Wasn't quite sure where to post this question...
A teacher (not the one we're dealing with) recently told a friend that there was zero point having her 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.
Re: Anyone assessed as "bright but not gifted" by ed psychs?
Author: L
Date: 02-08-12 08:37
Of course, there is a "self-selection" effect here - how many parents of children whose children present as "just normal" or "comfortably bright, with no issues" are going to be making an appointment with an ed psych? By definition, something unusual has been noticed to drive the parents to take that step.
I read an interesting study (UK) which found that children whose families were members of the Gifted Childrens Assoc (or equiv) were more likely to have 'problems' of various kinds than equally bright children from the same schools who were not formally tagged as 'gifted'. This was of course not 'because' they joined the Gifted Assoc, but the other way round - those who experienced difficulties of some kind were more likely to look for information, assessment, support etc.
Same applies to this forum of course. It can lead to an unfortunate equation that "gifted" = "bright with problems" in many people's eyes - I remember a student teacher who expressed great surprise that my DD was 'gifted' (her exceptional academic performance and cognitive talents notwithstanding) because she "seems very happy and has friends and plays with people at lunchtime".
Re: Anyone assessed as "bright but not gifted" by ed psychs?
Author: Linda
Date: 03-08-12 21:07
I have one HG (99.9 percentile) with no issues, and one (97ish -my memory fails me) with pronunced dyslexic markers (too young to actually say dyslexic) so that blows that theory. Also having read around this forum there are many different levels and aspects picked up in testing. Most seem to have found testing very valuable. My child got remedial reading despite meeting national standards (for 12months at same reading level) because of her ed psych report indicated she should be progressing and was being held back by the learning difficulty. She is now making progress and more confident --this wouldn't have happened for at least another year without that report.
