Gifted Placement Testing for Children in Broward County

Should My Child Be Tested?

Aside from the potential benefits of placement in a gifted program, gifted testing can provide important information about your child’s abilities through pin-pointed ability and achievement tests. Identifying their giftedness early on can help develop your child’s talents and place them in a gifted program, and/or offer you insights to supporting their talents at home. While most gifted behaviors appear to be positive, some social and emotional behaviors are at risk if their needs are not being met, such as anxiety, acting out due to boredom, perfectionism, stress, or issues with their peers.

With a variety of curriculum provided, all gifted children can have their individual gifted needs met. Even if they are not at the gifted level, gifted testing can provide important information about your child’s abilities and potentials in the present and future.

When to Test for Giftedness

According to the National Association for Gifted Children, it’s best to wait until your child is at least 6 years old. Although you may recognize the characteristics of a gifted child at a very young age, testing too early can cause inaccuracies. Instead, parents can look into ways to keep gifted toddlers and preschoolers challenged and stimulated at home with accelerated math, reading, and science activities, visiting science museums, enrolling in music programs, and much more.

The Testing Process

A qualified licensed psychologist will meet with your child to administer ability and achievement tests.

Ability tests provide information on one’s intelligence quotient (IQ) and cognitive abilities, while achievement tests measure areas of developed knowledge or skill.

The specific tests will vary from program to program and school to school.

Generally, testing for children over the age of 6 takes about 1.5 to 4 hours. You can prepare your child for the testing by making sure your child is well-rested and has eaten a healthy breakfast. Limit what you share and let them know about the test shortly before, and remind them to do their best, without emphasizing the importance in order to reduce test anxiety, which can impact performance. Explain that he or she will be meeting with someone to do some different activities that will help everyone understand their capabilities and make sure they are being appropriately supported at home and in school.

The test results are usually available within 2 weeks from completion of the testing administration. A follow-up appointment will take place where you will receive a comprehensive report and discuss the results with the psychologist.

The Jeff Masarek Behavioral Health Center offers gifted placement testing in a safe, comfortable environment for your child. Our comprehensive evaluation will identify if your child meets the criteria for giftedness and make recommendations for academic placement or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

By discovering exceptional abilities or identifying potential learning disabilities early on, we can work together to ensure your child’s educational needs are being met and are helping to facilitate your child to live their full potential. Call us at 954-909-0888 to schedule an appointment today. We are ready to help you start planning a positive educational journey for your child.

Gifted Placement

Gifted programs focus on a more challenging curriculum with more advanced classes or more accelerated instruction than the regular classroom. Programs will vary but will generally involve targeting and developing skills in logical thinking, problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, and reasoning skills. These programs usually move at a quicker pace with a more in-depth syllabus of studies. Gifted programs in Florida fall under the Exceptional Student Education (ESE) which are specially designed instruction and curriculum that meets the unique needs of gifted children.  For placement in Broward County, the current eligibility includes 3 requirements:

1. Full-Scale IQ Score of 130 or greater on a standardized and accepted IQ test for children. For children who are in the Free and Reduced Lunch program or the Limited English Proficient Program (underrepresented children of the gifted population of lower socioeconomic status), the minimum IQ score is 115.
2. The child displays many of the characteristics of giftedness.
3. The child demonstrates the need for a more challenging environment than what is offered in their general education classroom. If a child has one or more exceptionalities (i.e. if the child is gifted but has speech needs), then an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) might be required as well.