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Gifted Assessment

Is Your Child Gifted?

Giftedness is a term that is used in educational settings and refers to children who demonstrate advanced skills and abilities compared to their same-aged peers. While children can be gifted in many different areas such as art or physical ability, educational settings, when referring to giftedness, tend to be referring to children in the top 2-5% of their peers on tests of cognitive abilities.

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Boy with robot during IQ test for gifted child

Indicators Of Giftedness

What are some clues your child might be gifted?

  • Learning to speak earlier than peers
  • Noticing details around them and making connections with other information they know
  • Speaking with sentences and vocabulary that are more complex than peers
  • Able to solve puzzles at an advanced level compared to peers
  • Able to recall information at a level more advanced than peers
  • Curious and enjoy solving problems
  • Seem self-motivated to learn about topics of interest

How Is Giftedness Assessed?

A gifted assessment helps identify a child’s advanced cognitive abilities, learning style, and unique potential. At Rocky Mountain Psychological Services in Calgary, our psychologists provide comprehensive gifted assessments that go beyond numbers to understand the whole child.

During a giftedness assessment, your child will take part in several steps:

  • Parent and teacher interviews to explore learning history, strengths, and areas of challenge. 
  • Standardized cognitive testing (often called an IQ test for gifted children) to measure reasoning, memory, and problem-solving. 
  • Academic screening to compare cognitive ability with school performance. 
  • Behavioral and emotional check-ins to ensure results reflect not only intelligence but overall wellbeing. 

The result is a detailed report that gives parents, educators, and students clarity about strengths and strategies for learning success.

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What Tests Are Used?

Our gifted test process uses research-based tools recognized across Canada for accuracy and reliability. Depending on your child’s age, our psychologists may use:

  • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth Edition (WISC-V): The most common IQ test for gifted children ages 6–16, assessing verbal reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.
  • Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV): For younger children aged 2½–7 years.
  • Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales – Fifth Edition (SB-5): A well-validated test for identifying giftedness across multiple domains.

These standardized tools are the foundation of professional assessment for giftedness, ensuring reliable insight into a child’s cognitive strengths.

Our gifted assessment Calgary services always include professional interpretation and feedback, helping you understand what your child’s scores mean in everyday life.

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When to Assess?

Many parents wonder when is the “right time” to schedule an IQ test for a gifted child.

In general, giftedness assessments are most accurate once a child has entered formal schooling, usually between ages 6 and 12, when cognitive abilities are more stable.

You may consider a gifted assessment near you if your child:

  • Shows advanced reasoning or vocabulary for their age.
  • Feels frustrated or bored by typical classroom tasks.
  • Demonstrates intense curiosity or perfectionism.
  • Excels in one subject but struggles in others.
  • Expresses big emotions or sensitivity paired with advanced thinking.

Early assessment for giftedness can help ensure your child’s needs are met through enriched learning, acceleration, or specialized school programs.

Child focused during gifted assessment Calgary.

What Happens After Assessment?

After completing the giftedness assessment, families receive:

  1. A comprehensive written report outlining IQ results, strengths, and growth areas.
  2. A feedback session with your psychologist to interpret results and discuss recommendations.
  3. Personalized next steps that might include:
    • Enrichment opportunities or academic acceleration.
    • Emotional and social support for perfectionism, anxiety, or motivation.
    • Guidance for program applications such as GATE or Westmount Charter School in Calgary.

Whether your child meets the criteria for giftedness or simply shows strong potential, the process helps families better understand how to nurture their child’s abilities at home and at school.

What Is Involved In a Gifted Assessment?

When children are evaluated for giftedness, they typically complete a cognitive assessment, also referred to as an IQ test. This is an individually administered, standardized assessment where your child is asked a series of specific questions and to complete specific tasks such as building with blocks or puzzles. The assessment is usually completed by a psychologist. The score on this assessment compares your child’s performance to other children the same age (year and month) in the population. Children who meet criteria for a gifted program tend to score in the top 2-5% of the population. The assessment measure that is most commonly used is in assessing for giftedness is the Wechsler tests. There are different Wechsler tests for different age groups. For young children, the assessment measure is called the WPPSI-IV (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Test of Intelligence- Fourth Edition). For school-age children, it is the WISC-V (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition). For older teens and adults, it is the WAIS-IV (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition).
giftedness assessment calgary

What If My Child Doesn’t Do Well On The Assessment?

The assessment is standardized, which means that your child will be asked to do the same things as other children their same age. What this means is that many children who are 4 years old, for example, may struggle to sit to complete tasks, and therefore if your child is 4 years old, they would be expected to have the same developmental challenges with sitting to complete tasks as other children their same age. Thus, the results reflect how your child did when completing the same task as other children their same age. Some children do struggle with completing the tasks and we all have bad days sometimes. If you feel that your child’s results really don’t represent them, speak with the psychologist about your concerns and have a discussion about what the psychologist observed and results and what you observe at home. Sometimes children are able to show different levels of ability with supports or different questions; while this is important information, what is being assessed when using standardized assessment measures is how the child responds when given the exact same instructions for the task.

If you truly believe your child was having a bad day or that the results don’t reflect your child, some options are:

  1. Complete another assessment using a different assessment tool (e.g., the Stanford-Binet 5)
  2. Wait a year and have the child complete the assessment again (with another year of maturity they might manage the testing situation better)
  3. Talk with the psychologist who completed the assessment to see what other recommendations they might have

Why Would I Want To See If My Child Is Gifted?

For any child, it can help them to learn and to thrive if their learning is developmentally appropriate and targeted to their capacity. This is why there are developmentally-appropriate curriculum standards in education – the standards fit most children that age. However, when a child is gifted, they learn differently and at a different rate than their same-aged peers. Finding out that a child meets criteria for giftedness helps the child’s parents and school to make a plan to ensure that the child’s needs are met. It may mean, for example, that the child is taught at a faster pace, has opportunities to learn curriculum concepts at a deeper level, or that the child can choose to spend time learning about areas of interest in addition to managing the curriculum. Without an educational program that meets their needs, some gifted children find that they become less interested in school or learning, don’t develop good work habits, or because they are used to easily succeeding or being the best, they may struggle when they do encounter challenging tasks because they haven’t had experiences of overcoming struggle to help them build resiliency.

Gifted Schools And Programs In Calgary And Area:

There are a variety of educational options for gifted students. In the Calgary area, Westmount Charter school is a charter school that specializes in working with gifted children. See Westmount Website – (Website for Westmount Charter School – Gifted from the Inside Out) for more information. Calgary Board of Education also serves gifted students with the G.A.T.E. (Gifted and Talented Education Program) starting in Grade 4 (see FAQ | GATE Calgary). Alternatively, the Calgary Board of Education and Calgary Catholic Board of Education also support gifted students to be integrated into the regular classroom with an Individualized Program Plan. The GATE Parents’ association website is also a helpful resource to parents.
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Resources For Parents Of Gifted Children:

Please see this link from Westmount Charter School and GATE Parents Association for reading lists and resources: Giftedness – Westmount Website (westmountcharter.com) and Schools | GATE Calgary. If you would like to have your child assessed for giftedness, please contact Rocky Mountain Psychological Services at 403-245-5981 or email us at admin@rmpsychservices.com.

Limitations & Considerations

While a giftedness assessment provides valuable insight, it’s important to recognize its limits:

  • Results represent your child’s performance on a single day and can be influenced by motivation, rest, or stress.
  • Gifted assessment focuses on cognitive ability, but other strengths—like creativity, leadership, and emotional intelligence—also matter.
  • Cultural and language background can impact performance, so experienced psychologists interpret scores carefully.
  • Giftedness is diverse: some children show strength in one area (e.g., spatial reasoning) and not others.

At Rocky Mountain Psychological Services, our goal is to make every gifted assessment Calgary experience comprehensive, supportive, and individualized.

FAQs

Will my child be tested for learning disabilities or ADHD during a gifted assessment?

Not automatically. A gifted assessment focuses on identifying intellectual strengths. If learning or attention issues are suspected, we may recommend a broader psycho-educational assessment to evaluate both giftedness and potential learning challenges.

Costs depend on the number of components (cognitive, academic, or emotional). A giftedness assessment may be shorter than a full psycho-educational evaluation. We provide transparent pricing during your consultation so you can choose the best option for your child.

Most children complete testing over two sessions (1–2 hours each), followed by a feedback meeting within about two weeks. The full gifted test process typically takes 3–4 weeks from start to finish.

Some parts, such as the intake interview, can be completed virtually. However, standardized IQ testing must be done in person to ensure validity and fairness.

Every child has unique strengths. Even if scores fall below the formal gifted range, the gifted assessment identifies valuable insights about learning style, motivation, and strategies for confidence and success.

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Cassandra White

Cassandra has been the owner and Director of RMPS since 2013. She brings more than 20 years of experience in working with children and families to the practice. Her background and expertise in the areas of assessment and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders and ADHD as well as her knowledge of neurofeedback therapy and play therapy give her the broad base of knowledge to direct this multi-faceted private psychology practice.In addition to her experience in assessment and treatment of learning disabilities and giftedness, Cassandra has training and expertise in Child Psychotherapy and Play Therapy. She has worked extensively with children and their families regarding treatment of anxiety, depression, behavioral issues and emotion regulation using play-based and expressive interventions. Cassandra is also a clinical supervisor who provides supervision and consultation to other practitioners specializing in working with children. Cassandra’s experience and knowledge is not only academic; she is the mother of four children. Her experience of being a parent of four children makes her a very practical and realistic therapist. She understands the demands of parenting and does not rely on “book knowledge” or recommendations that appear unattainable for parents. She prides herself in understanding both the needs of the parents and the child. She looks for ways to enhance family functioning so that parents can feel competent and successful in their difficult jobs of raising children with a variety of complex needs.
Rocky Mountain psychological services Calgary

MacKenzie Ebel

MacKenzie is a Psychometrist/Psychological Assistant at RMPS. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Princeton University, where she also played 4 years for the women’s ice hockey team. She recently completed her Masters in Counselling Psychology through City University of Seattle.MacKenzie has worked with children, youth, and their families in a number of settings, through coaching, as a behavioural aid, and counselling through her internship placement. She is excited to continue learning about assessment administration, neurofeedback, and play therapy practices at RMPS! Currently, she is part of the assessment and neurotherapy team, as she completes her final capstone assignment and intends to join our counselling team as a Registered Provisional Psychologist.

Tammy Thomson

Tammy is a graduate of the Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP) program at Yorkville University and is trained at the master’s level in art therapy as a professional art psychotherapist and member of the Canadian Art Therapy Association. She brings more than 20 years of experience working with children, teens, and families in child development settings, children’s hospitals, and schools as an early childhood educator and elementary teacher.She completed a Bachelor of Applied Science specializing in Child Development Studies at the University of Guelph, Ontario and holds a Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Tammy is a member of the Canadian Counsellor and Psychotherapy Association and College of Alberta Psychologists while pursuing her next goal of registration as a provisional psychologist. Tammy values a client-centered approach using play therapy and the expressive arts to support those who may find it difficult to articulate their thoughts and feelings with words. Children and families do not need any skill or prior art experience and the art studio is a safe place where children can gain a sense of independence, greater emotional regulation, and confidence through self-exploration. Expressive interventions in art therapy can treat behavioural issues, anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, physical and developmental disabilities, and attachment difficulties. As a parent of three young children herself, Tammy understands the complexities of family life using compassion to help parents feel more confident in their role of raising a successful family.

Raquel Freitas

Raquel is an Office Administrator at RMPS. Back in Brazil, her home country, she graduated as a Psychologist and worked as a clinician for the past 5 years. Although she loved working with children and adults, she discovered a new passion: manage the administrative tasks that keep the business running. 

As someone who is passionate about learning new things and developing new skills, with the career transition also came the decision to live abroad and explore a new culture. To serve empathetically and connect with people is Raquel’s main personal and professional goal.

Emma Donnelly

Emma is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in her hometown at Brandon University, after which she moved to Calgary to earn her Master’s of Science in School and Applied Child Psychology at the University of Calgary.Emma has a passion for working with children and families and has experience doing so in a number of settings, including schools, homes, early intervention programs, and within the community. She specializes in assessment, including psychoeduational, social-emotional-behavioural, and autism assessment. Emma uses a client centred approach to counselling, supported by cognitive behavioural therapy, as well as play-based and attachment-based techniques. She believes in meeting clients where they are at and prides herself in working together with her clients to achieve their goals, improve their functioning, and enjoy their daily life.

Amanda Stoner

Amanda is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. Amanda earned her doctoral degree in Psychology at Brock University in Ontario in 2017, with a specialization in developmental psychology. Amanda provides formal assessment services at RMPS. 

Since 2009, Amanda has received formal training and work experience in private practice settings in conducting psycho-educational assessments for students ranging from preschool through university. Amanda is skilled at test administration, interpretation of data, and report writing for various referral questions including ADHD, Learning Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anxiety, Giftedness, and Intellectual Disabilities. Amanda enjoys working with people of all ages from diverse backgrounds, and she tries to make the testing environment feel relaxed and comfortable while maintaining integrity in testing protocol.

Denise Riewe

Denise has completed a Bachelor of Health Sciences through the University of Lethbridge and a Master of Counselling with Athabasca University. She is a Registered Provisional Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists and a member of the Psychological Association of Alberta.Denise has over 9 years of experience supporting children, youth and their families in both residential and community-based practices. Denise is experienced in working with high and at-risk youth, supporting children and their families with strength-based approaches. She practices from a client-center approach supported by Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Theraplay, and other play and art-based modalities.

John Pynn

John is a Registered Provisional Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. He completed his Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University. He brings more than 20 years of experience working with children, teens, and families in a variety of settings. He brings a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere to sessions.John uses an integrated counselling approach including client-centred, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Solution-Focussed therapy (SFT) to find the best-fit for clients. He has experience with a variety of mental health concerns including anxiety, depression, anger, self-
esteem, relationships, parenting, ADHD, grief/loss, addictions, and trauma. This broad experience comes from working in schools, social service agencies, group-care, and clinical settings. He also draws from the practical experience of being a parent to two teenagers as well as a husband. Supporting and empowering clients with mental health concerns is something John genuinely enjoys. John also provides counselling for adults and holds a Gottman level 1 certification for couples therapy.

Zara Crasto

Zara is a Psychometrist/Psychological Assistant at RMPS. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Calgary and her Graduate Diploma in Psychological Assessment at Concordia University of Edmonton. 

Zara has spent over five years working alongside children, adolescents, and their families in a variety of settings. These include public and private schools, in-home support, residential programs, early-intervention programs, and non-profit organizations. Currently, Zara is part of the assessment and neurotherapy team. As a lifelong learner, Zara plans to go back to graduate school and eventually become a psychologist one day.

Kellie Lanktree

Kellie is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists. She completed a Bachelor of Child and Youth Care with the University of Victoria and a Master of Education in Counselling Psychology through the University of Lethbridge.Kellie has over 10 years experience supporting children and youth with developmental disorders/delays and their families. Kellie has experience working in schools, clinical settings, and within homes to provide support and therapeutic interventions. Through her time at RMPS, Kellie has also gained experience in helping individuals affected by trauma, grief/loss, separations, emotional dysregulation, depression, and anxiety. Kellie practices through developmental, attachment-based and trauma-informed lenses, and draws from a variety of play-based approaches such as Synergetic Play Therapy, Child-centered play therapy, DIR/Floortime, art-based mediums, and mindfulness-based practices. Kellie also provides Neurofeedback therapy, and is working on receiving her certification through BCIA. Kellie believes in meeting children and their families where they are at and that there is no “one size fits all” for therapy.