“During a neuropsych / gifted eval, do evaluators have a way to adapt or adjust the tests? Or use some subjective insight? If someone was only unschooled / interest-led learning (always), I wonder if the baseline of these tests requires things that were never before done. How does that impact the evaluation?“
These are two different evaluations. Let’s start with a gifted evaluation, which means cognitive (IQ) testing. A person who scores more than two standard deviations from the mean (above 130) on IQ testing will be diagnosed as gifted. There are problems with equity and IQ testing, and concerns around the validity of IQ testing in general. Assuming that you fit within the cultural majority, however, being unschooled in itself is unlikely to be a detriment during IQ testing.
The WISC-V is one of the most commonly used tests for measuring IQ in children ages 6-16. Here’s a description of the various subtests. You can see from these descriptions that the test areas do not include content material that would be covered in school.
One could certainly prepare a child by helping them become familiar with the types of questions asked on the WISC-V. Some people do this for four-year-olds being tested for G&T programs in highly competitive areas (which is obviously against best practices for identifying giftedness anyway). However, it isn’t advisable to prep for IQ testing. It reduces the validity of the testing and can invalidate the results if discovered. This is also why the WISC-V can only be administered for a particular child once every three years.
While the testing itself is composed of set activities, the evaluator does matter, especially if you have a child that is gifted/twice-exceptional. The evaluator can choose to slightly “draw out” answers in verbal questions, for example. They choose how long to wait for an answer (within the parameters of a test). They can also choose to continue testing by administering additional subtests. The child’s comfort with the evaluator is extremely important. The testing time itself can vary from one hour to several hours, again depending on the evaluator’s determinations of what is needed to get an accurate result.
A psychoeducational (or “psych-ed”) evaluation includes academic testing as well as cognitive testing. The child’s intellectual potential is compared to the child’s academic achievement. Significant discrepancies can be used to diagnose a learning difference such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia (in school terms, Specific Learning Disability in reading, written expression, or mathematics).
A neuropsychological (or “neuropsych”) evaluation means different things to different evaluators, so you’ll always want to ask in writing exactly what testing the evaluator is proposing based on your specific areas of interest or concern. Generally, a neuropsych includes IQ testing, achievement testing, and may include a variety of other psychological test measures such as visual processing, auditory processing, visual tracking, emotional regulation, executive functioning, and more. In addition to learning differences, a neuropsych can help to identify neurodivergent kids including ADHDers and Autistics – always look for a neurodiversity affirming evaluator.
The achievement testing part of these evaluations is where being unschooled would come into play in a significant way. As interest-led homeschoolers, we have a much broader idea of what is appropriate and important for our children to spend their time on. So they may not be reading at age seven and that may not be something we are concerned about. Perhaps they are only just starting to show interest and making progress in their own time. Or conversely, a child may have started reading at age four, but is now struggling significantly with spelling and writing at age 8. If you haven’t used a structured evidence based program (Handwriting Without Tears, All About Reading, and All About Spelling are a few that are both well known and well regarded), it may be a struggle to determine if that child has a learning disability.
Generally, evaluators want to see six months of targeted intervention in a challenge area before they will diagnose a learning disability. Since private evaluations are expensive and time-consuming, if a struggling child is open to trying a structured program focusing on the challenge area, it would be beneficial to try an “intervention” at home before undergoing a full evaluation. Alternatively, you can start the documentation process at any age with a baseline evaluation, knowing that it may take repeated evaluations to get a diagnosis.
As interest-led homeschoolers, we may choose not to undertake the intervention route, preferring instead to give it more time and see how the child naturally develops. Or we may choose to offer more skills practice in fun and creative ways that may not match the expectation of “six months of targeted intervention.”
Still, the frustrating thing here can be that you have worked with your child enough to see an area that is significantly challenging for them. Even if an evaluation doesn’t lead to a diagnosis, a skilled psychologist can often validate your concerns and offer suggestions. Most importantly, be sure to do your research when choosing an evaluator. Look for someone who spends significant time evaluating 2e kids. I always interview them on the phone and ask what they think of homeschooling or unschooling in particular.
If you have or suspect you may have a neurodivergent kid (and giftedness counts as neurodivergent!), I always like to ask them about their experience with neurodivergent kids. For example, what do you observe in gifted kids that are also (ADHD, autistic, etc.)? If they say “autistic kids don’t make eye contact and can’t hold a conversation” or “ADHD kids can’t sit still,” I know they are operating on outdated information. I’ve heard these statements even from so-called experts in autism and ADHD in gifted kids. This is why it is so important for parents to do their research first, so they know what questions to ask when getting started on the evaluation route.
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