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

My son had a similar issue - our psychologist couldn't calculate his IQ because the spread between his highest score and lowest score was so vast that it was consistent with only 7% of the population. sigh. IQ isn't everything, but it would have been nice...

The test results are invalid due to the neuropsych's obvious lack of expertise in testing gifted children. The discrepancy with prior testing is no mystery, regardless of the accuracy of those prior results.

CCN - you know, I think I would have preferred to hear that we couldn't get a valid IQ rather than having an IQ on his report that is so far off the track. Did this mean you also were not able to get gifted services because of the spread?

I believe the same thing, lucounu, but I'm wondering if there is a way to file a complaint or protest with the insurance to request a second opinion since we can't afford right now to pay for testing on our own.

ABQMom - Yes, unfortunately (and that is a going point... that no IQ score can be better than an invalid one - I hadn't thought of that).

So my son had no "gifted" IQ on record, and yet he can read/write /speak two languages even though his receptive language test score was an abysmal 0.5 (percentile). There are "typical" kids in his grade 2 French Immersion class who aren't reading any English yet (they start formal instruction in grade 3), and he reads English above grade level, as well as reading French (at a grade 1 level). Yet he's 0.5 in receptive language ability. Hmmm.

The district psychologist kept saying "that's interesting." Yes, yes it is.

Perhaps, but he wouldn't be able to take the same test again. Do you think that the SB would play to his strengths such that you could try that one if insurance would be willing to pay for a retest?

FWIW, I do believe that the RIAS is the only IQ test with which I am familiar that flat out tells the tester not to figure a FSIQ at all if there is huge score discrepancy. The WISC tells you that you should use caution in interpreting results, but not to avoid figuring the FSIQ all together. Both of my kids had huge spreads and still had GAIs and FSIQs figured despite scores that varied from 8-19 within one index or PRI and VCI indices that were hugely apart from one another.

Unfortunately, people who are likely to be using the results for figuring out your child's needs often don't know enough to realize what they are looking at when the scores come in wacky like that.

Thanks so much for the additional info, you all. I guess my trepidation is based in wondering what in the world I say in my request for a "second opinion" ...

This evaluator failed to provide additional support on questions that were correct but not the answer the test was looking for and failed to take into account the scatter in evaluating the validity of the score?

Any idea on how to complain?

So out of the blue, my son says, "You know, that psychiatrist didn't have a sense of humor at all."

My heart sunk, and I wondered what in the world he'd done that triggered that observation about the tester.

Seems that when the interview started, the tester asked him where he lived. My son said he knew the tester was looking at his sheet with all of his information so thought the question redundant. So, he decided to have fun with it. He told the tester he was living in an apartment in student housing across from the University. He said he told him what classes he was taking and who a couple of his professors were - all made up, of course. He said the psychiatrist never looked up until then and finally just raised his eyebrows and looked at him. My kiddo said that when he laughed and said, "Obviously not. It's on your file," the tester didn't smile or give any response.

Should I be concerned? Should I email the tester and address this or just wait for the report since I'm going to ask for a second opinion anyway?

We finally received the final report. I started a new thread with the scores here:
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/134573.html#Post134573

I know you have another thread now, but it is a shame to get what sounds like a 'dud' of a tester... keep moving forward.