Out of Town
IQ Testing: Intellectual Evaluation for Level and Profile of Intelligence and Academic Potential

If a family chooses to travel a long distance to Minneapolis for a given assessment and consultation experience, I give the same flat fees and packages as are outlined in the previous section for Local Clients. I administer individual ability assessments and provide a great deal of information and support regarding children's giftedness level and profile and the best options for meeting their academic, social and emotional needs now and in the future. I see children whose parents simply want to know where their child “fits” in the ability spectrum, and whether or not the child is “gifted” is not the real issue. The issue is whether or not the child is in the best learning environment for him or her, one that will nurture academic, social, and emotional growth.

When a family travels to Minneapolis for assessment and consultation services, it is necessary to deviate from the usual procedure in order to accommodate the family’s travel schedule. Special scheduling is required. Once the date has been set, I email a confirmation that outlines what we’ve agreed to, the fees involved, and how to prepare your child for the trip, the reason for your trip, and what it will be like to work with me. We will discuss your goals and which assessments you wish the child and family to complete (see Assessments and Other Assessments and Services) prior to scheduling so that all will run smoothly once you are here.

For example, the appointment for the intelligence assessment is set up for a weekday morning the day after your arrival, and the starting time is selected so we can finish by lunchtime. I do not provide snacks, so parents may wish to give their child something to eat in case of hunger. I do provide water and ample breaks in order to keep children comfortable. If one has been scheduled, an achievement test is usually done after the lunch break.

All inventories and assessments that can be completed at home must be returned to Educational Options before the family makes their trip so that we can score them, write the reports and make the results available to the parents in order to make the follow-up consultation as valuable as possible. Parents must have the opportunity to read through personality and social-emotional inventory results ahead of time – even if that time is while their child is taking the IQ and achievement tests.

I charge a flat fee for the intake information (the intake form, Developmental Milestones, emailed to the family ahead of time), the testing session (1.5 to 3.5 hours for each IQ and achievement test) and materials, and the scoring and detailed written report mailed to you within a few days. The length of time necessary for the session increases with the child’s (or adult’s, if we are testing an adult) age and ability level. The fee is related to the estimated time necessary. I administer the Stanford-Binet 5, an untimed test with 10 subtests in both the verbal and nonverbal domains, and I am a specialist in its use and interpretation with bright individuals. My reports are very clear and take away any score confusion for both the parents and the school because I explain how scores from this test compare to other tests that the educators may be more familiar with.

To make this as useful and long-term helpful as possible, I strongly recommend that all family members take the personality assessments I can mail to your home for completion and you mail back for scoring and the printed feedback (8-15 pages depending on type). You may return those to me on the day of assessment, if the time is short, but it is preferable to mail the results to you before you travel to Minneapolis so that you’ve had time to read the materials. The fee is per person. The adult version is the Myers-Briggs Type Preferences®, so if the adults already know their types, there is a small fee for the same family and personally oriented information rather than the full fee. The children’s version is correlated with the Myers-Briggs Type Preferences® and is called the Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children®. I do not recommend this for children younger than five or six because they aren’t quite ready for this. Parents may help with the completion so long as they keep “poker faces” throughout and do not react to any of their children’s answers. This is the part that sounds unnecessary to the family just starting out trying to figure out what this will all cost and how useful will it be. Please ask someone on my website under References and Testimonials so that you feel comfortable about this. It is surprisingly valuable.

All completed materials should be mailed ahead of time so that I am already completely familiar with any background issues and have had time to read, score and return any assessments or inventories that can be completed at home. Send the completed Developmental Milestones form, a photo of your child – perhaps the whole family – so I can easily recall, and picture, all of you when you contact me later with additional questions or concerns. If the child has had school achievement tests, medical evaluations for possible disabilities, or previous private intelligence or achievement testing, send copies of those results and reports for my analysis and file. The cost of the file analysis is included in the flat fee for the intellectual assessment.

The next step of the process is every bit as important and valuable, and that is the follow-up consultation - your personalized "Crash Course" on levels and profiles of giftedness. It seems to work best if the follow-up is scheduled for the second morning, as this allows me time to score the day’s tests and gather the appropriate materials; and the family can schedule their departure for home by early afternoon. The child(ren) can play or work quietly in the “family room” while the parents and I meet upstairs.

There is a separate hourly fee for the follow-up and the session generally takes 1.5 to 2.0 hours. Only the parents attend that and I give you a rather intense education on intelligence, how your child fits on the intellectual continuum and compares in the real world, how schools are set up, what sorts of options are likely and how effective they are (or are not) and all sorts of other factors related to your child's future adjustment in school, at home, and in life after school. I'll give you a stack of articles – between 35 and 50, depending on what I’ve learned from the evaluation materials – relevant to your situation, and you may purchase books I have available from a variety of authors (if you want).

All at-home assessments and inventories (personality type indicators and social-emotional inventories) require that payment be included when they are mailed back to Educational Options for scoring. A down payment by credit card is required at the point of appointment confirmation, but the final set of fees are paid by check or credit card when the family is at Educational Options and all services are completed.

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