Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Could someone help me with these scores, please?

I just got Wolf's test results back. He took the WISC-IV and surprisingly didn't qualify for Davidson there, but did in the WJ-III so I will probably send that in with a portfolio and see if that's enough (since he's working a minimum of 2.5 grades above age in nearly every subject now, I'm really hoping it will be). There are some things I hadn't expected though, areas that were, what seems to me at least, significantly lower than others. I'd really appreciate if someone with a bit more experience with these tests could take a look at the numbers and explain what I should be seeing. The write up was ok, but you folks have always given such good insight on people's scores and I'm still trying to make heads or tails of all this. Thanks!

He took the tests at 7 years 11 months, has had one grade skip so he's in 4th and uses EPGY for math and LA.

WISC-IV
Verbal Comprehension 135/99%
Similarities 16/98%
Vocabulary 17/99%
Comprehension 14/91%

Perceptual Reasoning 129/97%
Block Design 17/99%
Picture Concepts 14/91%
Matrix Reasoning 13/84%

Working Memory 110/75%
Digit Span 11/63%
Letter-Number Sequencing 13/84%

Processing Speed 118/88%
Coding 15/95%
Symbol Search 11/63%

Full Scale 131/98%
GAI 138/99%

(The tester told me the GAI was 139, but the paper says 138 and the "rough score (?)" was 145. Could someone explain such a difference between rough and finished scores, please?)

WJ III (%/SS/grade equivalent)
Broad Reading 96%/126/5.4
Broad Math 99.9%/145/6.3
Broad Written Lang 91%/120/4.3

Math Calc Skills 98%/131/4.8
Written Expression 99%/133/5.6

Academic Skills 96%/126/4.9
Academic Fluency 96/127/5.3
Academic Apps 98%/131/6.3

Form A
Letter Word Identification 95%/125/5.9
Reading Fluency 97%/128/6.0
Calculation 99.5%/139/6.2
Math Fluency 53%/101/2.7
Spelling 63%/105/3.1
Writing Fluency 99%/133/5.7
Passage Comprehension 75%/110/3.7
Applied Problems >99.9%/152/9.4 *(What IS this?)
Writing Samples 86%/116/5.1

I would ask the tester. I've never heard of "rough" scores!

To this layperson's eye, the IQ test profile seems well-rounded. I don't know how good of a chance a DYS application will have, since the one qualifying broad math score is borderline, but on the other hand it's harmless to apply.

Your son is homeschooled, right? And these scores qualify him for entry to the local gifted program? DYS might not be of much help to you anyway if his needs can be met. I'm not saying that they will be in your GT program, but they might, and I wouldn't worry about it if you don't get your son into DYS right now. DYS seems to provide the most opportunities to older children (we for example would have done approximately as well in advocating for our son without DYS up to this point), and if your son keeps accelerating his achievement scores might make him a shoo-in later anyway.

Please keep us posted on the application. I have a pet project of collecting info on portfolios to help future applicants.

How is he with using his eyes to see fine detail in his daily life? Does he show much of an interest in exploring his world that way?

I have no idea what a rough scores is - and google didn't help me one bit.

Definitely submit a portfolio -
Grinity

Thank you, everyone.

We got the testing done mainly to be able to apply to Davidson. There is no gifted program locally, at least not one that would do him any good. The other main reason was to help his Independent Study teacher. We were hoping for more information about how to teach him. Both of us spend a bunch of time scratching our heads as to what to do with his schooling.

Grinity, both parents wear glasses, but he hasn't been tested as needing them yet. However he hasn't been brought in this year either. He's pretty visual, reads a lot, does lots and lots of legos and Minecraft.

Should I be worried about the relatively lower score in the working memory?

You might be pleasantly surprised after gaining him entry to the GATE program. I know you wrote before that in your opinion none of the children there are like your son, but that doesn't necessarily mean the program couldn't accommodate him at all, does it? They might turn out to be pretty flexible, especially if you convincingly explain what your son needs and provide evidence of his achievement level. The more I go on with advocacy, the more I learn to be thankful for any opportunity, even when it's not perfect. The grade skip sounds like a useful possibility too.

I personally wouldn't be concerned about the relatively lower working memory. It's still above average. I keep reading that gifted children often have relatively lower working memory and processing speed. Unless there's some reason to suspect a disability, it's probably just a quirk of his profile.

The GATE program is through the local school district. He has a district transfer to one with no GATE program. The local GATE program is a once a week pull out and extra work on top of basic school work from what I've managed to figure out. It wouldn't do anything for him.

The reason we left our home district with him is because they are absolutely NOT flexible in any way shape or form when it comes to kids like Wolf to the extent of asking me "what are you doing to your son?" when I went in for the 3rd grade math placement test when he was five and they had told me to test him!

He's already had one grade skip and the idea of another has been tossed around. In the independent study program he works at his level so specific grade levels don't matter too much though.

The reason I was concerned about the lower score was that during testing my younger son it was pointed out to me that a score that much lower can be considered a delay in comparison to the child's norm. They used different tests on him and it was in relation to word finding skills compared to other verbal skills.

Applied problems is where they have to solve word problems. It is the more "g" loaded of the math subtests. His fluency is low, not so quick with operations or double checking too much. BUT, the part where he did not have time constraints and had to figure out problems was his best. I think of it as more of the "potential/fluid" part and the other 2 as more crystallized.

So, that should help his case. His portfolio would have to be very clearly out there since the score is borderline.

Ok, that makes sense. Getting him to double check anything is like pulling teeth and speed math is not a favorite.

For the portfolio I was thinking putting in his Nano novel from last year. I've been told by a college remedial English teacher that his work is better than most of her students. Then a video of him going on about the Titanic, Costa Concordia and various other ship wrecks. Next, print outs from EPGY and a letter from his teacher saying he's finished the 7th grade science book, 6th grade history and is taking 8th grade history with the 8th graders this year. I was thinking the fourth thing would be his Science Fair project from this past year, minus the tri-fold.