Reasons for testing for giftedness

[MrsBalloon]

Can anyone share their experiences of having their children being tested for giftedness, and whether they are happy that they did it?

School teacher thinks my dc is gifted in many areas. From my point of view the school is doing all they can to give dc opportunities but not enough to stretch to his true potential. I understand it's not possible in a local school due to funding etc and kind of left it at that.

So here are my questions:

What was your reason to have your child tested?
How much did it cost?
Can you take me through the steps which you took to have them assessed?
Was it beneficial to have the results, and if so, in what way?
Does your child go to a state or a private school?
How did the school change (if they did) with the results?
Is your dc aware of the results, and what impact (positive/negative or both) have they had when they found out?

Tia

School don't specifically test for GT. You use a child's results and look at their work. It is not based on an IQ rest as they have no meaning.

There are lots of unis that run courses at weekends for HPA.
Some schools share provision

However an HPA at one school can be below average at another.
They have not be referred to as GT for several years.
School have to extend a child regardless of how low or how high they enter the system. His end of year Results are all the evidence the school need.
If he is 6 years ahead then he would have been doing higher level work last year because school have that evidence.

I’m just thinking back to my DD’s journey through primary school. We were told that it was not the current thinking that doing more advanced work to an average level was the right way of going about things. Instead, if he is 6, doing Year 2 or 3 (whichever he is in) work but at a greater depth is better. My son is year 4 - he will be tested on multiplication later this year. For example, he’s known his times tables since Year 1 and rather than starting him on quadratic equations (which is what my DD was doing in her first year at secondary school) we expanded his ability to do multiplication beyond the standard 12 times tables and played with getting faster with them. This absolutely solid base will mean that he has a very comfortable speed and knowledge of numbers and when the class continues to the next level he will be well equipped to rapidly understand what is being asked of him. I appreciate that everyone with a genius level child wants to say that their child is doing stuff that children years older can’t do, but trust me, it is just as impressive when your child can quickly and accurately doing their 37 times tables. For fun we sometimes do logic puzzles which require a basic level of maths knowledge but a more mature approach to number handling. They are fun to to together and build thought processes that will be of great advantage when he gets further into his education, without leaving him bored in class because he has already done all the work from that class.

I like the sound of the solid base thing. My son could definitely be doing work well ahead of what he's doing, but he does still enjoy school so I'm trying to work out what's best for him long term.

We've been advised to do what BackintheBox suggested e.g. she knows her times tables in reception but knowing them at speed, and in a problem solving context is key rather than memory recall of 6x8. They have said working up to Year 1 and Year 2 is fine but not go beyond a few years higher as it's easy to miss deeper understanding out if your child is gifted and then when do the work in that year they won't listen to the deeper knowledge aspects because they will think they have been doing it for years.

To stretch her, we have been told to do other things to build resilience like gymnastics and music.

My friend had her son tested for giftedness when he was about 7 and droned on and on about how special and different he was to him and anyone else who would listen.
At secondary school he did absolutely no work at all and tanked his GCSEs. Having done single science and got a C in maths he insisted on Physics A level, with predictable results. Tanked his A levels and now works as a TA.
I always wondered if the puffing up he got from his mum made him very unrealistic about his ability.

My DD's infant teacher told me that she was Oxbridge material when she was 3/4 because of her focus and because she laughed at the jokes the adults made which the other kid didn't catch on to. We never had her tested, but I adjusted her extra curricular activities accordingly because nursery school teachers know A Lot about children.
Her comprehensive didn't notice she was G&T until she got 10 A stars at GCSE (lol) but it didn't matter because we'd done all the stuff with her that school had done with the other G&T kids. I used to tell her that she had a good brain but it wasn't exceptional and so she would have to work hard.
She aced her A levels and is now at Oxford.

I suppose in a way I took the nursery teacher comments as I would have taken the results of testing but I didn't tell DD (or anyone else, even DH) until post GCSE results. But it did really help me provide an appropriate environment for her in those intervening years and in that sense was very helpful indeed.