The day is nearly here. On Thursday A returns to the Gifted Development Center in Denver for giftedness testing. It was not an easy decision, to return for retesting, and not just because of the cost. But we had finally gotten to the point of needing more help.

The internal debate was painful. Is he gifted, or just bright and precocious? Are his sometimes outrageous behaviors due to sensory issues, or over-excitabilities? Is his anxiety connected? What about his stomach issues? The ADHD? The emotional outbursts? The intensity? Will someone, for the love of God, give us some answers?

When I called the GDC a few months ago to set up the testing, they asked me why we were interested in retesting A. He was originally tested when he was 4 1/2 and the report we got was so helpful; from that we got A into occupational therapy and vision therapy. Because of the vision therapy he went from barely recognizing words to flat-out reading in about six weeks the summer before starting kindergarten. Many of our decisions these last few years were based on that report. So when they asked me why we wanted to put him through the full-day test, my answer was two-fold. First and foremost, I want a baseline report on him. What makes him tick. If he's truly twice-exceptional. I believe that knowledge is power and the more we know, the better we can help him. And second, I need as much information and documentation as possible about his issues as we stare down a new school year.

Last year A fell through the cracks at school. There was a lot of fault to go around: mine, the school's, changing teachers mid-year...but the fact remains that his needs were not met well. This will not happen this year. As a former teacher, I know that schools live and die by documentation and test scores and all the crap that we know doesn't really tell the whole story of a person. So I will play the game. I will have test scores and reports and they will be from a reputable center (last spring I had a meeting with representatives from the school's gifted program and I'm convinced I wasn't laughed out of the room because A's previous testing showed probable twice-exceptionalities). I'll be able to go into a meeting with the gifted program folks and say, "Here! Look! I'm not making it up! He just has XYZ holding him back! Now how can we work together to assist and challenge him?"

I know a lot of parents don't want to test, don't want a label attached to their child. And I can respect their decision. But we're born with labels, starting from the moment the doctor yells out "It's a boy/girl!" If a label gets my child what he needs to thrive, then a label he will get.

The testing is Thursday. The answers come Friday. And the hard work begins Monday.