Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Need information about RAIS

My 2E DS11 was given the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RAIS) to determine if he was still eligible for an IEP or 504 at his new middle school. I don't know much about this test, but as usual, we got a big discrepancy between scores. Quell surprise. They do not stack up to the scores he got on the WISC when he was 6, or his actual academic strengths, so maybe I am misunderstanding what the subtests mean.

On the most recent RAIS, Verbal Intelligence Index (VIX) 139, Nonverbal (NIX) 108.

On the WISC (from memory) his Verbal was 130ish and Perceptual Reasoning, 140ish (uneven, high-high subtest scores combined with an average), a dismal Processing score in low 80's, and above average Working Memory, 120ish.

If the VIX = VC and NIX = PR, these are weird scores. His perceptual reasoning is actually a strength, based on math and science MAPs and actual academic performance, plus the old WISC scores. So is the NIX score a combination of what the Processing and Perceptual Reasoning is on the WISC and the processing issues are what is holding it down? Or is this just another instance of a 2E kid being really hard to test?

Functionally, he is doing well. All Honors classes, staying organized with the homework, and talk of radical acceleration to HS next year for his math. So I am not overly concerned. Just curious. And I do love to geek on IQ tests

Keep in mind that you have two score instability factors here: age six scores are not highly stable, and the RIAS is not a comprehensive cognitive instrument, thus more prone to being thrown off one way or the other.

But assuming all the scores are reliable, valid, and representative of something real:

PSI should not be a big factor in the NIX. What were his strengths and weaknesses in the PRI? Not all of the PRI skill types are covered in the NIX. If his strengths were not assessed in the NIX, odd things like this could happen rather easily.

BTW, was he re-evaluated at age 9? Five years is a long time to go between eligibility re-evaluations.

Glad to hear he's doing well where it actually counts. Especially with the organization, which is often a huge obstacle to successful acceleration, especially for 2e. And I join you in IQ test geek-dom.

One thought is that both of these tests have content that are open to interpretation and can be impacted by impulsive selection of not-best options.

Like Odd-Item Out has a set of pictures and you have to select which one doesn't fit. Maybe a kid realizes that four of the five have A as the second letter, completely ignoring that 4 are fruit and one isn't.

Or for What's Missing, an example I've seen has an airplane with a wing missing. The first thing I noticed was that it was in the sky and there wasn't a pilot.

With age you may develop a wider base to notice more idiosyncracies making the selection trickier.

We paid for the WISC ourselves. We took him to Johns Hopkins and had a 2E specialist do the testing. Worth every penny. Once we started meds for the ADHD at around eight years old, he took off academically. He has really, really high math MAPs (99%+) and reading is also very high. His main issues are handwriting and written expression. So he had the IEP for that, but wasn't getting much in the way of services for the last few years. This year he switched from the tiny, earthy-crunchy charter school to the big PS middle school, so I wanted to do an evaluation to be certain he was up to speed with the writing and managing the organization. His writing ability is low relative to his verbal abilities, but still above average and getting better. He does not seem frustrated or overburdened. We actually dropped the IEP and 504 since he was doing so well.

Pulled out the old WISC. Matrix Reasoning and Block Design were 99%+. Picture Concepts was 63%. Functionally, he is off the charts for math and science. We are not hothousers. He either picks up what he learns from school, books or YouTube. The Math Olympiad instructor is always impressed with the creativity of his answers and holds them up as an example to the rest of the group, most of whom come from programs for the highly gifted in our city. So there is some raw ability there, more than average. And although scores are not always stable from six years old, I would be surprised to see such a huge drop.

Like I said, not really a problem since I have given up ever making cut scores for the gifted program with this one and his current school is willing to radically accelerate where he needs it. But still a bit frustrating.

True. And he is highly creative. So he generates a huge number of possibilities for anything of that nature. Might be having difficulty winnowing them down to the most obvious.

So there's no equivalent to block design on the RIAS, nor to what's missing on the WISC-IV. The only point of overlap is matrix reasoning to OIO, and even then it's not exactly the same, as one is more inductive and the other is more deductive reasoning. Taking ZS's observation into account, it may be that having the pattern to start from narrows down the pool of responses, making it easier for him to read the test designer on matrix reasoning. (A skill, btw, which my mother overtly instructed us to apply to the taking of standardized tests.)

Did he, by any chance, tank What's Missing? I realize my sample is totally unscientific, but my kids both did.

It is also just a very short test.