Dylan Chandra Assessment at the Gifted and Talented Centre

8/13/2019 Dylan Chandra Assessment at the Gifted and Talented Centre

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PO Box 10-010 Dominion Road, Auckland 1446Ph 09 827 5271 ▪ Email [email protected]

The Gifted Education Centre

To Go Beyond the Known

Child’s Name: Dylan Chandra Age: 06 years 00 monthsDate of Birth: 13-01-2008 Date of Assessment: 21-01-2014Current School: Mangere Bridge SchoolParents’/Caregivers’ Names: Vivian and Annal Chandra

62a Crawford Ave

Mangere BridgeAucklandEmail: [email protected]

An application was made to the Gifted Education Centre by Dylan’ parents to enrol him inthe One Day School programme for gifted students. An assessment was conducted todetermine whether this would be an appropriate and beneficial placement for Dylan.

Data Sources

Parent questionnaire: developmental history.

Child interview.Assessment of Cognitive Abilities – Woodcock-Johnson III – GIAWork Samples.

Background

Dylan has a younger brother. There were no significant concerns during the pregnancy andwhilst Dylan was born by way of ventouse delivery any concerns relating to this resolvedfully. As a youngster Dylan initially presented as right handed and continues to be righthanded. Dylan was born in New Zealand, his father in Fiji and his mother in Malaysia.English is the only language spoken in the home. His mother is currently studying for her

Masters and his father completed secondary schooling. There is no diagnosed history oflearning difficulty within the family. There is no history of significant head injury for Dylanand no concerns relating to his hearing or vision. Dylan has no specific allergies althoughsuffers from eczema at times. In 2013 Dylan attended ACG Parnell where it was felt he wasnot acknowledged or catered for as a gifted student hence his needs not well met. In 2014Dylan will be a year 2 student at Mangere Bridge School.

According to parental insights, as a pre-schooler, Dylan generally woke most nightsregularly up until around 3 years of age. When awake he would often demand adultattention to answer questions or share ideas. Dylan was speaking in sentences and usingcomplex words before the age of 2 years and was noted to pick up new vocabulary with

ease. He was an intensely curious youngster and showed strong enjoyment in being readto, initiating his own learning to read around 3 years of age.




Whilst he was quickly bored with simple or repetitive games/toys by around 2 years of ageDylan could concentrate on an activity that caught his interest for half an hour or more. Asa pre-schooler he did not seem particularly aware of others’ feelings. Dylan preferredplaying with older children and/or adults and in group setting was usually the leader. Hedemonstrated a very good memory and an intuitive grasp of numbers and math ideas,noticing mathematical relationships in ordinary things. Dylan was mainly obedient butcould be very stubborn and un-cooperative if the mood took him. If something he was

doing proved beyond his level of skill he would ask an adult to help complete the task. Hisplay varied, he enjoyed making and building things, fantasy and role-play and working withpuzzles/mazes.

As a school aged student, according to parental insights, Dylan’s achievement at school hasvaried and he not in 2013 been provided with genuinely challenging work in the classroom,or been involved in enrichment/extension activities. His response to school has beenvariable and he has been described by teachers as attention seeking and/or a behaviouralconcern. Dylan especially likes research work and work that involves some form of activeenquiry. He can be slow to start homework and is inclined to start projects with greatenthusiasm but subsequently lose interest. Dylan has an active dislike of repetitive work.

Dylan always wants to know the reasons for things. Whilst he can be a daydreamer he isalso the holder of strong opinions and is a voracious reader. He is always experimenting,designing, drawing and making things and seems to have a broad general knowledge.Dylan worries about and often discusses social and moral issues. His mother works forAmnesty International and Dylan has voluntarily taken an active part in letter writing andfundraising. Dylan has a strong sense of justice and an acute awareness of environmentalissues and/or empathy with animals/nature. Whilst he seems to have a healthy self-esteemhe is not always a risk-taker, reluctant to try things for fear of failure. Dylan is comfortablewith public speaking and often comes up with highly original ideas, comments andquestions. Friends tend to be older and Dylan is very popular and often the leader in agroup situations. He can at times be manipulative of others. Dylan is not especially

interested in sports, but is happy to engage when the opportunity arises. He taughthimself to use the computer around 3 years of age and is very interested in how thingswork. Dylan learns songs and pieces of music with ease. Dylan has an extensiveknowledge of comic book characters and is interested in mythological links such as Thorbeing a Nordic God etc. He has learned the periodic table and self-researched the use ofthe first 20 elements. A video clip of his mastery of the song to recall these (at age 5years) is able to be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZUcgN7izjw

Teacher Questionnaire

As the Teacher Questionnaire (2013) seemed noticeably out of keeping with the Dylan I

met with today and as he will have a change of school in 2014, I have opted to not includethis as I would prefer Dylan to have a fresh slate (so to speak) and so instead offer my owninsights and of course Cognitive Ability test results.

Interview

During the interview Dylan presented as a confident and enthusiastic young student. Whilstinitially he seemed somewhat ‘full of energy’, during the formal testing that followed, whena task engaged his intellect and interest he was extremely focused and diligent in hisapproach with considerably less physical energy noted. Dylan drew on an extensivevocabulary as he shared his thoughts with me and presented as having a ‘very busy mind’,

always thinking about things. He asked insightful questions and demonstrated a delightfulsense of humour especially for absurdity.




Dylan shared with me that outside of school he takes piano lessons. He shared with methat he likes to read fiction mentioning Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and comic books.Dylan also enjoys reading on the kindle. In his own time at home Dylan likes to play gamesand research things of interest to him on the ipad. He enjoys working with Lego andmaking things. He spoke of a particularly effective paper plane design. He likes doingmazes also. When he grows up he would like to become a doctor as he is very interested in

the human body.

When we spoke about school Dylan shared that he felt that he had not enjoyed school lastyear finding the work too boring and/or easy. He suggests he would prefer a lot morechallenge and to be learning new things. Dylan felt he rarely got the opportunity to workindependently; there seemed no choice regarding this. He did not feel there was anyone inhis class with whom he would feel comfortable sharing his best ideas. Dylan felt that histeacher was not aware of his ability and did not understand him. If he could choose what tolearn about he would like to learn more about the human brain and heart, what actually isin the brain for example. This led to an insightful discussion about his current knowledgeand thoughts on this topic and then to another regarding his curiosity about space. During

lunch breaks last year he often played eye-spy or tag with friends, although also reportedfeeling teased and/or bullied at times. Dylan struggled to offer 3 words to describe himalthough did come up with ‘Indian and shy’. If he could travel through time he would like togo back in time to see dinosaurs when they were alive, mentioning a number of differentdinosaurs by name. Dylan is keen to attend One Day School provided the opportunity to doso.

Test Results

The assessment using the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (Version 3.1NU – NZ Adaptation) was administered to Dylan. For General Intellectual Ability (GIA)

Dylan scored at the 95th percentile (superior / SS 125).

For Verbal Ability Dylan scored at the 94th percentile (age equivalent of 08 years 02months). For Thinking Ability Dylan scored above the 97th percentile (age equivalent of 09years 02 months). For Cognitive Efficiency Dylan scored at the 82nd percentile (ageequivalent of 06 years 11 months). Dylan’s score for Phonemic Awareness was at the 93rdpercentile (age equivalent of 09 years 01 months) and finally, his score for WorkingMemory was at the 83rd percentile (age equivalent of 07 years 02 months).

It is important to note that using this standardised assessment tool, whilst it is possible forscores to be deflated (due to anxiety or ill health on the day), it is not possible to score

above your true ability level.

Test Observations

Dylan’ conversational proficiency seemed very advanced for his age level. He was co-operative throughout the examination; his activity level seemed typical for his age. Heappeared at ease, comfortable, and unusually absorbed by the tasks during theexamination. Dylan responded promptly but carefully to test questions, noticeablyincreasing his level of effort for difficult tasks.

Dylan demonstrated mature work ethics when genuine intellectual challenges were offered.

He thrives on challenge and applies himself well when this is offered being focussed andmotivated to do well.




Indeed Dylan’s face lit up for the more challenging aspects of the testing and he would saythings such as “Wow these look funny” with a smile and twinkle in his eye. When taskswere perceived by him as repetitive or potentially easy he did at times require expectationsto be shared with him and responded well to firm but fair boundaries. Dylan responds wellto positive feedback and was noted to be extremely observant, often noticing patterns andrelationships. He was very quick to grasp instructions; no repetition was neededthroughout the testing. Dylan responds well to minimal repetition and an opportunity to

self-pace his responses. He demonstrated an effective pencil grip and good fine motorskills. Dylan showed no indication of mental fatigue whatsoever.

Recommendations

As a gifted student Dylan has special needs within education. It is important to Dylan thathe can infer the purpose in the learning task and even better that he can relate to it. Hemay not require the amount of repetition expected of own age peers to consolidate newlearning and will respond best to a faster pace at times, than might be expected in hislearning; and also opportunities to explore topics of interest more deeply.

Dylan does not fall victim to mental fatigue and shows excellent focus and stamina in thisregard. He would be an ideal candidate for extension opportunities within his regular schoolas well as for the One Day School gifted programme. Ideal classroom placement would beas a younger student in a composite classroom grouping, if possible.

Offering Dylan roles of responsibility and opportunities to develop leadership skills withinthe classroom would be prudent. Also helping Dylan to develop further his mind mappingand time management skills so that he can apply himself efficiently and confidently toproject type work.

It will be important that significant others offer feedback relating to originality and quality

of ideas as opposed to neatness and quantity for example. Also encourage his curiosity andquestioning of the known. Dylan needs to be acknowledged and catered for as a giftedstudent. As such he responds well to feeling ‘heard’ and acknowledged for his intellect andof course being provided with genuine intellectual challenge. He has a strong sense of

justice and will also benefit from firm but fair boundaries at times.

It would also be prudent (if not already done so) to set up an IEP (Individualised EducationProgram) for Dylan, establishing the level at which he is currently capable of workingacross curriculum areas and then pitching work at a higher level to ensure the work offeredto him provides new learning and genuine intellectual challenge. This will need to bemonitored term by term.

It is essential for Dylan’s social and emotional development, that he be providedopportunities to be intellectually stimulated and also to have his giftedness normalised bymeeting and working with gifted others of his own age. Dylan is a student withconsiderable potential who could both enjoy and benefit considerably from the One DaySchool Programme offered by the Gifted Education Centre. This programme is tailored tomeet the intellectual, social and emotional needs of gifted students within an intellectuallystimulating environment where they work alongside and interact with gifted others of theirown age.




It was my pleasure meeting with Dylan and I wish his and his family all the very best forthe future.

Chris HerbertHead of Assessment

The Gifted Education Centrewww.giftededucation.org.nz

Documents

Dylan Chandra Assessment at the Gifted and Talented Centre