Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Most accurate- FSIQ, GAI, GAI with extended norms?

.....My mom seriously wants to know.
So what is DD's real IQ from the WISC DD took. The FSIQ that was brought down by low, though still high average, processing speed and working memory, or the GAI that was calculated to be 160....or when you add in extended scoring and the GAI shoots up to 180. I was trying to explain all this to my mom's. We were at her house when we got the results, and just wanted a simple number...but I wasn't sure what to say since her FSIQ was pulled down by WM and Processing that were both at 2 SDs below her other scores. So I say the GAI would be the most "accurate" or what to say so to speak, Your thoughts on how to explained things like this with so many numbers Help!

From what I understand, the FSIQ gives the best overall picture of what you're capable of, as working memory and processing speed directly affect how well you can learn.

The psychologist should write in the report which they consider to be most accurate for your child.

But WM and PS are there for a reason, they have an impact in life and I am inclined to think have a huge impact in early schooling - where advanced reasoning is virtually irrelevant to curriculum goals. So the FSIQ is probably most relevant to whole child functioning, but GAI and extended GAI a better measure of pure reasoning ability (readiness for thinking about advanced math v. being best in the class at learning times tables and writing them out at speed in weekly tests as a crude example)...

If extended scales are being used to calculate her general ability index it indicates that the standard scales are insufficiently low to calculate her true GAI. Therefore, when reporting her GAI you should always use the extended scales, as the standard ones are not reflective of your daughter's true abilities (and in all honesty they probably should not have been computed either, as they are spurious figures).

The way it was explained to me was GAI was a better picture of reasoning ability. And FSIQ showed information about output. Thus, a child (like mine) would be frustrated with the inability to write as well as they could verbally output information. I was also told a child should be challenged to their ability, then accommodated for their weaknesses.

I will admit this is not happening for ds.

I'll respectfully disagree with this as a parent of a child with a significantly lower processing speed than other areas, and a higher GAI than FSIQ. What that difference tells you isn't about the "ability to learn" it's about the "ability to output" (processing speed), which can be as insignificant as the ability to make marks quickly on paper. Working memory relates to the ability to juggle multiple things in your head at one time - having a lower WM isn't going to mean a person isn't less capable of learning than a person with a higher WM, it just means they might learn in a different manner.

I also, personally, feel that there are a lot of things that aren't measured on IQ tests that will go into determining what any one person is capable of in life - motivation, circumstances, passion, interests.

Re the WISC (and other ability tests), I think that there is no real answer to the question "which number is 'more accurate' "... I think that if you have test results that you feel were obtained when your child was attentive and not distracted or feeling ill or whatever (ie, test results you trust), what you have are a set of numbers that *all* accurately reflect different types of abilities.

polarbear

Talking with your child's test administrator is often a good way to gain more information regarding your child's test results and score interpretations.

To gain helpful background information for understanding what the test administrator may say and what the score report contains, interested parents may want to look at free information provided to the public online by the test company.

For example, Pearson has several publications online easily found through search engines, which discuss when to use the General Ability Index (GAI). The Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Cognitive Proficiency Index (CPI), Working Memory (WMI), and Processing Speed (PSI) are discussed. Myths are listed and countered with facts.

Many parents may find the time invested in reading information from a test company to be worthwhile in providing insight as to when to use each type of score, and how together the scores may provide the most complete picture of an individual's intellectual profile.

The WISC-IV provides a full-scale IQ (a measure of global general intelligence), a general ability index (based on perceptual reasoning and verbal comprehension), and a cognitive proficiency index (based on processing speed and working memory).

When there is a large discrepancy between the GAI and CPI, the full-scale IQ is not reflective of the child's true abilities and should not be computed. However, a large discrepancy may be indicative of certain conditions such as ADD, ADHD, and so on and so forth.

A high cognitive proficiency index is pertinent to the child's academic achievement as it frees up the potential for higher problem-solving; a child with a high GAI may be proficient at understanding a problem and the means of solving it, but holding that information in his or her head and manipulating it to achieve a correct result is dependent on the magnitude of his or her CPI.

That being said, a common personality trait among gifted students is a need for precision and accuracy. As a result, they will develop slow, meticulous responses to any given mental task. This personality trait will have the tendency to decrease his or her processing speed, and a common profile among gifted people of all ages is high verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, and working memory indices, accompanied with a relatively low processing speed index. However, it should be noted that this personality trait also has the tendency to inflate the other three indices on the Wechsler Battery, and so the full-scale IQ is still reliably measured by the test.

interesting debate but my response (simplistic...) at those levels why does your mom think it matters? what difference does she believe it makes?

Can you explain to them that all three scores have advantages and disadvantages but all three together give a comprehensive picture?