Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment processing speed question - what if high?

Yes, this is the younger. I am hoping that this is it. I'll know more tomorrow. I do remember the number 138 for VCI, everything else was just a blur, esp. after I heard "preliminary I think the FSIQ is 145". If it is 144 after she calculates - ugh.
It will be a long night for me!

DYS accepts GAI now, so maybe not that long.

Kriston- I think actually that your point was exactly the psych's point that I saw. That fast does not equal smart in every case (or even in many cases) but that slow does not immediately equal learning disability either. That slow can actually even mean MORE smart but wrought with perfectionism. He explained primarily that you should not hold a child back from content because of PSI if everything else was high. You should instead realize that a "slow" child needs time to ruminate and stop pressuring fast but still give the content at the appropriate academic level.

...or it could be something other than perfectionism.

My problem is with limiting the explanation for "slow but deep" to perfectionism (or learning disability) alone. Is that not what he said? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding his point since I'm just going from what you've said. Maybe something got lost in translation.

I'm glad he's noting that kids can be smart but not fast. That's good. But I think there are plenty of reasons other than perfectionism that are possible to explain that situation. Very often perfectionism is the only possibility suggested, and it doesn't fit every child.

We don't assume that VCI and PRI should both be high if one is high. Why assume that PSI should be high if VCI and/or PRI are high? From what you've said, it seems to me that he's still doing that, only he's assuming the PSI is a false low because of perfectionism.

My DS really is that slow! Smart, but really that slow! It's not perfectionism.

Well it was a two hour lecture condensed into two sentences :-) But his underlying point is that slow is slow and we shouldn't assume that slow doesn't equal as smart as fast and that you shouldn't freak if you get a kid with a low PSI and high everything else.

Slow just is... and doesn't mean something is "wrong".

Ah. Sorry for misunderstanding.

No worries Kriston- I was trying to be reassuring and I wanted to make sure I got that clear!

Hi all,
New question.
We got it. The FSIQ was 145.
The WJ achievement total was 145 or 146, she's calculating. Child is functioning four grade levels ahead in language arts, no wonder why she gives me a hard time about going to school. I am relieved, but exhausted and worried about schooling.

Dottie, Kriston, and all:
Are two "barely there" scores OK for a DYS application? I have two people writing recommendation letters, plus I have last year's WPPSI of FSIQ 146. Do you think we're OK?

No. A subtest or two of the WJ were over, but not the entire broad reading or entire broad math.
Thanks, Dottie. I emailed my recommendation people and told them to go ahead and write the letters.
Can I hold my breathe for the next few weeks?

Great! Have you tackled the application form yet? Good to know you already have 2 recommendation forms. You have a couple of weeks to get it altogether. I would not include the WPPSI results since they are not at that 150 level. I think the WISC should speak by itself.