Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Woodcock Johnson for IQ?

We met with a neuropsych yesterday. She is going to use the Woodcock Johnson on Monday to test ds12. I've never heard of anyone using this test but she says she likes it. She also said it relies less on fine motor which is a slight issue. Any thoughts?

To be clear, ds is 2e. He is Asp, and looking at possible ADD. Our purpose in testing is actually to prove that an IEP is needed for executive function issues. She will be doing more than the IQ test. He already scored gifted on the WISC 6 years ago and his Explore scores qualify for Davidson.
Thanks!

Brownie

Brownie, my kids have all had the WJ-III Test of Cognitive Abilities, and my 2e ds who has a fine motor disability has also taken the WISC. There is one subtest on the WJ-III that he tanked thanks to his fine motor challenge, but I do agree with your neuropsych that the WJ-III is slightly less impacted by fine motor challenges. OTOH, there is no way to "remove" the fine motor impact like there is with the WISC, where you can calculate a GAI to use in place of FSIQ (by removing WM and PS scores).

Honestly, I like the WJ-III better than the WISC - if you get a full report from the neuropsych that groups the different subtests together in multiple ways - for me it is much clearer and gives more detail about relative strengths and weaknesses. Our school district psych likes it because it has less of a ceiling issue than the WISC (please don't quote me on this -I'm not a testing expert)... but fwiw my ds hits the hard ceiling on some of the WISC subtests and didn't hit any ceilings on the WJ-III.

The one gotcha I might ask about before testing is - will your school district recognize the WJ-III? They should, but that's one potential gotcha to watch out for when using private testing to advocate for an IEP. OTOH, if it's executive function issues you're worried about - I'm guessing you're going to be relying on those types of neuropsych tests too? OK, I'm rambling now!

Good luck,

polarbear

ps - when I mentioned you can't calculate an "FSIQ" taking out the PS/etc type subtests on the WJ-III... don't overthink or worry about that.. my ds has to rely on GAI on the WISC due to his fine motor issue impacting the ability to calculate FSIQ, and the subtest impacted by fine motor on the WJ-III came out even lower percentile on the WJ-III than the WISC... but his WJ-III GIA (equivalent of FSIQ) came out higher than his GAI on the WISC and didn't seem to be hopelessly impacted.

I think we'll be relying on the psych's rec for the IEP based on a combination of assessments...not straight IQ scores? We are actually returning to the district after homeschooling and it looks like they will re-invoke his GIEP based on his old WISC. So if they don't recognize the WJ and he doesn't score gifted, it could turn out to my advantage.

I don't know...I'm nervous. It's important that transition to ps all go well. He needs to qualify for gifted (after all he was 98%ile of gifted kids taking the explore) AND have support for a minimal IEP because otherwise he will never know when tests are
or what homework to do.

Under 2 different testing scenarios, my IQ "dropped" from 143 to 127 as a kid, so I know how terribly wrong things can go. I lost access to gifted services I really needed and was very qualified for.

Just saw your P.S. - does anyone know about the impact of processing speed and working memory on the WJ? DS was average on these on the WISC so we had to go with GAI as well (which is all my ps looks at anyhow). If they are integrated in WJ, he will not likely test as gifted. Brownie

Just got out my son's report. There are 10 tests (I think there are 3 more for extended). The individual scores are used to calculate 5 cluster scores - verbal ability, thinking ability, cog efficiency, phonemic awareness and working memory. From the written report it looks like cognitive efficiency includes processing speed and short term memory and I'm guessing working memory means just that. So lower working memory and processing speeds could potentially affect two cluster scores.

However the scores are calculated using a computer analysis set up so it is impossible to tell haw they are calculated or what weighting is given to each raw score. If you trust the tester I would just go with their professional opinion as to which test to use.

Good luck.

Got our results today though I won't have the written results for awhile. DS is in the 5th percentile for processing speed! However, DS IQ plummeted compared to the WISC and I am baffled. I don't have the GAI yet, as I said but verbal and non-verbal were about 115, whereas 6 years ago it was 134. Even his FSIQ was in the 120's back then. What gives?

And how can a kid with a 115 IQ, score 130+ on all the achievement tests she administered and 99.9%ile on the explore?