Who Can I See to Have My Son Tested for Giftedness?

I Don't know what school district you are in, but I would ask them first if they have testing and/or a gifted program. We are in Livonia Public Schools, which we love, and they have the ACAT program..."Alternative Classrooms for the Academically Talented." My son's kindergarten teacher suggested we have him tested after he finished the year, and we did. He was invited to join the ACAT program...but for various reasons...we decided against it. I know people that have had their kids tested (through LPS) before they even started kindergarten so I don't think there is any such thing as too young. I don't know if LPS takes kids from outside the district for ACAT, but they might be able to test for you.
Hope this helps!
Good luck,
L.

Most schools don't test as early as 1st grade. Why do you think he has ADHD? I'd guess its also too early for that diagnosis, but its a common one among young gifted kids. http://www.sengifted.org/articles_counseling/Webb_Misdiag...
I have 3 kids with high IQs and a very similar situation with relatives that are at the top. I educated myself when my oldest was in 3rd grade when we were faced with behavior problems. I was told by a teacher that it was very unusual for smart kids to be impatient and not helpful to other kids. What a falsehood, and is a good example of the experience most teachers have. She was teaching for 20 years at that time. She referred me to the social worker and he said we should see how smart we were talking about. They did a basic IQ test called K-Bit. He was designated TAG and was given some opportunities. We had the best results with Sat classes at Schoolcraft College's Kids on Campus. Unfortunately, since then the funding for scholarships was cut. We were willing to pay but the college cut back dramatically on classes offered. Still very worth your while. He loved being with other smart kids. Never minded giving up Saturdays for it. That son is in 9th grade now. Here are 2 websites I found helpful:
http://www.migiftedchild.org/
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/parents.htm
In elementary, you're best approach is 1 on 1 with the teacher. Do the research which will tell you acting out is common and then maybe they'll accommodate him. I don't think any schools do a TAG program that young, but a good teacher will differentiate (not give more work) for the kids. There should be someone in your district that's in charge of gifted ed that can give you advice. If you want testing for yourself, you could take the approach of seeing a psychologist re: the behavior issues. Its also a bit hard to find mental health professionals that have knowledge specific to high intelligence, and we found none of them that do specialize take our insurance. Testing can be expensive. Not sure its valuable beyond backing you up with the teachers. See the websites for the characteristics of gifted kids and have that copied for teachers and social worker. I don't know what your district is like but the No Child Left Behind deal has certainly negatively affected the gifted student. Anyway, this is a topic I'm passionate about and I'd like to help any way I can. My 2 brothers that are highly intelligent had very different experiences in their childhood. One was born when the idea took hold that these kids need special ed, the other got to be the teachers pet. He was never able to finish college, had a bad marriage, suffered depression & tried to commit suicide at age 53. The younger 1 went to a high school that allowed him to get an Associates degree by age 18, had scholarships through his masters by age 27. However, he also suffers depression. Society doesn't support intelligence very much. Please feel free to email me direct if you want.

There are all sorts of influences on behavior -- you may need to spend the summer researching to figure out which piece or pieces is playing a role w/ your son's situation.

ADHD is at the mild end of the autism spectrum. Google "Asperger's Syndrome" and read about it -- see if you recognize your son. You may want to take him to someone who can diagnose Asperger's and/or rule Asperger's out. The way you describe him makes me think Asperger's.

Children with ADHD very often have sensory issues. MANY of them are kinesthetic learners. (Google Dr Steve Guffanti for starters.) He may need to move while he learns. You may need to take him to an occupational therapist who is trained in sensory integration. Your library will have some books by Carol Stock Kranowitz. Borrow them and see if you recognize your son, there. There are lots of books about sensory integration, now, and if you go to Amazon dot com and search for Kranowitz and The Out of Sync Child, a whole bunch of other titles will pop up for you.

Diet can affect behavior in a big way, and many children w/ add, adhd, and autism improve on one of the special diets. For ADHD, the first thing I think of is the Feingold Deit, where (in a nutshell-you need to read about it for specifics) you remove dyes and preservatives. Another is the gluten free casein free diet. Some families do both, or a full gfcf diet w/ a modified Feingold. Is there a food that he craves? That one may be a culprit in behavior.

While you're at the library, look for "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp MD. You may see your child in this book.

Over summer vacation, check his vision with a developmental optometrist. Is he worse, behaviorally, under fluorescent lights?

ANOTHER BOOK MUST READ: Lost At School www.lostatschool.org (check out the full title at the web site) The author, Ross Greene, PhD, says behaviors at school may be the result of a developmental delay and not because they don't want to behave. GET THIS BOOK!

Good luck! :)

We had our daughter tested at WSU which was cheaper than other places. She then went to Steppingstone school for gifted education in Farmington. We liked it there, but didn't want to spend so much on her eduction for the next 14 years. We were moving soon so we looked specifically for a school district that had a magnet program in the public school. We found one in Brighton. We really love it. Look into if they have a special program in your local school district and if not, maybe a nearby one and you could drive him. It's quite common that gifted kids have ADHD and it's also common that they get misdiagnosed with it too, so be careful. If he is gifted, teachers for some reason don't like to hear that and may actually resent him or give him a hard time with everything( said from experience with my nephew) so be careful how you word it. Maybe call say that he is a special needs kids first, which he is, and than explain why. Maybe you'd get more sympathy. Unfortunately, they are discriminated against by both kids and adults alike, which is why a special program where he can be with his peers is best. Seek out a magnet program, or send him to Roeper or Steppingstone if you can afford it.

Oh, I just saw that you live in the thumb. You may have to start your own gifted program. I'm sure there are others that are experiencing the same thing. Seek them out and it may take a lot of work, but you have to be your child's advocate. Look up various groups for gifted children. Google it, maybe they can help you. Good luck!

H.,

There are private schools that will challenge him and may have testing available. I know the charter school near my home tests children for advanced courses.

I realize you are a nurse, but if you are looking for natural/alternative ways to help your son with his ADHD, send me an email and we can set up a time to talk.

May you find a facility to help you and your son.

M.

Dear H.

He is studing in which school district? There is a PACE programme in Troy school district whether this type of kids spend few hours a week . They are pulled away from there class and given special challenging work.

I don't know where you are located. Hope this helps you.
C.

Hi H.---I'm sorry that I don't have much to offer in terms of testing, but I can say that we had the same experience with our youngest son in the early grades.

I doubt that your son really suffers from ADHD. Our son was reading before kindegarten and we got the same message at every conference. "Ian doesn't work well without disturbing others." The kid was bored. He finished his work and then wanted to play. It did get better as he got older and was put in the advanced math and reading classes. It is unfortunate, but my theory is that the teachers don't like to have to deal with anything outside of the 'norm' when it comes to students. And it is particularly difficult with gifted students. There are programs for challenged students, but the gifted are often labeled trouble makers. It will take much effort on your part to advocate proper attention from his school to recognize that his 'attention deficit' is not your son's problem, but theirs. They are working for us.

Please revisit the ADHD diagnosis and if he is on those terrible drugs, consider learning how to channel his energies in a different way. I am taking a series of wellness classes and I have a great CD addressing the ADHD problme, recorded by a Naturopath who also has her PhD in nutrition. I would be happy to share the information I am learning about this subject. Another tip to watch for in helping attention and hyperactivity is the diet. I can help with tips there as well. Basically, read labels and watch for chemical additives in food, particularly artificial colors and sweeteners, and MSG.

Good luck with your search. And remember, the school is working for you. Be sure they don't try to make your son fit their idea of how the 'perfect' student behaves. It does make work for them and that's why they always claim ADHD with challenging students.

In health and wellness, D. ###-###-####

If you check out the website for The Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills on Woodward, you can click on a link to find resources for determining whether your child is gifted.

How exciting for you! (And frustrating ~ I am sure!) I don't know how to get him tested, but I would like to offer a natural solution to the ADHD before someone suggests his body be exposed to meds for it! Let me know if you want to talk about this.

Good luck!

S.
____@____.com

Wayne State Department of Psychology offers testing, you must call for an appointment and costing info.

H.,
Has your son had a comprehensive evaluation? How did you determine he is ADHD? Have you discussed his academic and behavioral issues with your pediatrician?

I called our pediatrician after repeated conferences. She referred us to Pine Rest's ADD Clinic (in Grand Rapids) for a Comprehensive Evaluation. They could administer an IQ test, but it is a $300+ test. We were advised to hold off and push the school system to request/administer it so we would have no out of pocket expense. (Insurance won't pay for an IQ test by the way.)

I'm not sure where you live, but we had a wonderful experience at Pine Rest and have great regard for our son's doctor. (He was diagnosed with ADHD.)

Also something to consider with his ADHD. The school environment he is currently in may not be the best suited to his unique needs. Sitting in a desk for long periods and doing repetitive boring tasks that the child has no interest in can be extraordinarily difficult. It may not be that he needs more challenging work he may just need a more conducive environment in which to work.

Good luck. I hope you find some answers that will help you and your son.

I bet you a dollar he only has ADHD because someone thinks he should be doing something else with his time.

It angers me, that we live in a culture that believes it is perfectly acceptable to waste any amount of a child's time. Can you imagine being forced to sit still through grade 1 again, when you already know all of what is being taught? How do you think that's different for a child who has already learned everything they are teaching this year?

I have one brilliant friend (yes, I was tested in grade 4 to see if I should skip and the lowest score I got was grade 8 math because I didn't know what algebra was -- everything else was beyond 2nd year university) who describes kindergarten as that wonderful year when she got to learn to read. Again.

There is no room in the public school system for genius -- identified or not. They can't give your son the material that will challenge him, because then what would he do in grade 4 when he has to do it all again? They can't say 'hey, you're done, here's your grade 5 certificate, move on to middle school' because of the social realities of children in large, unsupervised, groups. They can't afford to give him a teacher to himself for 12 years, and even if they did, he'd be doing his master's program at, what, 12? His doctorate for his 16th birthday? The school is bound by the 'middle of the population' problem: most of the kids need something near the average, so that is literally all they can afford to offer -- both ends, in smaller and smaller proportions of the population, suffer but there is nothing that can effectively be done about it. When there are 2 kids out of 100 who can't learn and 2 out of a 100 who have already learned it, they need 5 teachers, and can still only afford to pay 3 -- even if 2 of them only have 2 students each. Besides, where is the cut off? The 'true' geniuses, the top 2% of the population, or the ones in the top 5? The top 10 could probably benefit from it, but what of the 11th? Someone's going to be ripped off, why not rip them all off evenly and offer, as it practiced, absolutely no special needs support for geniuses. Perfect. Since they're geniuses, they'll cope. And, as always, wasting a child's time is of no consequence -- it's not valuable time, it's not like they could use it more productively or more rewardingly doing something other than being bored out of their minds (or finding their own entertainment in the classroom as your son and my brother both did).

You work. You need your income, so you can't stay home with him, and can't afford to hire a tutor for your child to stay home and learn at his pace (which would be fast, and probably only take half an hour a day). If you could afford the kind of private school that could manage his brilliance, I'm fairly sure you'd have found that already.

So, he's stuck. You're stuck. The system is stuck. Yay.

Doesn't it make you angry?

I am still angry about the waste of MY time school was. My kids didn't go to school. I read the curriculum from time to time (I actually read the whole thing all the way through, once -- man, that's hilarious! Apparently, it was written by a committee of people who have only ever heard the sounds 'correct grammar' and 'proper English' but have no idea what those sounds mean!)... in reading the curriculum I found that my kids were AT LEAST two years ahead all the time, and we used no curriculum or structure of any kind at home -- pure interest-led learning based on what they wanted to do with their time, all day, every day. (Apart from regular family-life stuff, chores, grocery shopping, things no one thinks of as 'educational.')

The last hilarious thing that happened was when my now-17yo was 14, helping a good friend of hers with her grade 12 homework. It was Spanish, a language both of my kids pretty much only know exists from tv like Dora. And math. My 14yo 'never interested in math in any way, doesn't do any that doesn't involve money' was helping a 19yo with her grade 12 advanced math homework. Ah, the irony!

Wayne State University has a clinic that does testing... ###-###-####. They can offer you some alternative numbers too. Good luck!