Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Gifted Development Center Testing

We are having DS4.5 tested in about a month at the Gifted Development Center in Colorado. I have a couple of questions and also would love others experience with testing at the GDC.

They decided to do the WPPSI but Barbara Gilman did mention that we might have to do the SBL-M as well. She was suspecting he might hit the ceiling on the WPPSI. My question is, why not do the SBL-M right away? I should have asked this but didn't think of it at the time.

Even if a child would NOT hit the ceiling on the WPPSI, but especially when there is a suspicion he might wouldn't it make sense to use a test with a wider range?

Thanks, Annie

Because the SBLM is a completely outdated test and many testers, even gifted specialists who have long loved and advocated for the SBLM have stopped using it. While there is a possibly a valid argument for using the SBLM in addition to a currently accepted test I would definitely not be happy using it on it's own.

We had our DD tested with the WPPSI at 4y9m and she had multiple ceiling issues. She was retested at 5y3m on the SB5, which was a much better test for her (and she was much better off with a gifted specialist tester)

Glad you're getting testing done. My son also has an Oct bday but is a year younger than your DS. I look forward to hearing about your son's results (if you share) and what you end up doing for school.

Thanks! OK, so that makes sense then. Wondering why they choose to still use the SBL-M. Anybody have an idea?

Somerdai, I am looking forward to finding out where he is at on the scale. I feel like I am stumbling in the dark on knowing what is going on inside his little mind.
We are having big discipline issues and I am feeling I am using tactics to discipline a 4 year old when he really reasons more like an 8 year old. I am very confused as what to do. But that is a different thread...:-)

We recently had our five year old son tested at the GDC with Barbara Gillman. We had a fantastic experience and I highly recommend their center. Our DS also took the WPPSI, as he was too young to take the WISC. The SB long form is used when the tester has two or more subtest scores at the ceiling range of 19. At that time, they will administer extended norms using the SB long form. This will help differentiate different levels of Giftedness, as there are ceiling issues with the WPPSI, particularly as children get closer to age five and the more highly gifted they are. The SB is an older test and most schools prefer the WPPSI. The SB long form will provide you witha better estimate of his level of Giftedness so that you can advocate and parent accordingly. In our sons case, he never met the criteria to use the SB with extended norms because he did not score 19's on two subtests. However, he never met discontinue criteria on six subtests. He therefore hit what they refer to as " soft ceilings", as he could have answered more questions correctly if the test offered more questions. The test essentially ran out of questions for him. He tested gifted, yet they strongly suggested that we retest with the WISC when he turns six years and three months of age. It has a much higher ceiling at that age. They said that the scores on the WPPSI are likely a gross underestimate of his abilities. Are you planning to do achievement testing at the same time? The Woodcock Johnson has higher ceilings and may provide a better picture of your child's achievement at this time.
Best of luck to you. The GDC is a treasured resource for our family; I couldn't say enough positives about our experience there. Barbara Gillman is terrific and her book on advocacy is fantastic.

We went through something similar except we made the decision after ceilings were an issue with the WISC IV. You are testing around the same time we were there last year. Hope all goes well!

The SBL-M is not a good test used on its own, but it is a very good indicator of verbal-abstract reasoning, so it is sometimes administered along with another test.

The Gifted Development Center discusses it on their website:
Making Gifted Testing Relevent

GDC seems to be the only center still using the SB-LM. Their continued use of this very outdated test is controversial. I recall several old threads on this topic but don't have time to track them down. One cited a newspaper article where a family perpetuated a fraud on GDC by having their kid study for the SB-LM. I seem to recall that the article said all of the answers are available on the internet.

That was one of the reasons I didn't test with them. They've been involved in another incident I read abt too, which made me wonder if we would get an artificially high. There is also some concern abt the method they're using in re-norming the WISC. Still, if my hadn't gotten into DYS, we would have used them for educational consulting.

I had heard about the first incident and it was unfortunate to say the least. I hadn't heard about any issues with their re-norming work on the WISC or WPPSI. Is this recent and what seems to be the controversy?