Parent as well and have a few thoughts that may help...
- agree processing and memory are important to understand how the cognitive abilities of a child will be expressed. GAI is a useful tool when trying to demonstrate the cognitive abilities in a child with a LD, ADHD, etc to ensure they are not overlooked when placement into gifted program is at stake. As well as it is used to ensure children with cognitive disabilities are not precluded from special needs services due to skewing higher on memory or processing. ADHD and LD are not the only reasons for depressed WM and PSI...timing anxiety; fine motor skills challenges, as well as I've read some believe processing speed develops slower in EG/PG young children...and the scores do increase especially in boys as they get older. Again, I believe I've read that.
I was only given my son's GAI as his processing was 97 and he has fine motor delays. His WM was in gifted range so just PSI was a concern.
As for extended norms...my understanding is you can hit an 18 and the ceiling at same time as the stop rule may be a certain number wrong consecutively versus overall. So child may miss enough to have an 18 without hitting the stop rule. My own child was a 19 on every VCI subtest and several PRI and extended norms were used. With the extended norms he also ceilinged 3 of the VCI (yet was at a 23 not the limit of i think 27 because of the consecutive rule) and 1 of the PRI so his extended norm score is significantly ahead of his fsiq and still a underestimation most likely...but once at 99.9 does it make a difference...in the usefulness of the score that is...too little known about the small population. Ha!
As for additional subtests our tester used them all on my son. She only used the core ones to obtain IQ scores. i realize the additional subtests are there for when substitutions need to be made for various and rare reasons but i understand they also are used to gain more insight into the child (outside of the calculated score). As my tester said...EG/PG children are so rare it is valuable to study everything about their cognitive ability we can to provide educational guidance and support. Of course she also charged by the hour
but those additional subtests have given us some insight...between the GAI and Extended Norms I never know what number to use. My tester however only reports the GAI with extended norms so the number looks super scary.
