Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Processing speed question

This is a question I am asking for my friend. She just had her 6yo daughter tested on the WPPSI-III. Interestingly enough her Verbal and Performance scores were 101 and 112 but her processing score 145. What is the deal with such a big difference in scores?? Is this normal? And what would this mean for her? Her total IQ was 119.

Thanks!

Interesting question--I'm looking forward to answers. My daughter had the opposite issue when tested with the WJ-III. Her verbal scores are very high, but her processing is low. But, for my daughter, her calculation scores are much lower than her verbal, so I figured that it had to do with domain-specific stuff.

That is what I have heard of mostly as well. High verbal/performance but low PSI. To hear about such a huge difference in scores but in the reverse seems..well...odd.

I hope someone can answer this because I searched all over the internet and found nothing about it.

Speculation: If it was only the core test, then processing would only be represented by Coding. From Wikipedia:
"Coding - the child copies symbols that are paired with simple geometric shapes. Using a key, the child draws each symbol in its corresponding shape."

In the same way that poor fine motor control could impact processing, I'd speculate that she has very advanced fine motor control. Maybe she is gifted in other physical abilities as well?

Interesting since I know she is excellent at drawing. You have a point here. She had an 18 and a 19 in Coding and Symbol Search. Don't know which was which.

I guess they only count one of the two, coding, in the total FSIQ. Still, Symbol Search was very high as well.

Just so strange to me that with such high PSI her verbal and performance came out as average.

My dd8 has the same pattern, but with one exception her base scores on everything are in the gifted range. Her processing speed and working memory are significant outliers on the high side. I too haven't been able to find anything online about that type of pattern.

FWIW, my dd works and thinks very quickly. She gets frustrated when things don't happen quickly. She is not very good at drawing and her printing tends to be messy, so I don't think her processing speed score is simply a reflection of well-developed fine motor skills; it seems to be more related to having a brain that thinks quickly and races ahead. She's very good at math and doesn't tolerate boredom. She also is easily frustrated when she doesn't get everything easily the first time through. She's a high achiever in school, and she's also a talented athlete - I think the processing speed and working memory help with athletics because they allow her to think quickly, but I don't think being athletically talented helped her achieve high scores.

polarbear

My daughter's WISV-IV was similar. Gifted processing score but the other scores were average range. She is not academically gifted but was actually tested for LDs. We just assumed that her quick, fast handwriting helped her earn such a good processing speed score. She does enjoy art and has excellent fine motor skills. She struggled with reading and spelling (as well as the other academic subjects).

Usually on this board we hear of the children with lower processing scores and other gifted indexes--not many seem to have the opposite testing profile.

this describes my ds7, except his hand writing and drawing skills are ok. I have had hard time finding information online as well. We have been lucky K-1 grades, teachers have worked with him. This year it looks like we my have a problem, as he is not the child that will sit quietly if bored and I do not think his teacher is making any effort to work with him.