Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment IQ test administration - did parents observe?

My older son has been tested four times and I was in the room for the second administration. My younger son has been tested once and I was in an adjacent room where I could hear what was going on.

I am grateful that I was able to observe both times as it has given me much greater insight into what my children's IQ scores mean (and don't mean).

My DS5 was tested at 3.5 with the WPPSI III and I was in the room. I was blown away with his ability to follow directions and attend to tasks as he certainly doesn't display either in everyday life. Now I know what he is capable
Of in those areas as well as Intelligence level!

WPPSI IV with a 4 year old. Adjacent room with a white noise maker. Heard nothing... But reading that so many are allowed to sit in, I am no longer surprised when I hear that there are neighborhoods were everybody seemingly scores at 99%...

RIAS and two other "pre-tests" at age 6. I was not present nor even in the building or, heck, within a 3-mile radius. I have no idea what she got wrong and right, nor did I ever meet the psych who administered the test.

I haven't observed any of my daughter's testing. My DS had developmental delays (he is now academically advanced) and I was usually present for his assessments. Interestingly, this even included an assessment with the psychologist who did my daughter's first assessment without me present. My DS once shut down and wouldn't do anything in an evaluation when I wasn't there (it was awful because they reported very severe delays rather than saying he just didn't cooperate). So I think the psychologist made an exception to usual policy based on thinking he would be much more comfortable with me there and that the results might not be meaningful otherwise. I just stayed in the background, but it was interesting to see which specific questions gave him difficulty. It gave me much more insight than just knowing the scores would have.

My twins were tested at school and I wasn't there. I didn't even know they were going to tested on that particular day. I was supposed to be notified in advance, but they "forgot."

I did meet with the psych later for the report, and she shared some interesting observations. One being that she though that possibly one of my sons was not really paying attention during one subtest, since he didn't score that well on it, but did really well on a similar subtest that is usually "harder."

DD8 and DD9 were tested at same place (a top state college) and DH and I were not present in the testing room either time. Both girls were 7 at the time of testing (DD8 was closer to 8, however). Both girls separated from us easily and went with the tester - this was even mentioned in both reports.

With DD9 we tried to do our best to explain to her how things would work, but we weren't sure ourselves. The tester spoke with DD, DH and I in the waiting room for a little bit while DD played with some toys there. The tester asked if she was ready to get started, she gave us hugs, and off she went. With DD8 we were much more prepared since we had already been through it. We were able to explain how she would go into a room with the tester, there would be cameras in the room, etc. I walked part way down the hallway with her (at her request) and then she went the rest of the way on her own.

Our first testing experience with DD9, we naively asked if we could watch the video that was being taken while the testing occurred. We just wanted to see how DD reacted and if she gave silly answers like she was notorious for doing. The grad student working with us said she would ask, but came back with a "sorry, we don't allow that". I know DD9 gave at least one "wrong" answer because she told us about it later. She thought it was funny and that she was being tricky. We had tried to forewarn the tester that she liked to do that, but not sure how much they took that into account.

I'd still love to see both videos - 1. to see if DD9 did give goofy answers with that little smirk she gets 2. see how DD8 answered to score so well - considering we were just hoping for her to make 130 3. to compare the two, just to see the difference in how each girl answered the questions in order to determine the results they each got.

I would think that just sitting in wouldn't be enough for most parents to subsequently prep a kid to the level needed for a gifted level score. You would need to remember all of the questions given orally as well as be able to generate all of the printed material for the tests that require it.

Exactly. This was exactly my experience. There are what... 8 to 10 subtests? Many of the them visual and paper and pencil - you'd have to take a picture of the block design the child was suppose to reproduce or take a picture of the picture presented for picture concepts. I mean really. And I couldn't write any questions down - the testers could see me (plus they had me filling out forms). It's really not what people seem to think. As someone who has sat in while her child was being evaluated I find it really silly to think that one would be able to effectively cheat that way...

I am not thinking of an average kid pulled up to 99...But perhaps a 90+ kid pulled up to the gifted level. In the verbal part, wouldn't you then just have to remember the harder questions? Also, the test doesn't change for quite a while, correct? So knowledge of questions can spread in a community of friends. Where we are, testing isn't all that common, I don't think, so this may be less of an issue, but NYC etc. may be a different story. They don't even want to have kids retake a test within a year since the memory effects may artificially increase scores - so to add an adult's memory to that (whose only focus may be to remember questions) certainly gives rise to the possibility of cheating.