Can you share the specifics from the test last year?
Testing last year was done by an ed psych. There was a RIAS IQ and a bunch of other tests as my bigger concern before was dyslexia, so a ton of phonological tests. Sorry I'm not sure what would be helpful?
RIAS verbal 143
Non verbal 118 (officially the number, but ed psych thinks it may be higher because he started not paying much attention and answered the ones wrong to stop the test officially. She continued informally testing after that and he still got a lot right but put the official number as above)
Composite 135
Composite memory 115
Also tested were WJ-III COG cluster, ACH cluster, CTOPP-2, PAT2, Beery VMI.
I'm not sure what would be helpful? The achievement scores are all mostly average or high average. At the time I asked if there's a possibility of just high verbal knowledge and a false + with giftedness. She said she didn't think so but IDK, a lot of the scores report as average or high average for achievement results.
I mean, I feel he's smart and we have good conversations, he talks and understands and communicate what I feel are pretty big things for his age (but DH and I discuss adult topics with the kids too).
We used Vanderbilt for ADHD screen and teacher's was negative. I asked regarding dysgraphia but honestly IDK if she could test for it or not.
Given the tests that were given, you would be okay starting a comprehensive assessment now, other than the concern with over-testing as an emotional experience. You did not have a Wechsler or the SBV, which would be the go-tos for either an initial school eval or a private (neuro)psych. If the WJ is common in your area, he would have to have the WJIV COG, as it's too soon for a WJIII COG re-test. (I think the IV will be a better instrument anyway.)
I would be significantly concerned looking at the discrepancy between VIX 143 and average to high average achievement across the board. Even with the instability of IQ measurements at age five, it seems quite unlikely to me that his true ability measurement would be merely average to high average in the verbal domain. As you say, the nonverbal domains are a little foggy, given the signs of invalidity for the NIX, so I can't make much comment on that.
How did he do on the subtests of the CTOPP-2 and PAT2? I'm especially interested in the manipulation tasks (deletion, substitution). A kid with his VIX could very easily score average on the basic PA tasks even with dyslexic traits. Unfortunate that they removed Phoneme Reversal from the CTOPP-2, as it would have been a more sophisticated manipulation task, thus more likely to expose reading disability in a high-cognitive kid.
Look into the PAL-II for dysgraphia, at this age. The TOWL-4 (beginning at age 9) and subtests of the WJ are also useful, but I would start from the PAL-II, particularly for its age norms for a little one. It specifically claims utility in diagnosing dyslexia, dysgraphia, and OWL LD (the last less likely to be a factor here, with this VIX).
