Gifted Testing in South Florida

Do you find that your child has exceptional academic abilities? Maybe you’ve always viewed them as advanced and now that they’re in school, you’re noticing the true talent even more. You’d describe your child as intelligent, extraordinary, creative, and/or a critical thinker, and you know they are ready to be challenged more in school. Your child is always at the top of the class and may even complain that the work is “too easy” or “boring.” Maybe you’ve even been recommended by your child’s teacher to pursue gifted testing, but don’t want too much time to go by just sitting on the school’s waiting list! Here's some general information about gifted testing and gifted eligibility in Miami-Dade and Broward County.

Gifted Placement Eligibility

Gifted placement in Broward and Miami-Dade public schools requires the following:

-Gifted testing by a licensed professional demonstrating an IQ score of 130+. Equitable exceptions apply for the following students, who may demonstrate an IQ of 115+: Students in the free- or reduced-lunch program and Students who are not native English speakers (and are or were previously enrolled in the ESOL program).

-Completion of the Gifted Indicators Checklist by the child’s teacher demonstrating that the child has an eligible number of qualities of gifted children. Here's a summary of the gifted qualities they are looking for:

• learning: high vocabulary and knowledge; learns quickly; elaborate thinker
• motivation: self-motivated; prefers independent work; perfectionistic qualities; enjoys challenges
• leadership: confident; volunteers for leadership or is chosen by others; helps others with their work
• creativity: high curiosity; improvises; able to brainstorm many possibilities/solutions
• adaptability: doesn’t give up; copes effectively; able to work with limited resources

-Final approval for entrance into the gifted program by the school, upon review of documentation/results

Gifted Test Information

Gifted testing takes place in one appointment that lasts approximately two hours. Your child is assessed via a standardized intelligence test, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition, WISC-V, for example, which creatively examines five cognitive areas of intelligence:

• Verbal Comprehension: ability to access and apply acquired word knowledge
• Visual Spatial Skills: evaluate visual details and understand visual spatial relationships
• Working Memory: ability to register, maintain, and manipulate visual and auditory information
• Fluid Reasoning: ability to detect an underlying conceptual relationship and use reasoning to identify and apply rules
• Processing Speed: speed and accuracy of visual identification, decision making, and decision implementation

These days, the test is administered via tablet, which a lot of kids gets excited about! It does not feel to many kids like a test (because to them, they're looking at pictures and playing with blocks), and some even enjoy really enjoy the challenge, especially when they're gifted and appreciate the way it stimulates their mind. Based off this information, we hope this point is also very clear: Gifted testing is not something your child can study for! We strongly discourage any form of test preparation, other than making sure your child has a good night's sleep and quality breakfast.

Get Your Child Tested Today

At Strengths and Solutions, we can provide you the gifted testing you’ve been seeking to support the necessary documentation for gifted placement in Broward or Miami-Dade County. A testing appointment lasts no more than two hours and we provide you with feedback by the end of the appointment, so that you don’t have to wait any longer for answers. The finalized report to submit to the school will be ready for you within five business days of testing.

Are you ready to see if your child is eligible for gifted classes? Please contact us today to get scheduled to find out as soon as possible whether your child is eligible for the gifted and talented program!