Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Scores in for Possible Grade Skip Kiddo

So, we have our data...looking for thoughts on the grade skip before our meeting next week...

Few reminders: bright, very talkative and curious ADHD'er who may skip from 4th to 6th. Loves school but bored a lot and reads tons throughout the day to "entertain" himself. He is a teacher pleaser and liked by female peers and loved by male peers and looked as a leader. Average for maturity, tall for size. Big vocabulary and intense. Needs to know everything and loves to learn, wherever he is. Medicated so ADHD symptoms tend to not be a big issue in school at this time (minus excessive talking-which is always on task and adds to discussions per teachers). Has a very slight speech articulation issue when tired or when not enunciating but doesn't qualify for support. Decent handwriting (prints everything but neat and same size). Loves to write creatively but answers fact based essays unless prompted with minimum needed to get answered correctly. He is in support of the skip at this juncture, stating he'd still get to see friends in the building but "learn something" if he moved up. : )
No G/T programming at all in this school (or any nearby school). Only option is accelerated courses starting in 8th grade/high school without acceleration. Very independent student who doesn't need assistance with organization or school work. Involved in both sports and clubs, as a leader in 2. Small community....Thoughts from other parents/experts?

WISC-IV Results:

Verbal Comprehension: 144 (99.8%)
Made up of: Similarities: 19
Vocab: 18
Comprehension: 15

Perceptual Reasoning: 131 (98%)
Made up of: Block Design: 13
Picture Concepts: 14
Matrix Reasoning: 18

Working Memory: 107 (68%)
Made up of: Digit Span: 12
Letter-Number Sequencing: 11

(This one surprised us because he remembers everything he reads accurately like a walking encyclopeida!)

Processing Speed: 106 (66%)
Made up of: Coding: 10
Symbol Search: 12

(I think he was taking his time here because he tends to works fast but accurately. I think he knew it was a high stakes test and was able to recognize that personally. Could be wrong but...)

Full Scale IQ: 132 (98%)

Can anyone figure GAI for me as well?

Achievement Scores (First Scores are Age Rank and Second are Grade Standard Scores and Grade Percentiles based on peers at end of 4th grade:

Reading Comp: 152 (<99.9%) or 152 (<99.9)
Math Problem Solving: 134 (99%) or 140 (99.6)
Sentence Composition: 131 (98%)or 134 (99%)
Made up of: Sentence Building: 132 (98%) or 136 (99%)
Sentence Combining: 118 (88%) or 119 (90%)
Word Reading: 119 (90%)or 121 (92%)
Essay Composition: 104 (61%)or 106 (66%)
Made up of: Word Count: 110 (75%) or 111 (77%)
Theme Development/Text Organization: 96 (39%) or 99 (47%)
Numberical Operations: 126 (96%) or 133 (99%)
Essay Composition: Grammar/Mechanics: 120 (91%) or 123 (94%)
Mathematics: 132 (98%) or 139 (99.5%)

Thoughts?

The GAI is 148.

http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/Special%20Education%20Services/gifted/WISCIVTechReport4.pdf

I don't think I'd hesitate to skip. My only concern would be the writing - I might "hothouse' composition over the summer.

Great GAI....I also had concerns about the writing but given what I've seen this child present I also believe, as you do Dottie, that these tests may not measure those skills well. He writes a ton, is very creative, writing full chapter books. His punctuation, grammar, and use of vocab is spot on. There is excitement, adventure, and drama in his writing, and his characters have depth and talk "in conversation". It will be interesting to read the report (at this time we only have the scores) but it does make me feel stronger about the idea of skipping...

The IQ portion looks very much like my younger ADD kiddo's from when she was 7. I was surprised by the PSI in my dd b/c she is fast. In hindsight, I don't know that WMI or PSI measure exactly what they might sound like. WMI really only looks @ short term recall of irrelevant info & PSI can be impacted by personality, mistakes (probably the case in my dds' instance), or motor coordination.

Especially given his age in relation to grade peers, his interest in skipping, and that he is a high achiever in his grade, I'd go for it. We're not looking at a skip for my dd b/c she is young for grade and not as consistent of a high achiever as your ds amongst other issues.

Your ds' math scores would make me very comfortable with the idea of acceleration as well as he appears quite strong there. That you mention good organizational skills is also a plus. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

Yeah working memory is about holding information in your mind and manipulating it, not about long term recall. Comprehending and remembering clearly something you read is different to hearing a random string of letters and numbers, re-ordering them alphanumerically and spitting them back out.

My DD has the memory of an elephant. She recalls stuff from when she was very young in intricate detail. And yet her WMI was 13%. When she had her CAPD assessment she got her diagnosis on the back of her incredibly poor auditory working memory. In her case the CAPD tests actually showed that her working memory for things that had meaning to her was 98%, her working memory for nonsense data was under the 2nd. Memory, working memory in particular, is a strange and mysterious thing if you ask me.

Is there any way to move this to testing and identification? I'd like a little more feedback on scores....I think I'd get more viewing in that thread. Thank you!

Report also showed that he didn't reach cut-off ceilings on much of the testing either, particularily in the non-verbal or verbal sections, meaning he believed scores to be even higher.