The community and counselors have also been great for me. It's so interesting to hear from you all that those are the greatest benefits, too. My 2 YSs and I are very anxious to get to a gathering (it'll be 2009 for us) to meet others because we do not live in a big city with lots of YSs. DS9 enjoys reading the profiles of other YSs around the country (especially those his age), their favorite things, activities. He likes the monthly challenges on the bulletin board. Sometimes he "chats" but not much. He has only taken one colloquium but wasn't driven to do the readings and then his participation in the discussions slacked off (I think it needs to be a topic he's passionate about rather than mildly interested in). I've taken several colloquia and have thoroughly enjoyed "meeting" and "discussing" things with experts like Miraca Gross, Jim Delisle, etc. Very neat opportunity to have questions answered or suggestions made from the big names. The counselors have helped me a LOT as both sounding board and with real recommendations (that's how our class subscribed to ALEKS). There's more, but I have to go now.

My family has been involved in the YS program for just over five years. I don't mean to sound like a Davidson cheerleader, but they have really been tremendously helpful to so many people in so many ways. I'll try to outline what they offer:

1. We've received personalized attention from our family consultant. It's been great to have someone out there who is an advocate who actually knows our children. Our current consultant is relatively new and so far we have only exchanged a few calls and emails, but I believe that if we had a crisis involving the YSs, he'd be there for us.

2. We have access to world class experts through the parent and YS online seminars. Families can also arrange for private consultation with some of these folks.

3. The kids can connect with true peers. You don't know how much this can mean to them until you see it for yourself.

4. The parents can connect with true peers too! I have learned so much on the listserves and through talking to different parents. I've met many wonderful people through our involvement.

5. The financial aid can be very helpful. DYS helped us pay for chess camp one year, and they assisted with oldest son's college tuition before he turned 18.

6. IT"S ALL FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What else do you get for free these days?

I will add that I was negatively impressed by people who described DYS as "cultish" and the fact that the program used to be more structured and require detailed plans for YS progress. I did not apply as soon as I might have. I wish I had just gone ahead with application when I first heard about it. You can always drop out if you don't find it to your liking, but very few families have left since the program's inception.

hth-

And why would they? I have to say, I have seen zero downside and TONS of upside to DYS!

I would love to attend a gathering someday, but I find some solace in the fact that we have a large, active local group. This Saturday is our biannual Mom's Night Out. We gather at a hotel and stay up all night talking. There will probably be 10-20 moms in attendance. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend on Saturday because of other commitments but we are having one of our major group events later this month at one of the local universities so I will get some good PG parent time then.

Thank you, all, for your responses!

I will definitely apply...after taxes are done, hehee.

I think, perhaps, the main benefit I can see at this point in our lives is addressing my feelings of isolation. And you all have given me some other great reasons, as well, to apply.

I appreciate your time and candid responses.

Thank you!!
Allison

Has anyone applied using the portfolio method? My son's achievement scores are high but not his IQ scores (possibly due to a couple of low subtests, or possibly just low). I am considering applying anyway with a portfolio, but don't know where to begin. He hates writing, so that's not really a good option (some of you have heard all this in other threads). He's in 1st grade but it very high in math and high in reading. But, how do you show examples of his work in reading? Or math? Any ideas?

I think I've posted so much on this board in the last week that I'm becoming obsessed!! As many others have said, though, it is so nice to have a place to talk about these things and ask questions.

Welcome Squirt! (Dottie's right -- that's a fun name!)

As I understand it, the portfolio method is for applying when a kid has only one score -- either IQ or achievement -- and there are other reasons not to pursue the missing score, either financial difficulty, or age, or ??? I'm not sure I remember this fully, but I believe the application requests submissions of all scores obtained, which would make it hard to apply by portfolio while having IQ and AT scores. I suspect, and I know others may disagree, that the DYS considers their standards to be minimum so I doubt a portfolio and scores that don't qualify would work. There's nothing to be lost in trying, certainly, except that the application is long. (And if I'm wrong, someone please tell me -- cause I have a kid who has ceiling AT scores and a sooo close FSIQ that I'd love to get into DYS!)

We did apply by portfolio (for a different kid than the one mentioned above!) and included all the scores we did have and a bunch of work done in class (K) -- just stuff he'd done while no one was looking in journals and math problems he'd invented for himself in a journal. The school wouldn't do AT on a kid that young (believing they lead to falsely elevated scores) and we didn't want to pay for it. A year later, we had to do private testing to apply for a special public school program and so finally got AT scores, but it was nice to apply earlier and he was accepted by portfolio.

It is good to have a place to get answers! I spent a lot of time here when I was trying to figure this stuff out last spring and summer and I thank the regular posters, especially Grinity and Dottie, for everything I know about testing and advocacy!!

J

Gratified is right. You are asked to submit all the scores and it's highly unlikely they would accept him if his IQ score was lower than what they require, especially since his scores are not close to the cut off. I may be wrong, but I think even if you get accepted by portfolio these days you are required to get the additional qualifying test scores within next 6 months.

You can try to apply, but I think his chances are slim. Lately there have been a few cases where the child did have both qualifying scores, but Davidson asked for additional information/portfolio.

Also, Davidson isn't the only show in town. Squirt, there's EPGY stuff your son could do if he's into working on the computer, there's CTY, and so many other opportunities out there...Hoagies has a pile of things for supplementation. I'm sure the people on this board have a piecemeal approach to helping their kids. Keep encouraging him with the math, that's for sure!

Thanks for mentioning that calizephyr.

My DD8 has FSIQ on WiscIV of 148 and WIAT achievement was 99.6. She didn't have 99.9 on any of the subtests, which stinks because if she hadn't scored in the 70th percentile in spelling and listening comperension she would have been in the 99.9th for reading subtest.
Unfortunately she was not accepted but I was told she could re-apply in 6 months if she had qualifying achivement tests.
So our experience is the portfolio wasn't enough to have her be accepted even though the achivement scores were so close.
As much as we would love to have the support, we've done really well with other available resources.
This board has really filled the need I have as a parent of extremely gifted children for support.
So, stick around Squirt!

Neato