If you are located in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and interested in the private gifted testing (recognized by all school boards in Ontario), we encourage you to schedule an assessment with us. Our fees are among the lowest in the GTA.

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Giftedness Defined

Among experts in the field, "giftedness" is a debated concept. Conservative definitions base identification on IQ scores and academic achievement alone, while more liberal interpretations may also recognize unique advanced abilities in subjective areas such as acting, leadership, art, and music. One point on which all sides agree is that unusual intelligence is the product of both environmental and genetic factors working together to influence brain development.

Is Your Child Gifted?

Online screening test: Is My Child Gifted? This free online gifted screening test is highly recommended before you schedule a formal gifted assessment for your child. It helps estimate the likelihood that the child is gifted.

All children have gifts. Sometimes spotting special aptitudes is easy; the three-year-old who reads cereal boxes and the kindergartner who slings metaphors obviously display advanced cognitive abilities.

However, not all kids with unusual potential show it. Many only appear to be mainstream (from a developmental standpoint) but actually have high creative potential that can remain undetected for years--or even an entire lifetime. Assessments can shine a light on these hidden gifts, revealing which educational choices will draw out and enhance the child's latent abilities.

Gifted children demonstrate a range of traits that set them apart from peers. Their unusual aptitudes are often expressed in the following areas:

Language skills. Gifted children often form recognizable sentences and understand complex language early, typically before the age of two. They frequently speak fast, possess a sophisticated vocabulary, learn words easily, demonstrate curiosity and seek thorough explanations of the world around them.

Learning abilities. Gifted children are like mental sponges, constantly absorbing and incorporating new ideas. Highly focused on certain areas of interest (e.g., bugs, space, animals), they ask questions that show advanced insight. They display excellent memory, prefer reading to physical activities, and require little need for instruction when acquiring a new skill.

The gravitation toward adults. Often disengaged from their peers, gifted children frequently prefer the company of adults.

An understanding of their own minds. They may have preferred ways of learning and resist using other methods suggested by a teacher.

Creative thinking. Gifted children may enjoy coming up with their ways to solve problems and delight in making connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.

Superior/ selective concentration. Many gifted children are able to concentrate for an unusually long period of time on a topic of interest but might have a hard time focusing on an activity that is repetitive or boring to them.

Emotional and behavioral traits shared by many gifted children include the following:

Emotional intensity

Sensitivity to others' feelings and circumstances

Empathy

Unusually high or low energy level

Frustration when others talk too slowly or take too long to "get to the point"

Strong leadership qualities

Enjoyment of solitude and time spent reading, writing, daydreaming, observing, or just thinking

Keen powers of observation

Not all gifted behaviors are exhibited positively. Some of the following traits may cause difficulty for a child:

Tension

Anxiety

Emotional extremes

Overexcitability

Scrupulous self-examination

Emotional reactivity, often perceived as immaturity

Feelings of inadequacy

Insistence on doing things on their own - in their own way

Poor organizational skills; messiness

Bright or Gifted? The terms "Bright Child" and "Gifted Child" are often used interchangeably, yet there is a significant difference between these terms. Gifted learners are often unrecognized by parents and teachers, because many of them may actually underachieve at school. This short video highlights how gifted learners may differ from bright children in personality, learning style, and behavioural traits.

Online Gifted Screening Test This free gifted screening test has been developed to help parents determine whether a formal gifted assessment is recommended for their children. This test is the most comprehensive online gifted test available today. The questionnaire takes less than 5 minutes to complete. It consists of 45 questions that assess specific traits common in highly gifted students. The answers are weighted according to the relative importance of a particular giftedness trait and evaluated based on statistically normalized sample data. The final score indicates the likelihood that the child is gifted and serves as a good indication of whether a formal gifted assessment would be beneficial. This test was designed by Dr. Tali Shenfield in collaboration with the researchers from the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Los Angeles. The test has 3% margin of error and confidence level of 95%. It has been normalized and validated based on the responses of parents of over 1500 students who took the WISC-IV test during 2006-2017. ***Please note that when you take the test our servers record your IP address and the final score. By proceeding with the test, you agree to this condition. © Copyright 2014-2019. Advanced Psychology Services Inc. - psy-ed.com

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Types of Gifted Assessments

Assessments aren't always based on psychometric testing alone. Family and child interviews and developmental histories also provide insights into how a child thinks, feels and learns.

Gifted Assessments may include the following:

Intellectual testing: Measures levels of cognitive skills and aspects of functioning in several areas such as verbal and nonverbal ability, fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning, and working memory. Most IQ testing takes about one morning to administer. Results are given as IQ scores, Standard Scores (SS) and percentiles.

Achievement Testing: Measures how well a child demonstrates learning in academic subjects and tests basic skills such as the ability to decode words, fluency in reading and arithmetic, math problem solving, reading comprehension, writing skills, etc. Results show the level of academic performance compared to a standard peer group.

Supplementary Psychological Testing: Additional formal psychological assessment techniques, as well as subjective instruments including projective drawings and stories, are used to measure creativity and problem solving as well as resiliency, ability to access feelings, emotional control, empathy, depression, anxiety, and social problem-solving. Results show how the child functions socially and emotionally in daily life.

Supplementary Psycho-Educational Testing: Sometimes standard gifted assessment needs to be supplemented by additional testing of processing skills to determine whether a child has any specific deficits that impact their learning.

Why Test?

Gifted testing is required for placement in special gifted programs. These programs typically have a cut-off rate of 98th percentile, which represents IQ 133 or higher. Regardless of the result, the assessment provides a map of a child's complex set of cognitive abilities and potentials, the information that helps parents navigate both present and future needs. Gifted testing can uncover critical information about a child. It removes some of the guesswork from parenting by providing a framework for making important decisions about a child's future. Results can offer answers to questions such as the following:

Is my child gifted and, if so, in what areas?

How does my child learn new information?

What classroom setting is optimum for my child?

In what extracurricular interests should I invest?

Why is my child struggling and how can I help?

Educational Placement

Psychological testing does not label a child "gifted" or "not gifted': it provides a comparative measurement of the child's development in various cognitive domains. Only your School Board can decide whether a child meets criteria for their Gifted Program through a process known as IPRC: Identification, Placement and Review Committee. Once a psychological assessment is completed parents can submit the report to the principal of their child's school (if a child attends a public school) or to the school board (if a child comes from a private school or another district) along with a formal request for IPRC. According to regulation 181 of the Education Act, a principal MUST schedule an IPRC if a parent requests it and inform the parent about the IPRC date within 2 weeks of receiving the request.

Criteria for placement in public gifted programs differ slightly from district to district. Nevertheless, most programs require the overall IQ score to be at the 98th percentile or higher and the academic achievement to be above average. The committee will also look at other factors, such as the child's adaptability, behavior, work ethics, and enthusiasm towards learning, before making a recommendation. If a child meets the criteria, he/ she will be given a status of "Exceptional" student within the category "Gifted". The parents then will be offered the educational options available at their district. The options may range from a self-contained class to a day-a-week withdrawal enrichment to an in-class enrichment and accommodation.

Despite the school boards' effort to accommodate the needs of exceptional learners, a large group of advanced children does not qualify for special programming as they fall outside of the acceptance criteria. Some of these children will thrive in a private school environment (possibly the one that caters to the needs of advanced learners) while others will do very well in a mainstream classroom with some extracurricular enrichment after school in the areas of their interest. A child's personality and interests have to be considered when making these decisions.