![]() When a child is tested, for example, in the admission process for private schools or selective programs, parent information is often not collected. The most important step is not to make assumptions about the child’s level of accomplishment based upon age or upon grade, but rather select test materials that will permit a young child to demonstrate high level skills in a variety of areas.Įach child, gifted or not, has his or her own history. For example, an informal strategy for reading assessment is to take an inventory of the books that the child has read in the 6 months prior to the assessment. A second strategy is to informally look for behaviors and skills that usually appear in older children. One way to accomplish this is to give an above age or grade level of the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test. Some gifted preschool children do read early, and an adequate assessment of them should include measures of reading. For example, most children do not read before entering school, and therefore most assessments of preschool children do not routinely include reading. There are two basic strategies for making this adaptation the easiest is to use a test standardized for older children (this is the out of level testing that is used in the talent searches). Yet, gifted children will accomplish a variety of things earlier than other children or will accomplish them at a higher level than their age peers will. In general, we chose to use an instrument that has been standardized with children of a specific age without regard to their ability levels. The art part is difficult to describe, difficult to teach and essential.Īll tests and assessments vary with the age of the child, as we expect that children will do different things at different ages. The science part is straightforward and largely concerns testing. For these reasons, assessing children is part science and part art. In good test administration, the person administering the test should not have a major impact on the test results in assessment, the person doing the assessment does have a major impact on the final result. Assessment, especially clinical assessment, is highly dependent upon training, theoretical orientation, personal experience, research knowledge and clinical experience. Good test administration should be the same from person to person that is, it should be independent of personal experience and personal viewpoints. Assessment, on the other hand, includes standardized test administration but goes well beyond it. This is a limited activity and the information that it provides is similarly limited. The results are usually reported as numbers. Testing, or the individual administration of a standardized test, means presenting test items according to very specific pre-set directions and following an exact verbal script. As a psychologist, I have done both and will continue to do both for very different reasons. These two activities are frequently discussed together and criticized together, when, in fact, they are quite different. Knowledge about these practices can help parents with this search. For this reason, it is important that parents who suspect that their child may be gifted search for a professional with experience in working with this population. ![]() The general perception is that these youngsters, with abilities and strengths in many areas, have no special needs, educational or otherwise, that merit serious clinical attention. ![]() While most professionals are trained to assess many kinds of children, few are specifically trained to assess in this particular area. Though areas to be assessed are similar for all, for gifted children, the assessment techniques and tests require special characteristics. Assessing gifted children is similar to and different from assessing other types of children.
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