Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Finally got my DS9's scores on the NNAT

I'm a little confused because they told me he was 83% (and put it in writing in the first letter I received from them) but it says in his scores that his percentile rank was 91.

Anyway, here it is-

NNAT II

Total Raw Score 42
Scaled Score 692
Naglieri Ability Index 122
Percentile Rank 91
Stanine 8

So he needed to be at least 95 percentile for GATE.

There is also a note that says DS9 answered all test items and the evaluation is considered accurate and valid.

I can appeal if I want to, but I suspect that's a long hard road. I really want to understand why there is such a huge discrepancy between this test and his WISC.

Standard Score (NAI) 122 is normally 93rd %ile, so something is slightly odd about his scores. And 95th %ile is only 2 points higher, at 124. Perhaps they're using district/local norms.

That being said, 122 (equivalent to scaled score 14) is not statistically significantly different from 16 (equivalent to SS 130-134)on Matrix Reasoning, which is essentially the same task. Nor is it much different from the WISC-IV PRI of 131 (given that these are comparisons across different tests, not within test). I would say that the apparent huge discrepancy between the WISC-IV GAI and the NNAT2 NAI would suggest investigating the 2e angle (both PSI/WMI and emotional) more so than questioning the validity of this NNAT2.

If you wanted to pursue a GATE appeal, you could argue that a two point SS difference is well within the SEM/confidence interval for the instrument. I don't have this test, so I can't look up the exact numbers, but I don't know of any cognitive instrument that has a SEM less than 2, so I think it likely that this would be true. They should have this info in their manuals for the NNAT2.

The value of appealing would depend largely on whether you think the actual GATE program would suit your child, or if GATE identification would have any other function.

Hi aeh -

Thank you so much for looking at his scores. What you have said makes sense, but I'm not sure what to do now.

As far as GATE goes, he's not very motivated at school, and I don't know whether non HG GATE just ends up being a lot of the high achievers and just more homework. My brother who is definitely gifted was happy he never tested into the program as basically it meant more homework back then. I think I may post in the local forums and ask people for their experience of Orange Folder GATE (not HG). From his scores, unless they retest him using a different instrument I don't know how they would let him into the HG+ schools. So, not sure if it's worth it or not.

My REAL question is, what is my next step regarding possible 2e? The education consultant that tested him with the WISC IV said she doesn't diagnose, but she's the one who said she thought his lower PSI/WM was anxiety related. If he does have some kind of emotional or processing disability that I can help him with I need to figure it out so that I can do that. If he needs more time for tests, I probably need to get him that via a 504, etc. But how do I figure out what he needs?

I would start from a good diagnostic interview with an experienced child/adolescent psychiatrist, to try to sort out the anxiety piece of things. Bring any testing data you have, as he/she should be comfortable reading those reports. You can also consider a neuropsych, to look at the processing speed, but since emotional interference may confound those results, I would do the psychiatric first, so the NP has that info when interpreting any supplementary test data they acquire. (It is important to provide new assessors with any data you already have, so they can make informed choices about assessment instruments.) Both the ch. psychiatrist and neuropsych should be ones who are familiar with relevant school recommendations, so look for practitioners experienced with school-related evals. (Some clinic-based evaluators write predominantly therapy-oriented recs, because they are accustomed to writing treatment plans, rather than ecological accommodations.)

Thanks aeh. I guess I will start with that then.

My DS9 said that his biggest problem last year was his teacher yelled a lot. I never heard her yelling, but maybe it was the feeling he got, rather than actual yelling.

I've requested a particular teacher this year (I usually don't but felt I better this time) and hopefully it will work out. He doesn't yell and the kids all love him. It would be interesting to see what changes this year if he does get this teacher and it's a good fit.