10-11yrs at the different schools i have been involved in.

ps-my daughter (in kindergarden) has a girl that reads on 3rd grade level and she's NOT gifted (who would've thougth) so i wouldn't worry too much abt the backward j's :)

just because they test her doesnt mean she will pass they tested mine to jump a grade and he just sat there and did nothing. if she does dont discipline her. if you dont test her and she is real smart she wil be bored in school and probably get in trouble cause of it let her test.

Of course it is a good thing if they think she should have an IQ test! It won't be putting anything else on her plate just to have the test and once the results are in you can make decisions based on those results. I will say (I have a 20 year old who is genius level IQ..found out when he was 5) the earlier you know your child is gifted the better because depending on the numbers you face boredom in the classroom which can lead to behavior issues and a whole slew of other things. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

.

My daughter went through this in third grade after she scored very high on pssa testing. It was a pretty long process which was good because they spaced it out. She wast tested by the guidance counselor and school psychologist on things like puzzles etc. It wasn't real stressful and we didn't make a big deal of it if she didn't get in...but she did....and was sooo proud of herself. :) The gifted program really just takes what she's currently learning in school and goes a little beyond that to enrich what she's already learned. It's been a good experience for her so far...and really fun. Good luck.

Let her enjoy it.
best,k

The schools here send out a letter to parents once a year, to inform them that they can nominate their child(or a teacher can nominate them) to have the testing done. After the testing is completed for all the kids, they have a meeting for the parents whose kids scored well, and they may qualify for special math programs in a few years.
Sometimes the tests are done for an individual child to check for learning disabilities. They can have a really high IQ, but still need help performing up to their potential.
You could just let her know that she may get to take a test that's different and fun, may have hard parts and easy parts, and may have some puzzles in it.
Even if your child doesn't get in to a gifted program, you can still enrich their learning at home, such as checking out books from the library, doing kitchen science experiments, or visiting a museum.
Backwards letters are probably normal at age 5. However, for kids that have extreme difficulty writing- slow, painful, unreadable, inconsistent size and spacing- it can be a sign of a learning disability such as dysgraphia or disorder of written expression.

My first question is, "what are they going to do if the results of the test come back and she is a genius or overly smart?" How can they accomodate that at 5 or in kindergarten??? You don't want her to move forward a year - not now. If this "smartness" continues and she gets bored as she progresses through school, then you could consider moving her up a grade. But right now is not the time - I speak from personal experience. I was the "smart" 5 year old that was pushed straight into 1st grade and my smartness continued until I was in 9th grade. That is when the struggle begain and the maturity problems started. Being a girl you mature faster, but once you hit the older grades and you are a year (or more) younger - you begin to feel isolated. I was 16 when I graduated and by then I was an average student. I completely lost the urge/desire to practic my smarts.

Anyway - just one persons personal experience and opinion. It is nice to know that she is above normal smarts so that you can react to it at home, but not at school (as it pertains to moving forward a year).

If they are testing her for giftedness, then it is not something that can be studied or prepared for in the way you would ordinarily prepare for a test. It is not going to be a test of her knowledge, per se. It is more of her thinking processes. My daughter was in private school for several years, and this year she entered public. (3rd grade). I asked them to test her (and actually was very frustrated at how long it took them to do so). I also was in a gifted program (starting in middle school) and was tested. What I recall, and what my daughter remembered is questions like...
Football is to soccer as tennis is to: a) basketball b) hockey c) track d) baseball. That sort of thing... or figuring out patterns in a series of numbers. Or perspective things, like if a bird flies across the yard... which picture is what he will see (then with several pictures)... that sort of thing. It is NOT going to be something that you can teach her.
The only thing you can do in advance is to not make a huge deal about it, but let her know that the teacher is going to do this testing game with her. She is to do her best, but there is no grade. It is more to find out how she thinks, not passing/failing or graded. Then make sure she eats well and rests well the night before and the morning of the testing. Let her know that if she doesn't understand something she is allowed to say so, and there will be stuff she doesn't know... so to expect that, just to make her best guess.
Good luck.
P.S.
Everywhere treats "gifted" differently. Where my daughter is, they have a one day all day pull-out program, where one day a week she goes to a completely different class for the entire day with a group of gifted students like herself. Hers happens to be at an entirely different school than her "regular" school. So if/when her results come back and you are deciding whether to allow her to participate, ask questions about what the 'program' does/offers. It may or may not be a good fit for your daughter. Some schools, they are out for an hour each day or some other regimen. The poster who said it is important for YOU to know if she qualifies is correct... whether or not she does anything with the school as far as giftedness programs. You will need to be supplementing her learning experience at home if she is gifted. If she is gifted, you will likely find differences in your daughter and friends' kids... for ex.: my daughter will FIND something to learn if I don't provide it... she LOVES doing those "summer bridge" workbooks... all year round. She gets out my son's old text books and reads them for fun (he is 3 yrs older). She learned to read at 3.5 yrs and was a competent reader by her 4th birthday-- because she begged me to teach her starting at 3. Almost anything she learns for the first time, she "picks it up/gets it" after the first time/example... sometimes it takes two... but with most kids it is 3,4, 5 times... she is bored by then and ready to move on. She started "complaining" early (like kindergarten) that things at school were too easy. Not just the reading (the other kids were still learning but she was already a fully independent reader reading at a 3rd grade level) but the math also. She complained all through private school years that math was boring (she loves math.. but it was not challenging her at the rate they were teaching it). That's the biggest thing with gifted kids... they learn new things QUICKLY .. so when the teacher is going through a new math concept for the 10th time (most kids need this sort of repetition)..the gifted student is sitting there wanting to scream "I GOT IT ALREADY!" and becomes bored or frustrated. It's not that they are smarter or know more... but they learn differently and with less repetition almost ALWAYS.
Good luck.

P.P.S.
Just because she tests gifted does NOT mean that they will skip her a grade. Gifted does not mean that you move ahead in grades. It means that you benefit from different or more in depth teaching methods. The only day she comes home from school and tells me anything about school, is the day she goes to Challenge class. They write poems, do puzzles, problem-solve, play board games during any free time, learn an amazing amount of detail on a single subject (a weird bird from Australia or cactuses in the Mohave or whatever)... she gets SO much more out of that one school day. And her "regular" teacher doesn't require her to make up what she misses in class that day. She does FINE on all her tests even without that day in class. She still makes 96 -100 in EVERY subject on her report cards.

I haven't read any of the other responses so sorry if I repeat anything...

My daughter was tested at the end of kindergarten, but they realized that her results weren't accurate because it goes by AGE and she wouldn't be 6 until June (the summer after kindergarten)...so they had to retest at the beginning of 1st grade.

Anyway, she DID test into gifted. She is now in 5th grade, and ever since 1st grade she has been going one day per week to the gifted teacher. The gifted teacher has NEVER given her ANY homework. All of her classroom teachers have always been great about dealing with the work that she misses -- they either let her skip it or give her classtime to make it up.

When she gets to middle school next year, she will be taking advanced classes, but that's a choice we are making because we think she can handle it, not something that was forced on her based on IQ testing.

There is no harm in having the testing done. You will still have options with whatever they want to do for her in her future.