Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) Testing

Academically or Intellectually Gifted students perform or show the potential to perform at substantially high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience or environment and may require differentiated educational services beyond those ordinarily provided by the regular educational program. There are multiple paths or gateways designed by the school systems across the state that allow access to the AIG programs. One of these pathways involves an individual psychological evaluation that includes either intellectual testing and/or achievement assessments. This path can be utilized when consistent performance indicates that the student is functioning one to two levels above the current grade placement but have not met the identification criteria on group tests administered in the regular educational program. Oftentimes, individual psychological tests are necessary because students may need nonverbal intellectual testing to assess their cognitive functioning. Other students may not perform well on group tests due to diagnosed medical problems or due to the group scores not reflecting the student’s performance in the class. Some students who have IEP’s or 504 Plans also need to be individually assessed due to the likelihood that group testing will fail to capture the cognitive abilities or their achievement levels. A person may be identified as having single subject acceleration (SSA) which will allow the student to accelerate in English/language arts or mathematics and not necessarily both.

At Silber Psychological Services, we offer the cognitive and achievement testing necessary to identify academically and intellectually gifted students and to provide guidance to parents and schools about how the students’ needs may best be met.