Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Widely scattered scores. Any thoughts.

Our 7 year old son was tested in January and we finally got the scores. There are some surprisingly big variations amongst the scores. What should we read into such a mix of high and low scores? Can anything be deduced from this profile of scores?

The tests were ordered by the school (not us) for gifted evaluation, so we weren't "looking" for anything, but now that we see the test results, we're certainly curious what the results mean.

Hopefully it's clear from the context, which numbers are scaled scores, standard or composite scores, or percentiles.

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FWIW I had an earlier thread
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....8386/Incongruous_test_results_Pleas.html
but thought I'd start a new one now that we finally have the results.

My daughter (now 9), got a 3 on Picture Concepts on the WPPSI when she was five. The tester (correctly) substituted a different subtest, that she got an 18 on. The directions can be hard to understand.

I am far from an expert on testing, but I just had to say congratulations on those math scores. I don't think I've ever seen any scores even close to that! Those math scores are SIZZLING HOT!!!!!

I don't know if part of your question is whether you should apply to DYS. I would encourage you to apply. I think I would be inclined to include a portfolio.

Congratulations again!

I don't have any useful information for you but just wanted to say those math scores are amazing!!

Thanks, Dottie. Some people raise alarm at scattered scores, so I thought I should check, but your reaction seems very sensible. While the subtests each measure something, with some error bars, my son is doing fine with his particular combination of strengths and weaknesses (or averagenesses), so there's no real need to worry.

His FSIQ [removed] got dinged by the lower subtest scores, as did his GAI (which they didn't calculate but I figure it's [removed]). Perhaps you could invent a new "Dottie index" using "the subtests that I personally think are most telling of cognitive ability". His six good scores ([removed]) would give a much better number.

As for DYS, I only came across this forum when searching for information on WISC scoring, after the test but before getting the scores, so I hadn't heard of DYS. But he really doesn't qualify on the Option 1 Qualification Criteria, so I wouldn't try even though I suspect that his IQ is somewhat higher than the test shows. He'll have plenty of chances to try to prove his abilities in Talent Searches and Mathematics Competitons. (We'll emphasize with these tests, that he should relax and have fun, but that they are also important, just as we did this time.)

One question is, does he ever need another IQ test? He doesn't need it to convince the school of anything. The school is fine with acceleration and anything else. Another IQ test would be like a "second opinion". And it might be a reasonable price at a university Psychology department (the first one was paid for by the school). But is there a need other than for curiosity?

As for the Mathematics achievement scores, I really think they must have some callibration problems in the tails of the distribution. I agree with the >99.9% percentile, corresponding to scores of 150+, but the specific numerical scores don't seem realistic to me.

He just did the standard 10 subtests of the WISC, but its an interesting thought what could have happened if some of the other 5 had been done and substitutions made. From what I can tell he was happy and cooperative during the test, but he did tell me how on one, he didn't like the instruction to put an "X" through the correct selections, and he thought crossing out was for wrong things and he should circle the correct ones instead.

That's interesting about the working memory. My son's not a prodigy, but it's good to have the working memory strength. I thought I'd seen this somewhere so I googled "child prodigies working memory" and got this thread from this forum.
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....3822/Prodigies_have_large_working_m.html

From the reading I've done, it's not uncommon for working memory and processing speed to be in opposition.

If a child has a strong working memory, then processing speed is exercised less, because they can keep more information in their heads at one time and keep it there longer.

Likewise, if a child can codify and process information rapidly, they can abstract concepts into fewer 'symbols' and require less working memory to solve problems.

I missed this comment earlier. What you say is interesting. Do you have a reference for this?

You're probably right that there's probably no real need to ever have another IQ test. I do wonder, though, if that's his real profile of scores, or if there were some testing glitches, or if he'll naturally grow into being stronger in the currently average areas. I also wonder if this score profile is more typically of someone mathematically, rather than verbally, minded.