formal assessment by a psychologist

[FJMi]

My Daughter is 2. I was looking to take the next step to find out if she is gifted and how to help her development and an assessment by a psychologist with special interest in this area seems to be recommended. I emailed Joan Freeman and it would cost us £700 for the full assessment and report.
I was wondering if anyone here has done anything like this and what they thought of it?

I am new to all this because she is so young. So any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

I suspect this is going to sound arsy, when it's meant to sound genuinely curious but why? She's 2! Can't you see how it pans out? What do you want to do with the info that you couldn't do without it?

FGS - Let her be a child before you push her into being an adult status symbol

& you maybe should read around the G&T threads, you'll find that G&T does not make you or your DC popular - sadly clever is something to be ashamed of :( - sad when they are School age, but at 2 YOU are the one at fault, not the system or less able, envious parents or DCs

& at 2 there is no real way of knowing your DC is G&T - they change so much & all develop at different levels - its money making twaddle & status for needy parents, enjoy your DC as a DC & encourage them in what interests them most, both play & intellectually or you are going to end up ostracising yourself & your DC will become a very miserable adult :(

Is your daughter reading or painting accurate pictures? Can she recite Shakespeare? Can she work with three digit numbers?

If not don't bother about the gifted.

And don't bother with Joan Freeman. We had our DS assessed at age 7 and she told us he was only just above average, despite what his teachers were telling us. Turns out the teachers were right and she was wrong. PM me if you want more details.

I would doubt the accuracy of any test done at 2.

There are no standardised psychological tests that can be given at age 2 that would give any accurate indication of ability. She is far, far too young for any kind of meaningful assessment. You would gain nothing from it. What on earth motivates you to want to get it done? Unless you have an underlying worry - such as ASD - then there is absolutely no reason to have an evaluation done on a child of this age. Frankly any psychologist who is willing to take that amount of money to assess a child this young should be shot! There is zero educational purpose to an assessment of a 2 year old who is not suspected of having profound learning disabilities and needs structured intervention.

not sure if you are still around.
ds1 started (state) nursery a couple of days after his third birthday and they contacted the lea and wanted him assessed. the lea essentially laughed, and said there was absolutely no provision for pre schoolers. nada. diddly squat. waste of time and money.

there are a few threads around discussing problems with early testing etc, and there is really no reason at all to consider it at this point (unless you suspect aspergers/ asd etc). just enjoy dd and laugh a bit at the weirdness of her. you'll need a sense of humour if she starts doing quantum physics next year.

ds1 was known as 'golden wonder-boy' on our estate from about 18 mos. everyone loved him, but were slightly in awe of his bizarre and frankly odd abilities. but he was just a toddler. no need to pathologise.

he's still pretty bright at ten. testing him at 2 would have been more about me than him. two years olds are for spalshing in puddles and making mud pies, screeching with laughter and running in the park, and learning how to play nicely alongside and then with other children. (quite common for bright littlies to have been trained into social issues by the time yr r comes aorund.)

or have another baby. that works a treat to get you to forget about assessing for a few years.

Madwoman..... I like your style
Actually I have had another baby. He is 4 months old now. I think that was one of the reasons I was considering the help. I just wanted someone to tell me how I should stimulate her if she needed more than the average because I don't have as much time to spend with her myself anymore.
But I think you are all right. I will wait an just let her go at her own pace.

I can see that children with learning disabilities would benefit from more than average stimulation. I'm not quite sure why a gifted child would need help finding stimulating things to do.

Blimey, lady, with a 4mo and a 2yo, take up gin or something sensible!

As long as she's happy, and you have no concerns, let it all happen for a bit.

Joan Freeman will still be there next year, the year after, or if something happens that makes you think 'now is the time'. But unless you have a worry, I wouldn't spend your money now. Just enjoy her and continue to stimulate her interests, and spread her horizons a bit. Are you already a member of the library? If not, now is a good time to do that - lots of libraries have great story times for tots and you can sit with the baby whilst she busies in the books. This is a lot cheaper than starting a waterstones or amazon habit.

Mine also did a tots dance class at that age and asked me lots of questions. let her guide you, rather than a stranger, until you feel you/ she needs help. Tumble tots?

And congrats on the birth of Ds1 x

Why not ask Mensa about the best approach? They are experts in this area. It certainly sounds crazy to pay so much money...if she is very clever, then surely the best thing to do right now is to just stimulate her as much as you can, then get her tested when she is older. 2 seems way too young and this lady who charges £700 for testing sounds exploitative (IMO).

Hi don't know if any of you are still around. I had a formal assessment for my daughter at 3 years and 1 month. It was the best thing we did - for her! She was assessed to have the ability of an 8 year old and has a statement of educational needs. Her school caters for her needs and gives extra support to her and gets extra funding for he just the same as a child at the other end of the spectrum. If you are near our around London her assessment and report was £230 from a lovely child psychologist. The media will be on you like a rash tho we didn't even tell anyone and we were being contacted by national papers within a day

hello noisytoys, who did you get to assess your daughter? we are also based in london and are looking for someone to assess our three year old son...

noisytoys, I'm curious as to how the media could have known anything about your assessment if you didn't tell anyone. If it wasn't you, do you think it was the psychologist. Surely that's a breach of confidentiality?

noisytoys - can you tell me how you went about turning a psychologists report into a statement?

My local council has written everything in a way that implies that a statement is only for those at the other end of the spectrum, so any advice would be much appreciated.