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Gifted & AIG Testing
Identifying advanced abilities. Supporting academic potential.
Understanding Your Child’s Strengths
Children with advanced abilities do not always demonstrate their strengths in the same ways. Some excel academically, while others stand out for their reasoning, rapid learning, problem-solving, creativity, or unusually deep understanding of particular topics.
At Calhoun Psychology, gifted and AIG testing includes standardized assessment of cognitive and academic abilities. Results can help families better understand their child’s strengths and academic potential, determine eligibility for gifted or Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) programs, and identify opportunities for appropriate challenge and enrichment.
“Giftedness is more than an IQ score. Understanding a child’s learning strengths can lead to opportunities that help them reach their full potential.”
Testing provides objective information about cognitive and academic abilities that families can use to make informed decisions about enrichment, advanced coursework, and other educational opportunities.
When May Gifted Testing Be Helpful?
Children with advanced abilities can look very different from one another, and no single characteristic indicates giftedness. Gifted testing may be worth considering when a child consistently demonstrates abilities or learning needs that seem advanced compared with same-age peers.
Parents or teachers may notice:
- Learning new concepts unusually quickly or with little repetition
- Advanced reasoning or problem-solving abilities
- Academic skills that are well above grade-level expectations
- An unusually advanced vocabulary or depth of knowledge for their age
- Intense curiosity and frequent, sophisticated questions
- Strong memory and rapid recall of information
- Deep or sustained interest in particular subjects or topics
- Seeking out more challenging or advanced material independently
- Becoming bored or disengaged when work feels repetitive or insufficiently challenging
- Making connections between ideas that seem unusually sophisticated for their age
Gifted Identification & Opportunities in North Carolina
In North Carolina, public schools are required to identify and provide services for students who are Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG). The state provides a framework for gifted education, but each school district develops its own Local AIG Plan outlining how students are identified and served. As a result, identification criteria and available opportunities can vary across districts.
Families considering private gifted testing should review their school district’s current identification requirements before scheduling an evaluation. Districts may consider multiple sources of information when determining AIG eligibility, and cognitive and achievement test results may represent only part of the identification process. Durham Public Schools, for example, reviews multiple sources of data when students are referred for AIG identification.
For students who qualify, AIG services are intended to provide learning experiences beyond those ordinarily provided in the general education program. The specific opportunities available depend on the student’s grade, school, and district and may include differentiated instruction, enrichment, advanced coursework, acceleration, or other opportunities for advanced learning.
Helpful Resources for North Carolina Families
- NC DPI, Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) — overview of AIG identification and services in North Carolina.
- NC DPI, AIG Regions & Local Plans — families can locate the AIG plan for their own NC school district.
- Durham Public Schools, AIG Identification
- Wake County Public School System, Advanced Learning/AIG
- Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Gifted Education
What Does Gifted & AIG Testing Involve?
Gifted and AIG testing at Calhoun Psychology focuses on two areas: cognitive abilities and academic achievement. Together, these assessments provide objective information about a child’s reasoning abilities, learning strengths, and current academic performance.
Cognitive Testing
Cognitive testing examines abilities involved in reasoning, problem-solving, learning, and working with different types of information. Results provide an overall estimate of cognitive ability as well as information about patterns of strengths across specific areas of thinking and reasoning.
Academic Achievement Testing
Achievement testing measures skills in areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics. Results help determine how a child’s academic performance compares with that of same-age or same-grade peers and can document areas of advanced academic achievement.
We encourage families to review gifted or AIG program requirements before scheduling. Identification criteria can vary, and testing results will be considered according to the requirements established by the school or program.
What You’ll Receive
Our goal is to ensure that families leave testing with a clear understanding of their child’s results and how those findings may be used to support educational planning.
Feedback Session
We’ll meet with you to review the results, explain what the scores mean, answer your questions, and discuss how the findings relate to your child’s learning strengths and academic potential.
Written Summary of Results
You’ll receive a written summary documenting your child’s cognitive and academic achievement results, including standardized scores and an explanation of the strengths reflected in their performance. Test results can be shared with schools, AIG programs, or other organizations when families are seeking gifted identification or educational opportunities.
Frequently Asked Questions
The evaluation begins with an intake appointment with parents to review the child’s academic history, discuss the reason for testing, and briefly assess overall functioning. The child then completes individually administered cognitive and academic achievement testing. After testing is complete, you’ll receive a written summary of the results and meet with your clinician for a feedback session to review the findings, answer questions, and discuss how the results may be used for gifted or AIG identification and educational planning.
Gifted testing is a focused assessment of cognitive and academic abilities, typically completed to better understand advanced abilities or support gifted/AIG identification. A psychoeducational evaluation is considerably broader and examines cognitive, academic, attentional, and psychological functioning when there are concerns about learning, attention, or other factors affecting school performance.
Calhoun Psychology is a self-pay practice for psychological assessment services. Gifted and AIG testing is completed for educational purposes and is generally not considered medically necessary by health insurance plans. As a result, these services are not eligible for out-of-network reimbursement, and we are unable to provide a superbill for insurance reimbursement.
To help make gifted and AIG testing more accessible, we also offer reduced-fee evaluations completed by doctoral-level psychology interns and postdoctoral clinicians who are closely supervised by our Licensed Psychologists. All testing results and findings are reviewed with a Licensed Psychologist.
Help Your Child Reach Their Potential
If you’re wondering whether your child may benefit from gifted or AIG testing, we’re here to help. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your child’s strengths, the reason you’re considering testing, and whether our gifted testing services are a good fit for your needs.
