Our EG 7 year old took the WIAT-II a year ago, when she was not yet reading. She now reads at the 7th grade level and does math at a 4th grade level. To support her application to a gifted program, we had her retested to show her current achievement.
Our first tester specialized in gifted kids, and she was wonderful, but she was a long way away. We opted this time for a tester nearby who mostly deals with LD kids. That was a huge mistake. It was an awful test experience.
In general, her results are consistent with where we know she is. But she ran into some performance anxiety on numerical operations. Her numeric operations score was actually at a lower grade level than it was a year ago. That skewed result drags her math composite and total composite down to the point where she will probably not qualify for at least one program. And the whole write up focuses completely on her performance anxiety with the one subtest, not her overall performance. It frankly makes her look unhinged (which she is not). That will also probably disqualify her in at least one case. The tester agrees that the results are not an accurate reflection of her abilities or behavior, but is not interested in doing anything about it. She "followed the test protocol." So too bad for us.
These results will hurt her cause as much as it will help. It is our fault for not choosing a more qualified tester, but we don't know how to fix it. Can we have her retake the test with a more qualified gifted tester, or does she have to wait a year now? Do we have other options? What can we do?
For other parents of extremely gifted kids who read this, the tester you choose matters unbelievably. Take the time, do the drive, whatever you have to do. But work with someone who specializes in gifted children and will understand your child. Or you may just shoot yourself in the foot like we did.
