Gifted Program Criteria in the Palm Beach School District

One of the questions I am frequently asked by parents is, “Is there anything I can do to prepare my child for a gifted psychoeducational evaluation?” To my knowledge, there are no specific tasks parents can do with their child that immediately increase a child’s IQ score. Parents know their child best and if they think he or she may be academically gifted, then they have been doing the right kinds of activities since the child’s early days of life. Parents should continue the same activities that led them to believe their child may be academically gifted.

You should prepare your child for gifted testing and I offer an optional Gifted Parent Preparation Program.  This is my exclusive and information packed Gifted Guidebook, 12+ videos to give your child a tour of my office, a personal message from me, as well as videos to help prepare you for the process and paperwork needed if your child qualifies.

The topic of IQ can generate a lively discussion among parents and professionals.The IQ score is relatively meaningless when used in isolation. A teacher finds no benefit developing instructional lesson plans for a child just based on a single IQ score. This does not mean that intelligence tests are useless. An individual’s IQ predicts success in a wide variety of outcomes. Researchers have found childhood IQs are a significant predictor of educational and occupational status at 26 years of age and older. In addition,  intelligence tests are valuable tools in working with children with disabilities.  Information from each of the IQ subtests provides the psychologist with valuable information on a child’s memory, attention, language, higher order thinking, information processing, and many more area related to how the child learns. This type of information does help teachers develop appropriate instructional programs.

In order to qualify for a public school gifted program, the child must have an IQ that is at the 98th percentile rank which is a standard score of 130 or higher.  The child must also score at the 90 percentile or higher in reading or math.  Last, they need a recommendation from a current teacher.