IQ testing may be helpful when you believe your child has potential to enter your school district’s gifted and talented (GT) programming. It is believed that gifted and talented children learn differently than children with average intelligence. In many school districts (including Douglas County School District), programming is available that allows children with intellectual strengths to benefit from higher-level work. These children are identified as GT because of their special need for differentiated education.
School District’s often use the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to screen for students who show exceptional abilities in the classroom. There are times when a child’s CogAT scores do not qualify them for gifted programming, but parents believe that the results did not reflect their child’s abilities. Envision Counseling Clinic can administer the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) to give further information about your child’s abilities and help you decide how to advocate for your child’s education. DCSD accepts the WISC-V and it is the most up-to-date instrument to assess the intelligence of children ages 6 through 16 years old.
In addition, in the Douglas County School District, an IQ test can give you an idea of whether the Discovery Program (in magnet schools across the district) would be an appropriate placement for your child. The report that Envision provides can be submitted with your child’s application to the Discovery Program.
Children may also be determined to be twice-exceptional, meaning, they have demonstrated exceptionally high intelligence as well as exceptional difficulties in other areas. Let your Envision tester know about your concerns to make sure your child is evaluated in the other arenas as well.
Click here for specific information about the Douglas County School District’s GT programming.