A teacher (not the one we're dealing with) recently told a friend that there was zero point having a child assessed by an educational psychologist because they always come back with the same "diagnosis": 'Your child is in the top 5%, and with developmental or executive function issues'. The teacher was pretty dogmatic about this, and I must admit, that was what we were told after our child's assessment. I did actually ask our ed psych if they ever told parents that their child was "just normal" and she said yes. But it got me wondering... does anyone know of a child who has been assessed by an educational psychologist and judged to be "bright but not gifted"? Thanks.
Hi - yes! I know of two ppl who were assessed by educational psychologists and weren't gifted. I was priviledged enough to be able to look over both assessments which was really interesting. One was far from gt, the other perhaps might have been gt had it not been for real lows and dips.
I have had the privilege of assessing a number of children over the years and have had the normal bell curve of results, from those children who struggle and need support, to those who are nicely average, those who are above average and those who are gifted.
Rebeccas notation about the highs and lows reminds us to ensure that the psychologist doing the assessment understands about asynchronistic development and that the child may well be gifted with a learning disability.
It's wonderful that it takes all sorts to make up the world.
I have heard of a teacher saying to a friend that she has never heard of anyone failing these tests. As if there is a fail!!! :/
The reason for "everyone" being in the top 5% may be that most parent's who check, are seeing issues and that is why they check in the first place. Also perhaps not everyone chooses to show their test at school. I know of people who have assessments of their children and have not shown them to the school/teacher.
I have a "gifted" assessment for one of my children with no "developmental or executive function issues", so there you go....
Re: Anyone assessed as "bright but not gifted" by ed psychs?
Author: anon
Date: 05-08-12 22:43
I've had a child assessed as at least exceptionally gifted (testing issues hence some conservatism there with the 'at least') and also, by another ed psyc, as only just meeting the gifted cut-off, no anxiety issues at all.
Go figure!
(BTW, almost certainly PG, and a sure candidate for GAD).
Re: Anyone assessed as "bright but not gifted" by ed psychs?
Author: Sue
Date: 06-08-12 08:42
Gifted kids have off days like everyone else and this can affect the way they test on a given day. This is one of the reasons why an ed psych assessment should not be the sole identifier used for gifted children. Their behavioural characteristics are just as important as the number they get on an IQ test. I know the tests are required as part of the entry process for some gifted programmes. Best practice is to use a multi-dimensional approach to assess giftedness and psychometric tests are just one part of that.
