Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Psych test says gifted, school retest says no

I'm sorry to hear about the school's results. Have you asked the school for subset scores? That way you can compare IQ data to IQ data since the numbers you posted above are achievement scores not ability scores. The achievement scores you posted also seem to be in line with the WISC and not with the high average WJ cognitive score they gave you.

Polarbear - the WJ scores given were from the WJ achievement tests done by the psych last September. All I know from the school's test is that he scored 114 on the WJ Cognitive Abilities. I have asked the tester for a copy of his scores.

I don't know if this is germane to the topic, or just me being a mama lion protecting her cub; but the psych who tested DS last fall was one from Hoagies' list. The psych at the school is relatively young and mentioned during the testing that one of the tests she used was one she doesn't do often. I know they did more than the WJ, I just don't know WHAT more they did yet. DH and I honestly trust the evaluation of the private psych more than the evaluation of the school psych as I am fairly sure she does not deal with the gifted testing all that often.

I would assume we can only compare the WISC IV to the WJ Cognitive Ability test for an apples to apples comparison.

I appreciate everyone's help. I know we are going to appeal this, but I want to be sure we have looked at EVERYTHING before we do. And I think I need to get a certain amount of emotion under control before appealing! (From Emotion to Advocacy, anyone!)

Me, too!

Another quick question,,,,he was only at the school for the testing for 90 minutes max....when the private psychologist tested him, he was there for nearly 6 hours one day, then they asked us to bring him back another day for another 90 minutes of testing. Does the length of time mean anything?

Sorry, I've been busy this weekend!

The WJ-III GIA is heavily influenced by processing speed, even more so, in my experience, than the WISC-IV. In addition, if the whole school eval only took 90 minutes, and the WJ was not the only test given, I would wonder if the whole WJ cog was administered, or if only the abbreviated version (BIA) was. That's a three-subtest form with one verbal, one fluid reasoning, and one processing speed subtest, that takes about 15 minutes. Obviously, processing speed has an even greater impact in that case. I do see that the Academic fluency cluster is good, so it's not clear how much of an impact processing or fine motor speed has.

This will be easier to discuss when you have precise test info, of course!

Bottom line, though, it is likely that the first eval is more accurate. It's certainly more consistent with the achievement data. His math computations aren't very high, though (relatively). Does he seem slower than expected with math facts?

Oh, and no, there is not a difference in the mean and standard deviation. They're both 100 and 15. The qualitative descriptions are somewhat different, though, and additionally differ by the clinician. We're probably best off comparing the standard score ranges.

aeh - thank you so much for the response!

As far as the math computations -- the original evaluation stated that the issue on the math computations was that his score decreased when a time factor was added.

I am hoping to get the precise test data this week, and will post what I get.

Thanks again!

My son had a drop in WJ IV scores. It was fairly dramatic- the neuropsych was testing for ADHD. He said that my son was very distracted during certain portions of the test. Because of the age norms, my DS had to go further on the test this time to achieve such high scores. The reading and writing and even some of the math pushed his ability to remain focused and careful.

Even a year made a difference on achievement tests. We saw a similar result on his school standardized test. DS was able to explain what was going on in the room during the test, but the test itself did not garner much attention.

Those results are for the WJ achievement not cognitive.

My kids took about 90 minutes to 2 hours to do the WJiii cognitive but it wouldn't take as long if they stopped at questions that gave a score of 114. Can you get the scores sheet so you can check the WM and PS results?

When you have more detailed assessment data, the next questions will be

1. WISC-IV (old): what was the PSI, especially Coding?
2. WJ-IIIACH (old): how did he do on reading fluency, math fluency, and writing fluency (the Academic Fluency cluster)?
3. WJ-IIICOG (new): how many subtests were actually administered? Was this a GIA-standard, GIA-extended, or BIA? Additional questions depending on these answers. Any commentary on test observations?
4. Other testing (new): what was given, and why? Other questions will depend on these answers.