Jump to content

Menu

How many years accelerated?


Recommended Posts

My DS is having an evaluation and the question has risen of how many years accelerated is he in math. It seems to depend on the curriculum, right? He is at 5B in SM which is one and a half years from actual 'grade level' but he tested to start 8/7 Saxon and algebra for TT. How would you answer that? :confused:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it were me I would say 2 years. I think Singapore runs about 6 mos ahead of grade level. TT is not a good place to look at grade levels, apparently the level on the book is about 2 grades off of "grade level" from what I have heard. I have heard some say Saxon runs behind grade level but I think others would argue that it doesn't. Either way, I would base it on what you are using with a little added for the rigor of Singapore and say 2 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you check your state standards?

 

My DD is a rising 3rd grader and will start 4A towards the end of the summer/beginning of the fall. When I look at the material covered in 4A, it is mostly on the 5th grade CA math standard. The exception is multiplication of a multidigit number by a 2 digit number, which is on the 4th grade standard. So if someone asked, I'd say she was about 1.5-2 grades ahead in math. She took the 3rd grade ITBS a few months into 3A and scored in the 98th-99th percentiles on the math sections.

 

I don't have 5B yet so I can't tell you how that compares to the CA math standards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

According to what the schools here are doing, Singapore Primary Math is 1.5 years ahead. Ds was using 5A when he started 6th grade at a small Catholic school last year. He was put into the advanced math group (doing "7th grade" math this year). So, if your child will be a 3rd grader doing 5B, you can safely say that he is 3 or 4 years accelerated in math.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why not just take the placement tests in and show them, since there's such a range between 5th grade programs? I also have to ask why a tester is asking this question-why aren't they just using a Peabody or WRAT or other true achievement test? The only reason I could see it being valid is if you wanted to use a single grade level test out of level, and that's not what I'd pay someone to do, since it's easy for me to do that on my own!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why not just take the placement tests in and show them, since there's such a range between 5th grade programs? I also have to ask why a tester is asking this question-why aren't they just using a Peabody or WRAT or other true achievement test? The only reason I could see it being valid is if you wanted to use a single grade level test out of level, and that's not what I'd pay someone to do, since it's easy for me to do that on my own!

:iagree: I only paid $50 to have the Peabody done in our home and it was very informative. It will let a child go until they hit 12th grade level in any area. I'm curious why they're asking too. If it's just for a round about guess to see where they start, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If they're using that level to pick an actual test, then that's not too great.

 

FWIW - 2 years ago my child did the Peabody after our 1st year of homeschooling. He just finished SM 4B. He tested on the peabody as late 4th grade in math as a 2nd grader. This year he finished SM 6B and tested at end of 8th grade level in math on the Peabody. He is not a kid that tests well in math unless he solidly knows the material. He doesn't take leaps in notation.

 

I think he did test a bit lower than he would have the first year, but things are presented out of order in SM than they are presented in the Peabody. He hit some geometry questions that weren't covered until SM5, but wasn't asked about other things that were covered sooner. You really have to take all these test results with a grain of salt! :tongue_smilie:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I'm confused--are you asking how accelerated is he in terms of the curriculum he is using compared to his grade-by-age level? Or are you asking where he would test achievement-wise in math?

 

When my son was in the middle of 4A this year, he placed at GL 7.5 on a 6th grade test (at the time that would have been 5 years above age-grade).

 

IMO, that just means that 50% of 7th graders haven't mastered 3rd grade math.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone! I was thinking along the same lines, but was unsure. DS is having an eval for poss. spectrum issues, but these issues would look more expected if he his EG or more. He's had the WIAT done and hit ceiling in all math areas. IQ missed Davidson requirements by 2 points and in the lull of waiting 4 more months for the eval, I was considering putting together a portfolio. I think I don't like waiting and am just trying to find answers on my own!! :tongue_smilie:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:iagree: I only paid $50 to have the Peabody done in our home and it was very informative. It will let a child go until they hit 12th grade level in any area.

 

Who did this for you? I have been trying to find out how to get the Peabody for my daughter, and have basically hit a wall. I have no idea who to contact to find out how to have it administered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not concerned about where he is at at home. He's working where he is working. I'm trying to evaluate how far outside of normal he is, that could be causing some of the other issues we're working through. Just trying to wade through the gray areas:001_smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who did this for you? I have been trying to find out how to get the Peabody for my daughter, and have basically hit a wall. I have no idea who to contact to find out how to have it administered.

 

 

Actually, in my case, it was another local homeschooling parent who is certified to test for homeschoolers. Do you have local HS groups/boards you could post to? You could post you are looking for someone to do a Peabody or WJ. I know that's how many connections are made in our area. We have a local GT org as well that's good for finding these kind of resources.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not concerned about where he is at at home. He's working where he is working. I'm trying to evaluate how far outside of normal he is, that could be causing some of the other issues we're working through. Just trying to wade through the gray areas:001_smile:

 

After having been through several assessments with my kids, it would seem that having a kid working two years ahead of age--and mastering the material--is well outside the norm (99+ percentile). Actually, just mastering grade level material is fairly unusual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're a YS family, so if you're trying to decipher grade level for your application portfolio, you're better off getting a standardized achievement test or just writing down what curriculum he's in. The applications committee is well aware of which materials are "above" or "behind" without you trying to figure it out. Trust me, they're much better experts at that stuff than we are! :) :)

 

For what it's worth, most YS children I've learned about (including my own DS6) is working a good 2-3 years above grade level in math. Mine happened to score in the 99th percentile in national placement ranking on a standardized 2nd grade math test (last semester when he was 5 and in Kindergarten), so we submitted that in our YS application to show achievement. (He also did the same thing on the language arts and reading tests, so we submitted those, as well.) You don't have to get him tested across the board, though.

 

Grade level can get very tricky to figure out without achievement tests. For example, when DS was doing RightStart B, it was only considered a 1st grade curriculum, yet he learned multi-digit mental addition that isn't even taught in most curriculums. However, it barely touched subtraction or some other concepts that were in other materials. Thank goodness we were doing a standards-based program (CalMath) as a supplement, because I later discovered that he wouldn't have done nearly as well on the achievement test if he had only learned Rightstart B and C.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After having been through several assessments with my kids, it would seem that having a kid working two years ahead of age--and mastering the material--is well outside the norm (99+ percentile). Actually, just mastering grade level material is fairly unusual.

 

:iagree:I would agree with that after going through a # of assessments too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spellbound,

 

It's none of my business, but I thought I'd ask anyway. (If you tell me to mind my own business I will! :D) I noticed in your signature that you describe your ds as a possible PDD-NOS. If he is gifted, can he also be PDD-NOS? I always thought that meant something like pervasive delays.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spellbound,

 

It's none of my business, but I thought I'd ask anyway. (If you tell me to mind my own business I will! :D) I noticed in your signature that you describe your ds as a possible PDD-NOS. If he is gifted, can he also be PDD-NOS? I always thought that meant something like pervasive delays.

 

Pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified. I do believe, however, that PDD-NOS and giftedness can coexist. (Although I am not really knowledgeable on the subject. :D)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The way it was explained to me is that he may be 'twice exceptional', that is gifted and on the spectrum in a mild sense. Just trying to find what skills or therapies could be beneficial to him in the long run. The longer he's out of school, the less we see issues and I can really start questioning the PDD-NOS aspect. Then there are some days.............

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified. I do believe, however, that PDD-NOS and giftedness can coexist. (Although I am not really knowledgeable on the subject. :D)

 

They can coexist. PDD-NOS tends to be the diagnosis given to kids who seem to have some characteristics of autism but not all the classic signs. The kids fall on the spectrum in some ways but aren't easily diagnosed as autistic. Some kids I've seen with the diagnosis have pervasive global delays. Others are just mildly delayed or exhibit some characteristics of autism and those kids can be twice exceptional.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They can coexist. PDD-NOS tends to be the diagnosis given to kids who seem to have some characteristics of autism but not all the classic signs. The kids fall on the spectrum in some ways but aren't easily diagnosed as autistic.

 

Is that similar to Aspberger's?

 

I have friends whose kids are gifted w/ Aspberger's and this is the way they have explained it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have friends whose kids are gifted w/ Aspberger's and this is the way they have explained it.

 

Some of the kids I have seen who were originally diagnosed as PDD-NOS end up with a diagnosis of Aspergers but I only see kids until they are 3yo and in my experience, haven't seen Aspergers diagnosed that young. Kids with Aspergers tend to be on the high functioning end of the spectrum but have difficulty picking up on social cues and innuendo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We consider it all pretty arbitrary. Ds wanted to get high school credit for some of the high school work he did when he was 6th grade age, so we called him 9th grade for a few purposed (6th for outside activities). So he would have been 3 years accelerated. This year, I saw no reason to call him 10th grade, since it's unlikely that we'll graduate him before he's 16, and he barely turned 12, so I called him 9th grade again, even though he earned enough credits last year to advance (4 1/2 of a necessary 17 1/2 for graduation). SO this year, on the record books, he's only 2 years accelerated. Now I didn't REALLY hold him back, he's doing more advanced stuff this year than he did last ... we just find 'grade level' a pretty arbitrary concept.

 

No outside academic activities have ever fit his needs anyway, so all of those are social, and age-grade suits fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's that Autism requires certain traits/behaviors, and that PDD-NOS and Aspergers both have some of those, but are missing one of the keys needed for an autism diagnosis. I believe one has normal early language, but difficulties in the social area, and the other has normal social development, but struggles with expressive language.

 

Regardless, from what I've seen, the line between HFA, PDD-NOS and Aspergers seems to be more in the eye of who did the labeling than anything else-the kids aren't all that different. I've also come to believe (having going through autism testing for DD as a toddler, only to be told that she was "Highly cognitively asynchronous with sensory, emotional, and motor overexcitabilities" which means that they hand you a book list and wish you luck) that the line between 2e and PG with overexcitabilities is similarly drawn. There are two kids in my homeschool group who are identified as being on-spectrum and who test as HG+ (which the school district seems inclined to ignore-hence the reason both are homeschooled) -and in both cases, I wonder what would have happened had they been tested at the same high level University Medical School program my DD was, instead of by the public programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's that Autism requires certain traits/behaviors, and that PDD-NOS and Aspergers both have some of those, but are missing one of the keys needed for an autism diagnosis. I believe one has normal early language, but difficulties in the social area, and the other has normal social development, but struggles with expressive language.

 

Regardless, from what I've seen, the line between HFA, PDD-NOS and Aspergers seems to be more in the eye of who did the labeling than anything else-the kids aren't all that different. I've also come to believe (having going through autism testing for DD as a toddler, only to be told that she was "Highly cognitively asynchronous with sensory, emotional, and motor overexcitabilities" which means that they hand you a book list and wish you luck) that the line between 2e and PG with overexcitabilities is similarly drawn. There are two kids in my homeschool group who are identified as being on-spectrum and who test as HG+ (which the school district seems inclined to ignore-hence the reason both are homeschooled) -and in both cases, I wonder what would have happened had they been tested at the same high level University Medical School program my DD was, instead of by the public programs.

 

I have two DD's on the "spectrum". My DD10 has an Aspergers diagnosis and my DD7 has a PDD-NOS diagnosis. It is all very fine lines, drawn in the sand to be quite frank. For my oldest DD I'm told that with her level of giftedness that there are only five specialists in the country that could really tell us if she truely has AS, which isn't something that I can afford to do, both in cost of testing and in traveling. My best advice is to treat whatever symptoms you see, regardless of diagnosis. :001_smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...