Ditto what Dottie says. Plus if you do it privately, you control what info the school has access to.

About the nuero psych. Big sigh....where do I start.
When you are very very very smart, like yourself! I believe you have an incredible ability to compensate for things like learning disability. So the slippery slope is, when is a learning disability really a disability.

Different people have different opinions about this. I always have a hard time because I think both sides have validity.

When a child is expressing the frustration that your child is, I would start the process.
We did so for our DD6. She has not gone to a nueropsych yet, but has had developmental vision testing which uncovered a learning disability that I don't think the school would have ever uncovered.

Plus a neuropsych can give you what you need to compel the school to give your daughter an IEP, if needed.

Upon hearing of DD6's experience, our pediatrician told us L.D.'s are highly hereditary, just like giftedness is.

I see what you are saying about the homeschooling. Again, DD6 is similar. When we homeschooled over the summer, though, her frustration decreased. I think because I could tailor my teaching style to the different way she learns. Once she realized this, the resistance melted away.

Homeschooling will allow you to test her out of material she is already proficient at, which means possibly, less work for her.
My biggest frustration with public school is that both my daughters are required to do work they are already proficient at. DD8's teacher told me: Because everyone else has to do it.
This infuriates me to the core. Remeber that old Hulk show on T.V. when we were kids, Bruce Banner started spinning around and then turned into the hulking green monster with a big roar? Yeahhh, that's how some of those school comments make me feel.

An individualized education plan either at home or school will give your daughter a more realistic education plan, whether at home or school. Hopefully.

A neuropsychologist is an MD and has a medical background with specialization in neurology that goes far beyond the knowledge of your basic school psychologist. You are much more likely to have a 2e child's disabilities recognized by a neuropsych.

Would a neuropsych be able to find things like the Vision Tracking problem and CAPD? Or, would you have to see a neuropsych and then specialists for those other things?

With all due respect, having worked for many, many years with neuropsychologists in the field of brain injury and pediatrics, I need to clarify about the qualifications/training of neuropsychologists.

They are NOT medical doctors. There is a field of medical specialty called neuropsychiatry and that is a medical doctor. But neuropsychologists are psychologists who specialize in brain function and behavior and learning.
(I tried to put in a link to a healthline.com article, but it didn't seem to be working. go to www.healthline.com and search for neuropsychologist, nice definition/description)

It is best to seek a neuropsychologist when you are concerned about organic brain dysfunction, effects of head trauma and/or want to know more about how a person's cognitive function is working (ie: learning disability).

Neuropsychologists are not necessarily educated or trained in finding visual or auditory problems. Some might be out of interest or experience, but it is not something that is typically screened or assessed by a neuropsychologist. For visual problems you are best off seeking a developmental optometrist; for auditory processing you are best off seeking an audiologist who specializes in auditory processing.

My 2 cents based on professional experience as an OT.

Just to back up Debbie's post, when we had DD11 tested for CAPD, we were told that only an audiologist can make that call. And after pursuing testing, we learned that even within the field of audiology, you have to ask specifically for CAPD testing. A few were very forthright in saying that they could not provide that testing for us, while others seemed to specialize in this. If this is a consideration, make some calls. For us, the initial school testing and my own readings did suggest an auditory problem, but only the audiologist could test for and confirm that as a diagnosis.

I'm guessing visual issues are quite similar.

Thank you, Debbie and Dottie, for the clarifications.

Just to chime in, for vision issues you'd want to see a behavioral optometrist (see www.covd.org ) and as discussed you'd want to see an audiologist if you want evaluation for CAPD. A neuropsych would merely refer you to these same people. Indeed, that's kinda how we ended up getting the vision eval for DD7 - we did IQ testing through the Gifted Development Center, and how dd answered the block design portion of the test was one reason they thought she might have a vision issue and they referred us to an optometrist. Vision therapy is controversial - many opthamologists do not "believe" in it, and most of the practicioners are behavioral optometrists (see that link - you can put in your zip code to find one near you). I think our vision eval was around $100.

CAPD is still quite controversial among audiologists and many will not be able to do the eval for that - I think of it as a sub-specialty among audiologists. For example, my DS5 had his hearing checked by the audiologist with the school district, and from our conversation about CAPD it was apparent that she didn't know much about it. One audiologist's office we contacted about DD7, which has been dealing with CAPD for three decades (google able kids foundation, ft collins CO), believes that CAPD cannot be treated and will email their research to you. They offer an ear filter that is an accommodation. Their testing would be the most comprehensive I have come across. In contrast, the OT people at the Star Center are proponents of listening therapy (Tomatis). DD7 and DS5 both ended up having the listening therapy in conjunction with OT for SPD. It seemed to help DS5 quite a bit, according to both his teacher and speech therapist. But who knows, it's all a roll of the dice in my opinion - some people will be helped and some will not. My kids have not had an official diagnosis of CAPD and have not had the whole battery of testing, just a brief test by an audiologist in conjunction with their OT. The only reason for us to get a CAPD diagnosis would be if we wanted a 504 plan with accommodations for that. Right now they're in a montessori school, so listening in general is not much of an issue since they don't sit and listen as a class all day long. Really DS5 is the one with more of a problem in this area - and it might just be that he's too busy thinking about something to pay attention to my requests

And of course other LDs could be diagnosed by a neuropsych. I admit I haven't read all the posts here. I hope this makes sense - my brain is a bit jumbled today (doesn't it seem like I'm always having one of those days?), this morning we found out that DS5 will be having surgery to release a tethered spinal cord (long story). "what's wrong with my body, mommy?" Ugh.

oops! Sorry for my incorrect information. The neuropsych who worked with my child was an MD, so I made an assumption. It seems that neuropsychs may or may not be MDs. See the wiki article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_neuropsychologist

A good neuropsych will notice problem areas and may suggest further treatment with a particular specialist.

I'm not an expert, but some relevant things I've heard since having both 2E children WISC-IV tested:

From the Gifted Development Center (http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/):

working memory and processing speed are not highly correlated with giftedness. In their research sample of gifted children, mean scores were:

Verbal Comprehension Index: 131.7
Perceptual Reasoning Index: 126.4
Working Memory Index: 117.7
Processing Speed Index: 104.3
(I notice that the 1st 2 are using the WISC-III names, but seems to be talking about WISC-IV anyway)
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/About_GDC/whoaregiftd.htm

A difference of 23 points or more between any 2 of the 4 composite scores means the FSIQ is "not interpretable" and should not be used.
http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2455
The Gifted Development Center recommends always using the GAI instead of the FSIQ to determine giftedness.
So, ignore the FSIQ for your dd.

If subtest scaled scores differ by 5 or more points, then that composite index is not interpretable, and should not be used. So, your dd's perceptual reasoning index is not interpretable, and the individual subscores should be considered instead. This information is from:
Essentials of WISC-IV Assessment
By Dawn P. Flanagan, Alan S. Kaufman
I think this means that the GAI isn't even considered a good measure for your dd.

by age 9 (not much older than your dd), gifted girls may be socialized to hide their abilities and may be unwilling to guess, both of which will adversely affect IQ scores.
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/What_is_Gifted/learned.htm

from my experience:

some testers would've used the scores in parentheses instead of the lowest subscore for VCI and PRI, which would significantly raise these scores (another poster mentioned something like this). this substitution is supposed to be decided before testing (of if there's a problem with administering a subtest), but there also shouldn't be a huge difference between subtests.

I was told that auditory and visual processing problems could affect verbal and performance/perceptual composite scores, respectively. So, your dd may in fact be far more "gifted" than the scores indicate.

My ds had top VCI scores, but 80 processing speed. Even though you wouldn't expect a "gifted" child to have PSI much above 100, this is still considered quite low, and maybe 88 would also be. DS apparently has both visual and auditory processing deficits (visual has been confirmed by a developmental optometrist, auditory is far more apparent but never taken to a specialist). He also has visual-motor deficits (why he always hated drawing assignments). He now has a 504 plan that specifies:
. he can type instead of write (addresses visual processing deficits)
. he does not need to draw, but can use computer art, highlight borders instead of coloring maps, or omit drawing portions of assignments (visual-motor)
. get written notes from teacher or other student (auditory)
. preferential seating, not necessarily front row (visual, auditory)
. get instructions repeated when requested (auditory)
. time and a half for tests
. do half of homework for full credit if he shows he understands material

This last "accommodation" isn't standard, but we convinced the school it was warranted because of his giftedness-- he does *not* need as much repetition as other students (I've read that some studies show that gifted children remember things less well if they're repeated more than 2-3 times!). Doing well on tests proves that he's done enough homework. I've listed these in hopes that it may help you if you work with the school for formal (IEP or 504) or informal accommodations.

Hope this helps.

"If subtest scaled scores differ by 5 or more points, then that composite index is not interpretable, and should not be used. So, your dd's perceptual reasoning index is not interpretable, and the individual subscores should be considered instead. This information is from:
Essentials of WISC-IV Assessment
By Dawn P. Flanagan, Alan S. Kaufman
I think this means that the GAI isn't even considered a good measure for your dd."

So if Pud had in Verbal Comprehension:
Vocabulary: 16
Similarities: 19
Comprehension: 9

Does that mean the VCI is not interpretable? What if no substitute tests were given? Hmmm. Makes me wonder.

ETA: And, yes, that stupid 9 still bothers me!