If my family has a history of giftedness, profound giftedeness, SPDs, and

[smilesonly]

mental issues, and I am thinking of getting an elementary dc evaluated to see if there are any problems/issues(aside from known ones), where would we start?

 

I've looked into a pediatric neuropsychologist, and can't find one nearby. Even if there was one, I'm sure we couldn't afford it.

 

What about a public school? Are they friendly/welcoming to do extensive testing with a hsed dc? ( I realize that it really depends on the person doing the evaluations.)

 

If we went the route of a PS evaluation, what if we didn't want to follow their suggestions-like if they suggested we need the PS to help us. Yikes!

 

I'm thinking we are definitely dealing with a dc that is 2E and/or has Overexcitabilities....tho not entirely sure exactly how these two terms differ.

 

Visual processing/possible LD is worrying me.

 

Thanks for any help. My brain is mush this time of night.;)

[lulubelle]

You could go the public school route, but I would start with your pediatrician. They may be able to recommend a developmental ped. in your area or at the practice. You may also want to put this post on the special needs and the accelerated boards and get some more responses. Good luck.

[plansrme]

Keep in mind that if the PS does it, they own the results and control when and where they pop up in your child's future. If you pay for the testing, you own the results and have more control over how they are used.

 

As for how to find someone, once upon a time, I called a large local private school (one that's $18K/student) and talked to the woman who was in charge of their "special services" or something like that. She told me who many of their parents use for their students. I knew who to talk to at this school because I had an acquaintance in the school's administration, but I think I also could have gotten to her if I had just called the school with no introduction. She was very helpful and seemed glad to share her recommendation.

 

Terri

[angela in ohio]

You could see if there is a university near you with a psychology lab. There are a few within driving distance of use here, and they charge varying fees. One even charges on a sliding scale based on income.

 

Your experience with the school will depend on the state and district you live in. In some states, they must give evaluations, and in some, you get nothing as a homeschooler. The district will also then have its own personality as far as homeschoolers go.

[radiobrain]

I suggest going to http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ if you haven't already. It is a bit difficult to navigate, but really worth it.

 

You also might want to join the TAGMAX list. It is an odd forum, I always have trouble figuring out how to use it, but I get the digest to avoid a lot of that. There are a ton of homeschoolers with gifted kids on there, who have BTDT. It is one of the best places I have ever found to ask questions about anything.

 

I do not suggest going the PS route for several reasons. One is that they do not do extensive testing, they are supposed to, but they really don't. Proper testing costs a lot of $$ and although they are interested in designating kids as special needs, I don't think they really care past the initial diagnosis too much. Also, I don't think they will help with much of anything unless they are actually enrolled. If your family history involves all these "quirks" chances are your kid/s will have many of them.

 

Good luck!!! :D

[smilesonly]

You could go the public school route, but I would start with your pediatrician. They may be able to recommend a developmental ped. in your area or at the practice. You may also want to put this post on the special needs and the accelerated boards and get some more responses. Good luck.

 

Thank you. We don't see peds, just family drs but I will give them a call. Not sure how to xpost?:confused:

 

Keep in mind that if the PS does it, they own the results and control when and where they pop up in your child's future. If you pay for the testing, you own the results and have more control over how they are used.

 

As for how to find someone, once upon a time, I called a large local private school (one that's $18K/student) and talked to the woman who was in charge of their "special services" or something like that. She told me who many of their parents use for their students. I knew who to talk to at this school because I had an acquaintance in the school's administration, but I think I also could have gotten to her if I had just called the school with no introduction. She was very helpful and seemed glad to share her recommendation.

 

Terri

 

Yeah, this is why I have hesitated to this point. I really don't want the PS to be in our business. I also can't afford to fork out a lot of $.

 

You could see if there is a university near you with a psychology lab. There are a few within driving distance of use here, and they charge varying fees. One even charges on a sliding scale based on income.

 

Your experience with the school will depend on the state and district you live in. In some states, they must give evaluations, and in some, you get nothing as a homeschooler. The district will also then have its own personality as far as homeschoolers go.

 

Thank you, I will check into this.

 

I suggest going to http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ if you haven't already. It is a bit difficult to navigate, but really worth it.

 

You also might want to join the TAGMAX list. It is an odd forum, I always have trouble figuring out how to use it, but I get the digest to avoid a lot of that. There are a ton of homeschoolers with gifted kids on there, who have BTDT. It is one of the best places I have ever found to ask questions about anything.

 

I do not suggest going the PS route for several reasons. One is that they do not do extensive testing, they are supposed to, but they really don't. Proper testing costs a lot of $$ and although they are interested in designating kids as special needs, I don't think they really care past the initial diagnosis too much. Also, I don't think they will help with much of anything unless they are actually enrolled. If your family history involves all these "quirks" chances are your kid/s will have many of them.

 

Good luck!!! :D

 

Yep, I have been to Hoagies (and am not the one profoundly gifted;) ) and was quickly intimidated and overwhelmed.:001_huh:

 

About the services PS offers (or won't do)....I was told last week that if I'm not satisfied with the amount of testing they do, I can keep insisting they do more. But, like I said above, for many reasons I am leery of PS being in our business.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.:)

[wapiti]

Another vote against the PS except that it's free. It's worth making a few phone calls to see what they are willing to do. In our district, they do testing for special needs, but gifted identification is only done with screening tests (e.g. Cogat) and the special needs tests are not necessarily the tests a private psych would pick for a 2E kid.

 

I think the problem here is that you might not be able to afford the kind of in-depth testing that *might* be necessary to get to the bottom of the issues. If you could afford it, I'd recommend seeing a neuropsych with extensive experience evaluating 2E kids. Part of the expertise is in the testing itself, and part of the expertise is in both observation during the testing and of course the analysis of the results. Having done both public and private, it's no contest - private was exceptional by comparison.

 

We learned about our tester by word of mouth, but she was also listed on the websites of several local private and gifted schools as an approved tester for admission. That's one way to find a person. This testing - for 2E issues - cost us $1200, and I think that's a normal ballpark for our area (FWIW, this tester was excellent). The highest price in our area is around $1700. On the other hand, a quick and dirty IQ test can be had for less than $500 (but that usually doesn't come with achievement testing and the analysis and conference, which are key in a 2E situation).

 

As another poster mentioned, you might also find one through a university neuropsych department - sometimes grad students do the testing, and faculty members assist with the analysis. There's a chance the price might be lower (though don't hold your breath. You ought to be able to get this info with a simple phone call, once you find the right department - the receptionist will know). Our local university with a neuropsych department also has some sort of expertise in gifted ed, and the private psych we used was on the faculty. All these people know each other in our area (except for the public school psychs - neither of the two who have tested my kiddo was familiar with the local neuropsychs we have seen privately. one of the local neuropsychs is nationally known, so that was kind of a surprise :001_huh:).

 

I would not bother calling the ped unless you completely run out of people to ask for recommendations to neuropsych.

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: I almost forgot, the most important thing - if you do suspect there may be a vision issue, I'd have that evaluated first with an optometrist from www.covd.org - if there is a vision issue, it will affect the results of the IQ testing, and then you just end up with a recommendation to see the optometrist anyway. That's a key item to rule out first. Often these sorts of issues - vision, sensory and other 2E issues - are present in the same person and overlap to some extent and are tricky to pick apart. Ruling out the vision angle first, or, if there is a vision problem, taking care of it first, could be really helpful toward putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Keep in mind that while neuropsych provides tons of info, ultimately if there are problems that can be remediated (e.g. OT for SPD), you may get sent elsewhere afterward.

Edited November 4, 2010 by wapiti