Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment What disperate scores on WPPSI-IV mean

Our DS5 is currently in a Montessori program and has thrived there. A friend of mine, who is also a pediatrician, suggested that he may be too bright for the average curriculum at our local public school. This prompted us to meet with a cognitive therapist, who concluded after meeting with DS a few times that there is no doubt that he is gifted and that his level of giftedness should be tested to determine proper school placement.

He took the San Diego Quick Assessment to determine reading level and the test indicated that he is currently reading at an independent and instructional level of Grade 6.

We had our DS5 tested with the WPPSI-IV in September and his scores were quite varied and somewhat puzzling to me. I'm not sure that I believe they are accurate, since he hit test ceilings and the test was administered by a well-respected therapist who had not administered this test before.

I plan to meet with our county coordinator for Gifted and Talented Education and the principal of our local school in a couple of weeks to discuss DS5's educational placement. I could really use some help in determining what these scores mean and what they suggest would be appropriate in planning my DS5's future education. Do we need to have him tested further to determine an accurate level of ability in the verbal realm? Is it a good idea to give these current scores to the county coordinator and principal? What would you do if your child received these test scores?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

Summary Scales
FSIQ 133
Verbal Comprehension 155
Visual Spatial 109
Fluid Reasoning 117
Working Memory 110
Processing Speed 103

Verbal Comprehension Scaled Scores
Information 19
Similarities 19

Visual Spatial Scaled Scores
Block Design 11
Object Assembly 12

Fluid Reasoning Scaled Scores
Matrix Reasoning 13
Picture COncepts 13

Working Memory Scaled Scores
Picture Memory 13
Zoo Locations 10

Processing Speed Scaled Scores
Bug Search 10
Animal Coding 11

Ancillary Analysis
Vocabulary 15
Animal Coding 11
Comprehension 13
Receptive Vocabulary 19
Picture Naming 19
Cancel Random 9
Cancel Structured 4

Thanks for your reply, master of none. I don't know as much as I would like about our county's Gifted and Talented Education system. I know that they provide in-class differentiation for students starting in K, but I don't know what level of giftedness they are able to accommodate within the classroom.

I do not know yet what type of testing our school system commonly uses or at what age testing is available. I read much of the documentation available online for our county's G&T program and found much of it to be fairly vague. There is mention of teachers putting together portfolio's of work in K-2nd grade to be reviewed as a determination of whether a child meets entry requirements for the G&T program. I did not see any mention of children who have had outside testing prior to starting in the school system.

I am planning to use my upcoming meeting with the county Coordinator for Gifted and Talented Education and local school principal to learn more about what is available for gifted students in general and my son in particular. I have along list of questions to ask them, including whether in-class differentiation is a good option for him or whether it might be an option to go to a different grade for the phonics and reading times during the school day. Are there particular things that I should push for that I might not know to ask?

I don't know the WPPSI IV, its very new, but I recognize most of those subtests. I suggest you get his visual integration tested, and visual/motor and fine motor. At best I would guess some part of the visual/motor piece is age normal at best, which is not uncommon for young gifted boys, or possibly he actually has a problem he is compensating for. There are a LOT of visual or visual motor dependent subtests there. His highest scores are pure verbal, his medium scores have a visual element but no motor. The tasks with a motor element are all lower. If the "Zoo locations" test has any motor element the. This also applies even inside the WM section.

Thank you for your insight into the meaning of these scores, MumOfThree. This analysis is very helpful. I think this is a better read of his scores than that given by the cognitive therapist who tested him.

It has previously been suggested to us to have his gross motor skills tested. So, we will go ahead and look into how to have him evaluated for fine and gross motor, visual/motor, and visual integration. Are these all tests that are typically conducted by an OT through a public school system? Or, is the visual integration something generally tested by a cognitive therapist? Again, thank you so much for this help! It is invaluable.

I am sorry I am not in the USA so I don't know what school will offer

I am sorry I didn't notice your location, MumOfThree. Thank you again for your help!

I did think after my last post that when my DD had her OT assessment they did cover at least some degree of visual integration stuff. So OT would presumably be the first port of call and then possibly a behavioural optometrist. The OT said to us during DD's assessment "I can see from these results that she's incredibly good at Where's Wally and can't read"...

Okay, good to know. I will look into getting an OT assessment and go from there.