Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment IQ DROPPED!!!

What to do?! My son was tested privately (WPPSI) at age 4 and scored a 148 non-verbal, 140 overall. He is now 8 and I have felt that he has regressed since preschool because he has shown increasing signs of disinterest and complacency at school (Catholic). I requested the school counselor to test him. She used the K Bit and his new scores were in the low 120s! How could there be such a huge drop? Could this be a result of not being adequately challenged at school? We've always supplemented at home and supported all of his interests, but we did not expect such a huge drop. She said he is doing well and scored well above his grade level. There are no gifted schools in our area and at this point he would not qualify for a gifted program in our local public school.

I'm not personally familiar with the K-Bit, but there's an article on Hoagies that talks about it vs other standard intelligence tests that you might find useful, here: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/iq_varies.htm

In brief, it sounds like this is a very brief test and covers only some subtest areas, and if not testing all the child's areas of strength, they could definitely score lower vs. using a full-length test.

It could be the test is just measuring different aspects of intelligence than the WPPSI or it could be that his IQ is actually dropping. Those preschool tests are not good predictors of IQ down the line...a very large percentage of kids who test high in preschool do not test high anymore several years later (and vice versa--some kids actually go up, like my DS, who was average at age 3 and went up 20+ points a couple years later --WPPSI to WISC). Google "Nurture Shock and gifted programs" for more info/research about testing young children.

"Gifted Today but not Tomorrow"

http://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/docs/dlohman/gifted_today.pdf

might be of interest.

"The term gifted implies a permanent superiority. However, the majority of children who
score in the top few percentiles on ability and achievement tests in one grade do not retain their
status for more than a year or two. The tendency of those with high scores on one occasion to obtain
somewhat lower scores on a later occasion is one example of regression to the mean. We first
summarize some of the basic facts about regression to the mean. We then discuss major causes of
regression: errors of measurement, individual differences in growth, changes in the content of the
developmental score scale, and changes in the norming population across age or grade cohorts. We
then show that year-to-year regression is substantial, even for highly reliable test scores. Different
ways of combining achievement and ability test scores to reduce regression effects are illustrated.
Implications for selection policies and research on giftedness are also discussed."

The point of this is not that the children are really gaining or losing IQ over time just that the testing instruments are fairly imprecise.

There are too many variables here I think to draw any conclusions.

The K-bit (Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) is an abbreviated test that may miss some strengths?

Maybe re-testing on the WISC-V would be appropriate?

Just an opinion, of course, but giftedness, in general, doesn't just go away. You will probably still notice different experiences. If in doubt, keep being observant and keep meeting your child's individual needs and interests. The reason parent advocacy is such a help is because the parent has all of the info. on their child and family genetics (much more info. than in any paper file). So, staying the course really helps because if you were missing the signs of the gifted traits you can't go back and redo the childhood.

I too think that you need to get him tested using the WISC test (which seems to be the commonly used IQ test in the private schools in my area). There are several reasons that the IQ numbers could have dropped - student having a bad testing day, test not being comprehensive enough, the test itself not being engaging to the child, underlying issues relating to vision or hearing etc. You, as the parent have a better idea of whether the child is gifted or not from daily interactions and observations. So, I suggest that you should wait to see the results of another comprehensive IQ test before coming to any conclusions.

I'd also suggest having a full IQ test - not just for understanding his IQ and what happened with the K-BIT, but because there was a discrepancy in his WPPSI scores (higher non-verbal than verbal). This compared to what you are seeing as complacency in early elementary school *might* be an indication of a potential LD. Even if not, it's very helpful to have an understanding of where strengths and weaknesses are, as well as it will give you a better and more reliable understanding of what his true IQ is.

FWIW, I wouldn't worry too much about an IQ being in the 120s - I know quite a few kids with IQs that aren't sky-rocket-high who are still incredibly successful in school and in good careers.

Last thought - one of my dds had a similar drop in IQ scores from WPSSI to later WISC testing. In her case, vision challenges played a huge part - she couldn't see well at all, but it didn't matter on the WPSSI due to the manner in which it was administered, testing conditions etc plus her vision issues might not have been as significant at the time she took the WPSSI. (note - it's not quite as straightforward as it may sound here - the correlation of vision vs scores - but I've got to leave to shuttle kids around - will explain more later).

polarbear

I'll just confirm all said above re:
1. instability of preschool scores
2. relatively low correlation of the KBIT screener to comprehensive tests
3. re-testing with a comprehensive cognitive assessment, like the WISC-IV or -V, if you want to know where he is now.

I would echo polarbear: symptoms interpreted as complacency or inadequate challenge, or any other inconsistency you see between your holistic sense of his ability and his actual academic performance, may be indicative of an impediment to learning, such as an LD. Certainly, before ascribing it to poor motivation or effort, I would want to rule out elements not within his control.

I don't know about it being an LD, because he seems engaged when he is taken out of class for Enrichment twice a week and is extremely happy and engaged after tutoring sessions. We are considering changing schools. His grades are at the top of his class but he complains of boredom. There are a lot of behavior problems in his classroom of 25, many of whom I believe are performing below grade level. Other parents of top students have also stated regression in their children. I'm wondering if 3 years of this has contributed to this.