Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Raw WISC-IV Results - so discouraged

No, Cricket, no scaled score yet.

I'm hoping the report has some useful insight that will help us. He said my son did significantly worse on some parts of the test than he did two years ago such as perceptual reasoning. He asked if there were significant changes in his life to account for it, such as a death in the family, etc. but there weren't. But he also said it was a mystery why the score changed to that extent, so I'm hoping there isnt going to be a report full of mystery.

When the kid answers correctly but not correctly according to the answer key, the evaluator is supposed to say something like, "what is another way they are similar?" or "tell me more about that." I'm wondering if this evaluator did that? Did the same person test your son last time?

That aside, I would be extremely concerned that your son is not in an appropriate school situation. My 2E son's GAI went up by 20 points after 3 years of intensive homeschooling and then by another 15 points after another two years of the same. His FSIQ started out below 100 (and his GAI was just a little higher).

I would think that an inadequate school situation could produce the opposite results.

I hope you find some answers.

Kai - I have no idea how the evaluator handled the questions or responses. I was relegated to the waiting room.

Thanks for giving me hope that things can improve.

After the evaluator gave me the sheet with the raw scores, he could tell I was upset and asked why. I told I'm it was not an accurate picture of my son's intellect. So then he asked me why I want so badly for my son to be gifted when he obviously wasn't. His bias in that reply has made me skeptical that he can differentiate between results that are skewed due to whatever issues are going on beyond the dysgraphia and what is an accurate assessment of his abilities.

When I told him there was no way my son had an IQ of 92, he got defensive and said, "Are you really going to challenge me and question my results?"

I told him that yes, I was, because I'd known my kid for twelve years and had raised two gifted kids besides this one and had managed to stay married to a profoundly gifted husband for almost 25 years so I had some relevance to bring to my assumption that the results were not accurate.

After that, the neuropsych backed off when he realized my reaction wasn't about the ego of wanting a gifted kid but of wanting appropriate help for my son. He acknowledged that the dysgraphia and dyslexia would come into play on parts of the test, that it was obvious my son had an auditory processing issue (news to me) and that there were other factors at play for which he didn't have clear answers, he talked about the scatter, etc. - so I still can't figure out why he was so defensive. He also pointed out that my son "over-thought the test which caused him to do poorly both due to speed and unacceptable answers".

Hearing your own experience of the GAI changing that significantly helps bolster my courage to keep pushing for better answers and accomodations so my son can realize his own potential.

Did the neuropsych give you a referral for an auditory processing eval? It sounds like that will be the next step - as well as thinking through how that impacted the test scores.

FWIW, when our kids had neuropsych evaluations they lasted at least 6 hours and spanned most of the day. The WISC part of the testing didn't take long, but they also had achievement testing and other tests to assess executive function / visual-motor integration / fine motor skills etc (partially depending on what showed up on the IQ testing).

Will you be going back for a follow-up parent meeting once you have the full report from the neuropsych? When you do, ask specifically how each challenge (CAPD, dysgraphia, dyslexia) impacts your ds and what type of testing (and where you can get it) can help you better define what specifically is causing each or how the challenges impact your ds.

Also post the scaled scores for us once you have them. I don't know enough about raw scores to be able to tell anything from them.

Best wishes,

polarbear

It doesn't sound like this neuro was very experienced with gifted children... I am sorry it didn't go better for you both! Perhaps you could look around for another tester who has experience with gifted & 2E kids and have the Stanford Binet or WJ-III administered?

Polarbear - I haven't received anything from him yet, and, no, there is no follow-up appointment although I did schedule one today with the first psychologist we saw that referred us to this man. It felt very much like this was the minimal of effort expended with very little willingness to go beyond. He only spent about 15 minutes with me after the testing, and I think that is all I'll have with him. I would never recommend him to someone else.

I'll definitely post the scores once I have them.

Epoh - when we can afford to have testing outside of our insurance-approved list, I will definitely follow through with more testing from someone else. It runs well over $1000, though, and right now that's just not possible.

I hate those situations.
((hugs))
Grinity

I am so sorry you're having to deal with this. The evaluator sounds like a piece of work.

Thanks, you all. It is one of those things I can't talk about to anyone else other than here.

Wow Lisa, I'm so sorry! How incredibly frustrating - ugh!

polarbear