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As a mom of a gifted child that has been tested do you feel it's a blessing or do you secretly wish you had never done the test?

Amy - posted on 11/12/2011 ( 2 moms have responded )

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I'm just curious I have a very intelligent 5 year old he's never been tested so I won't label him as gifted but I'm just wondering from other moms of gifted children was it a relief if you had them tested, or do you secretly wish you had never had them tested and given them the label of a gifted child.

Like I said I have a very intelligent 5 year old and a non verbal 19 month old that we just had assessed but she scored really high on her communication skills because she signs, and follows complex direction. The women doing the assessment were absolutely amazed at what she knew and was able to do so I think we may be facing the same challenges with our daughter as our son. I'd love to hear some insight from other moms!

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Rebekah - posted on 12/01/2011

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12

The testing doesn't change the child. You can't make them gifted or not by the label. You have to try to provide the best learning/school environment (and home environment) for your child/family, no matter what their label, or lack thereof. So, for some people, the testing/label is important because it helps the school understand what sort of accommodations are necessary for the child.
We had our son tested for that reason, and I found the process very enlightening. We are much better equipped to understand his needs and levels than we were before. We probably would have tried to pretend that he wasn't so highly gifted and, in my opinion, that would have been a detriment to his development.

Pamela - posted on 11/22/2011

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What testing did for us is that it allowed him to enter the school's gifted program which was a tremendous blessing. Gifted children come with ther own set of risks in school and I would rather know than not know. It has at times required intervention on my part, but the testing supplied me with ammunition. Gifted children frequently feel like a square peg even before testing. I don't think the label is a problem.

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