Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WIAT results - meeting on Thursday

Hi! Brief recap, DS turned 7 in April, 1st grade. We requested testing in December. KBIT was 142 so he qualified for further evaluation. WISC FSIQ 119, GAI 129
Index Composite Score Percentile Rank Descriptive Category
Verbal Comprehension 114 82 High Average range
Perceptual Reasoning 135 99 Very Superior range
Working Memory 99 47 Average range
Processing Speed 100 50 Average range
Full Scale IQ 119 90 High Average range
(verbal and visual processing high, WM and PSI much lower). District was going to leave it at that, we requested further testing. Was originally denied, then the district finally gave in. Just got WIAT results - all we were given is listed below.

Test Standard Score Percentile Rank Descriptor
READING
Word Reading 121 92 Above Average
Reading Comp 130 98 Above Average/Superior
WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Sentence Composition 127 96 Above Average
Sentence Combining 119 90 Above Average
Sentence Building 126 96 Above Average
MATHEMATICS
Math Problem Solving 105 63 Average
Numerical Operations 123 94 Above Average

So will this help our cause to get him identified and hopefully receive some more challenging work, or hurt it? DS has issues retelling after reading so not advancing in reading groups because of it. Doesn't like to answer questions if he doesn't know the answer immediately, hates writing, and the writing sample they used for the report was from September... He earned a 122/160 on a district-developed parent rating scale, for what that's worth.

Also, he was just diagnosed with Tourette's last week, and the school doesn't have knowledge of that diagnosis yet. It's pretty mild and seems to be much more prevalent at home (have asked teacher to watch for tics and she sees them occasionally, but never the verbal component).

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. No placement recommendations were included in the report because they said we would discuss that at the meeting...

I will be brief b/c I am on a mobile device rather than computer, but what do you know about the qualification criteria for GT identification in your district? There are some districts where these scores would be sufficient (probably also the districts where his WISC scores would be sufficient), and there are those that require a 98th percentile score across the board. In the latter case, these scores may not help.

Hmm... could Tourette's interfere with testing (ie be distracting for a 7 year old) and suppress scores? If it can, you could tell the school (ie he's already bright - without the interference of the disorder he may have tested higher, etc). Of course you'd have to weigh the pros and cons of disclosure first. Sometimes the knowledge of a condition causes the school to lower the bar for a student instead of raise it, so think it over carefully before you tell them.

More importantly - how does your DS feel about school? Does he enjoy it, or is he bored?

Thanks! If he had the 130 fsiq or gai then I don't think the district would be arguing. At 129 though they said he was merely above average and needed no extra enrichment beyond a high reading group once a day. He's had periods this year that he's argued about going to school and told us he hates school and hates reading, but all he wants to do at home is read. Teacher has told us he needs lots of reminders to get started on work and complete assigned tasks especially when he doesn't find them interesting. I don't think he needs the amount if repetition to understand the presented concepts and he complains that his nightly reading books that are assigned are babyish.

Overall this year is done and he's pretty much just cruised through. We want things in place next year so he'll be challenged a bit, get some things wrong, learn to work through problems, and not be afraid to make mistakes (hopefully). And maybe make some friends - he's struggling to find kids to fit in with also. Wishful thinking?