First, the average administration of the WISC is under an hour, so as a baseline, it wasn't necessarily going to take two hours. OTOH, in a putatively GT kiddo, it would probably take longer than average...
Second, to be clear, the WPPSI is just as good a measure of current performance as the WISC. I.e., the validity and reliability of the score would not necessarily be different between a 6 yo taking the WPPSI and the same 6 yo taking the WISC (other than ceiling effects in the same putatively GT individual, of course). The difference is not in the instruments, but in the developmental level of the child, and how that impacts testability and score stability. IOW, the instability in formal numbers originates from the child, not from the test. So testing now or in a few months is probably not going to affect that aspect much. Unless you expect your DC to mature significantly in test-taking tolerance in that time (which it doesn't appear you do!).
Anyway, I typically tell my students (including the little ones that I used to work with more frequently), in language developmentally appropriate to them, something like this: We're doing a collection of different activities [not "games", please!] that help us understand how you learn best, because everyone learns a bit differently. Understanding how people learn helps teachers and parents to do better at teaching them in a way that fits them the best. Some parts of the activities might be easier, and some might be harder, and that's normal. It's just part of how I learn about the way you learn. Just do the best you can, and don't worry if I ask you to go onto the next one when you think you might not be done. Sometimes that's part of the rules of the activities. Please ask me any questions you like about the testing. Sometimes I won't be allowed to answer the questions because of the rules, or I might ask you to say your question again when we're all done, but otherwise, I'll answer them as much as I can.
And yes, I really do answer questions about the nature and process of testing, what tasks are supposed to measure, etc., although for certain questions, not until after testing is complete. I would happily explain their final results to them, after all (and do, routinely, with my adolescent students). They need to understand themselves as learners more than anyone else does. (Although little ones, who have less stability in their profiles, likely wouldn't benefit from quite as much detail as older students. I also historically haven't gotten as many questions from the preschool/primary set, anyway.) As a parent, you'll know best what level of information makes sense for your child, of course.
And btw, if perfectionism affects the processing speed subtests noticeably, that also has clinical significance. In any case, there's still a GAI, without the processing speed tasks.
Last edited by aeh; 02/01/21 05:55 PM. Reason: typo
