Had a report from Ed Psych & GCA score

kittiej

Hello People

I am after a bit of advice and views because I feel completely clueless tbh.

I received a report from the Educational Psychologist yesterday and it says that DS1 is 'able and gifted'. There is a confusing table of scores and it says he has a GCA of 133, he's 7 and just started juniors. I don't really know what this means in actual score terms or school terms.

It says something about differentiating? work so does this mean he needs to be placed in classes with older children?

My DS is a very shy little boy and is quite nervous about his new school, though I know he will get used to it eventually ( he doesn't like the noise and bustle really) but he does want to fit in and not draw attention to himself.

I don't want him to be bored but I don't want him to stand out either. So does anyone have any suggestions please? I have just discovered a really interesting magazine we can subscribe to and I know he will like it because he's fascinated with science and we can discuss the articles but apart from this I am stuck.

thegirlintheattic

Differentiating means the teacher provides tasks that give him challenge but are appropriate for him. It is very, very unlikely that he will be moved up. For someone who is G&T in my class it might mean they are given an extension question to complete at a higher level, or that they work on an independent enquiry whilst the others are on a more structured and dictated enquiry. It varies widely by subject and age but generally is accomplished in the classroom alongside his peers.

In the same way a child who has dyslexia for example might be differentiated for by providing 'easy to read' worksheets and a more visual teaching style.

At the age of 7 I would expect him to be on the higher ability table and be given opportunities to do more challenging work. Maybe some 1 to 1 with the teacher at some point in the day.

A GCA score looks at a child's performance in the sub-areas tested to give an overall view of how they are performing and to compare this with their peers. It should give you a standard score (that aged child with normal abilities in the general population) and a percentile (how your son is performing), along with your son's score. The GCA isn't as useful as the individual scores will will show where you child is in certain areas - for example he may be gifted in verbal communication but less gifted in spatial - this provides more usual information for teachers. For example the teacher might stretch his verbal skills whilst improving his spatial skills.

Best thing would be arrange a session with the teacher and your school's SENCO and ask them what kind of support they will be offering to help challenge him.

kittiej

Ah I think I understand the scores a bit better now girlintheattic thank you.

I will arrange to see his teacher and take it from there. It's a bit confusing when a report drops through the letterbox without having it explained properly to me.

Thanks

JC9297

May I ask why you had the report done?

kittiej

Hi JC, the report was done at the request of the psychiatrist we saw at the local childrens clinic.

The Ed Psych was one of many professionals my son has had to see in order to be assessed for Aspergers. This test was conducted in March so it was a bit unexpected tbh.

I am expecting to receive another appointment for the clinic again now as they were just waiting for the Speech Therapy and Ed Psych reports.

Bumpmakesfour

kittiej wrote: »

Hi JC, the report was done at the request of the psychiatrist we saw at the local childrens clinic.

The Ed Psych was one of many professionals my son has had to see in order to be assessed for Aspergers. This test was conducted in March so it was a bit unexpected tbh.

I am expecting to receive another appointment for the clinic again now as they were just waiting for the Speech Therapy and Ed Psych reports.

Wow sounds like you have a very thorough range of services open to you there!My son was dx'd nearly 4 years ago and still hasn't seen an ed psych or a regular pyschiatrist.Good luck with it all xx

kittiej

Thanks bmf. it's not quite as good as it sounds since we hardly ever see the same person twice lol.

My son doesn't really like all the appointments either because he constantly natters to get out of there.

Bumpmakesfour

kittiej wrote: »

Thanks bmf. it's not quite as good as it sounds since we hardly ever see the same person twice lol.

My son doesn't really like all the appointments either because he constantly natters to get out of there.

Bless him x Mine took matters into his own hands at his last appt the week before school started and sat screeching making his pterodactyl noises LOUDLY for the first ten minutes then rolled around on the floor with his fingers in his ears shouting "boring,boriiiing,BORRINNNNG"
How far along the dx process are you? x

kittiej

This has been ongoing for about 2.5 years. It's a slow process especially since the (if you like) diagnosing child psychiatrist for this area upped and left and he's only recently been replaced 3 years later! Hopefully I should have something more concrete the next time I go to the clinic. All I'm after is someone to tell me why my son is like he is and how he can be helped to make sure he leads a happy life. He does get down sometimes.

It's a waiting game I suppose.

PS

Your son sounds funny That noise though, it doesn't half grate on your nerves lol.

Gingham_R

Aw, little poppet.

We went through similar a couple of years ago, with a highly gifted child who was bored and very distressed at school.

What magazine is it? Aquila is very good.

Have you heard of the NAGC? They can support you by phone and you can meet up with other families with gifted children. I really can't recommend them highly enough.

Thegirlintheattic, it's really refreshing to hear of a teacher getting it right with gifted kids. It's hard work to keep a gifted child interested and engaged in learning in the classroom if you don't make those provisions.

There are a few issues to consider re education:

Diffentiation - the child learns in class with other children the same age but does more advanced work. The child shouldn't be given work he can already do before being allowed to move on to the more challenging stuff.

Enrichment - being allowed to learn 'wider and deeper' on a subject - for example, if the other children are learning that the heart pumps oxygen round the body, he can be learning about the different types of blood cell and how the heart is structured.

Acceleration - the child does one or more subject with an older class group, or moves up and spends all their time there. This can be useful if the child is literally years ahead of his peers - for example in one subject, but can be socially challenging, especially in the puberty years. Not my favourite option, unless its for single subjects - eg going out to another year group for maths and English.

Whatever happens, it really can't be 'nothing'. I'd arrange a meeting with the class teacher, SENco and gifted co-ordinator and ask to know how this will be handled and how you can support them to ensure that his needs are met.

The NAGC are really good with all this - http://www.nagcbritain.org.uk/

Bumpmakesfour

kittiej wrote: »

This has been ongoing for about 2.5 years. It's a slow process especially since the (if you like) diagnosing child psychiatrist for this area upped and left and he's only recently been replaced 3 years later! Hopefully I should have something more concrete the next time I go to the clinic. All I'm after is someone to tell me why my son is like he is and how he can be helped to make sure he leads a happy life. He does get down sometimes.

It's a waiting game I suppose.

PS

Your son sounds funny That noise though, it doesn't half grate on your nerves lol.

We were "lucky" that DS' dx process was done fairly quickly...but it did "help" that he was about to be kicked out of mainstream school:eek: His mix of ADHD/aspergers is an interesting one..a real jekyl and hide.You go from the lad that had 7 teachers attempting to get him in from lunch with 3 eventually carrying him in getting kicked and head butted the whole way...to an amazingly studious(and obsessive) lovely boy with a reading age of 12 who can do hard maths problems in his head but not have a clue about the "usual" skills.Eg.told him to put on new socks and pants..two days later found he HAD indeed put on new ones but neglected to take the old ones off and was sporting a rather fetching layered look :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
So you have that pteradactyl noise too huh?LOVELY isn't it?:p
You've been super patient through all this by the sounds of it...best of luck with it all xxx