cogAt question

[citylove101]

Part of the problem here is IMO, the age of the child. In my experience there are extremely few instances in which you can tell that a 6 yr old is truly gifted. Yeah, there are the John Stuart Mill types whom are learning Latin and Greek at age 3, but those are the true outliers. At 6 many factors beside innate intelligence can play into test results such as a kid's emotional maturity, family dynamics, undiagnosed learning disabilities, physical growth changes, and yes, prepping for the exam. I think this type of sorting at such a young age is ridicuulous and should be done later in school when a test can be combined with a skilled teacher's observations of the child after a few years of regular classroom experience.

Unfortunatley "gifted" programs exist in many districts not to offer a specialized education to the really bright, but as way to keep hyper-obsessed middle class parents in the public school system by offering smart (but not brilliant) and hard working kids an education away from the "riff raff". This was my experience here in NYC, where one of my sons was in a gifted program that it turned out was offering nothing more than the typcial non-gifted curriculum of any nearby upper middle class suburb--and whose students largley reflected a similar demographic.

It may be the case for the OP that regular classes and curriculum in her district are just plain bad and the kid need to be somewhere stronger. But if that's not the case, I'd hold off into looking into a "gifted" program for a few years, if that's possible. If the child is truly gifted, as evidence by superior perofrmance or real boredom in class, it will be evident then and clearer to assess.

[safak]

Originally Posted by citylove101

I think this type of sorting at such a young age is ridicuulous and should be done later in school when a test can be combined with a skilled teacher's observations of the child after a few years of regular classroom experience.

I agree with a lot of what you say. But this I don't.

Take this real example.
Family has 8 year old daughter in 3rd grade, smart enough to get all A's, occasional B but not often. She rushes through homework to go play, whines about it, doesn't really enjoy it, but does it and ends up doing it well enough. Way more interested in playing, dancing, gymnastics, socializing than schoolwork.
Is she smart enough to be tested, yeah probably. Should she? No, not in my opinion.

Family also has a 6(just turned) year old daughter in Kindergarten who can also do the 8 year olds homework. Very interested in learning, does workbooks while other kids play angry birds on their ipods.
Reading 3rd grade chapter books while the teacher is teaching the class what sound the letter P makes. Learning times tables while the homework is 2+3.
First thing she says every day she is picked up is a sad 'I already knew everything'
She gets the prelim exam, and scores way off the charts in reading and math. But only cores slightly above average in the riddles/picture type questions she has never seen before.

Should you prep this second kid for the test? or should you send her to waste way the next 2 years learning nothing at all, probably losing interest in school and possibly even becoming a disinterested average student over it?

[citylove101]

This second child probably is an example of one who would benefit from a gifted program, especially if the kindergarten teacher cannot differentiate instruction enough to keep her interested at above-grade level. Ideally,she should probably be shifted to a gifted program --with minimal or no testing--because the teacher clearly sees that she obviously would benefit from one. I am very leery of trusting ability or intelligence tests to get it right with young kids, which is why I think they should always be used in conjunction with what the teachere sees. (Achievement tests with older kids are another matter.)

But we don't live in an ideal world. If her prelim scores would admit her to the gifted program w/o prep, then leave her alone, let her take the test for real, and go forward. But if the admissions criteria REQUIRE that she score high on the non-math and english portions of the test, then yes, I MIGHT prep her on that section. This would depend entirely on the kid's temperment. Some kids would lap the test prep up. Others, equally as bright, would become extremely anxious, and even the parent might not know how the child would react.

It's why in general testing for giftedness - and prep if necessary --should for the most part begin later than is typically done in the U.S. There is just more info available at what would be best for the kid from teachers, parents, and the kids themselves. But as I said, there are always exceptions.

Its just a shame that in the US gifted programs in public schools typcially have set entry points (Kindergarten, 1st grade, middle school, high school) with rigid admissions procedures that severely limit admissions for kids at other times. So the late bloomers, the dreamers, the smart creative types, the kid who get his academic sea legs later in school--any kid who might benefit from high-level, above-grade-level education, are shut out. And instead THEY are the ones who risk becoming bored, resentful, uninterested, and troubled.