Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC-IV scores

Hello, I am interested in your thoughts on my DS7s WISC scores. I have been reading the forum for a few months and I know that some of you have kids with lower WM and PS. My son definitely fits into this category.

VC 130 (98%)
PR 137 (99%)
WM 110 (75%)
PS 97 (42%)
FSIQ 136 (96%)

Subtests
Block Design 16
Similarities 16
Digit Span 11
Picture Concepts 14
Coding 8
Vocabulary 16
Letter # Seq 13
Matrix Reasoning 18
Comprehension 13
Symbol Search 11

The psychologist did not calculate GAI, but the school did and told me it was 99.6%. I looked it up on line and it appears to me that the GAI is 140.

The psych also said that his attention was wandering by the end of the test and she thought when he is older he would score higher. She didn't do a formal ADHD assessment, but he probably has a touch of it. His teachers say his attention at school is fine.

They also did the WASI: IQ 142 (99.7%).

Weschler Achievement, all within one or two years of grade level except for Oral Reading Fluency 99%, grade equiv 5.4; and Oral Reading Rate >99.9%, grade equiv 7.7.

Woodcock Johnson Reading Mastery Test 95%, grade equiv 4.0.

There are a few other tests in the report, but this is getting pretty long so I won't list them.

The reason that we had him tested is that he was having a horrible year in 1st. He was miserable and we didn't know what was going on with him. His writing is a big problem, and we have him in a "handwriting group" with an OT. He is a good reader, indifferent in math. My older daughter who has a GAI around 130 was reading at higher levels than my son is at the same age. He tells me that school is both "boring" and "difficult". I asked him how school could be both and he said, "It just is." His behavior and mood have improved this school year, but he is a bit of a tortured soul. He is a negative thinker and as stubborn as they come. He is also funny, sweet and thoughtful. Any thoughts or insights are welcome. I worry about him and he is somewhat of a mystery to me. Sorry so long and thanks.

Did the psych offer any explanation for the poor coding score?

Does he have handwriting issues in class or at home?

I didn't notice the coding score until later, but she attributed the low scores to mild ADHD. He avoids writing whenever he can. He struggles with it. He has dictated a few stories to me. The OT said that if he has dysgraphia, it is mild because his writing has improved after a month of the handwriting group.

Has he had his eyes checked? It's on the list of things to do for my DD... who also has ADHD, avoids writing and reading.

Interesting comments, makes me think. Thank you. The OT did some testing. She did the TVPS-3. He scored poorly on the Visual Closure subtest, age equivalence 4 years, 0 months. He scored at his age range on the other subtests except for Visual Spatial Relationships, age equivalence 10 years 7 months. The explanation on the report says that Visual Closure is an important skill for reading. This confuses me since reading is his strength, yet he scored low on Visual Closure.

On the Sensory Processing Measure - Preschool (not sure why preschool because he is in elementary) the school scored him at best "some problems", and for Balance and Motion and the Total score, he scored "Definite Dysfunction".

The psych has told me more than once that he does not have learning disabilities, that it he has typical qualities of gifted children. However, she did refer us to the OT. I'm confused.

I asked my son if it is the act of handwriting that is difficult for him, or thinking of what to write. He said it is thinking what to write. This is something that I had never considered, he talks nonstop and he has ideas galore. Hmmm.

With what you have shared, the first thing I would want to rule out is vision with a Developmental Optometrist (www.covd.org). It took me awhile to understand that this was not the same as whether he has 20/20 vision and not something a regular optometrist can do.

The second thing I would want is a private eval for Dysgraphia with tests such as TOWL (Test of Written Language). Has your OT done a Beery VMI? Does he have sensory issues? I ask because of the "balance and motion" dysfunction.

The 40pt spread between PSI and PRI is big. Over 2 standard deviations. There have been threads here recently about low processing. We are living that and have learned a lot here regarding how that impacts our DS6.

My DS (6) scored 141 for PR and did the TVPS as well. Overall, he scored like a 9 year old on TVPS, hitting the ceiling on some of the tests (like visual spatial ability and visual memory). Even with that, the OT is not convinced that he doesn't have something wrong with his vision. You'd think that with a PR score as high as your DS, the TVPS would be higher if there is not a vision problem. I don't know, just making a guess.

With low coding, I'm also wondering about a fine motor problem. DS has Developmental Coordination Disorder and his lowest score (10) was coding, as well as Digit Span.

Overall, he is pretty strong physically. I compare him to his older sister, who was floppy and had to go to physical therapy. So maybe he isn't as strong as I think. He does monkey bars and runs around all the time. He did have a hard time learning to ride a bike. He just got that down recently, and he still has difficulty getting started on the bike.

I don't notice other fine motor problems other than the writing. But he was never interested in coloring or painting. He does like Play Doh.

It's hard to know if this is a developmental issue that he will outgrow. After all, he is only 7 and I don't think that 7 year olds were expected to write much when I was that age.

But there does seem to be something going on with him. When I pressed the issue with the neuro psych, she was firm and told me that she sees a lot of kids, been doing this a long time, and that my son is a typical gifted kid.

On the other hand, taking my son to the neuro psych, the OT, etc, have made him feel like he is broken. He asked me on the way to OT, "Aren't I ok the way I am?" Heartbreaking.

Hmm. I had a psych say the same thing to me when I first had DS evaluated. I watched the eval (WISC IV) and it seemed really obvious to me from watching that something was wrong with the way he was seeing or the way he was processing visual information. Psych said firmly dismissed my concerns and told me DS "just couldn't see things from other's perspective" and she put that in the report (something that if you knew my son at all you would no was REALLY Really not true - he is exceedingly perceptive to other's feelings and emotions, very empathetic, etc.). When I pressed the issue, psych said "I have been doing this 20 years..." blah, blah. I said "well you may have been doing this 20 years but you've only been evaluating my son for about 20 minutes." I took him to a developmental optometrist anyway and it turned out he does have a vision problem (intermittent convergent strabismus). He also has dysgraphia. Neither was picked up by that psych.

This is exactly where my DD was for most of elementary. We would read out the homework question and she would answer it. Then we would tell her to write that down and she would have no idea what to write. We would take her verbal answer and dictate it back to her - and then she could write it down just fine.

Now, at 11, she's able to write down her own answers without taking dictation. But it's been a long road. We weren't able to access complete testing - we'd have to pay out of pocket, and have no local 2E specialists. If we had it to do again we might travel to get testing we could trust.

For my DD, we have at least two reasons for the problem. 1) she thinks of too many possible answers, and narrowing them down becomes an impossible task; and 2) she thinks in video clips, not words. Translating the clip into words is hard work. Translating the words into squiggles on the page is hard work. Doing both at once was impossible. (These are her own descriptions of the problem, though not in her own words.)