Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Question about testing results (DAS II & LAP-D)

My 4 year old recently took some tests and I just received the results back today. From what little I could find on these tests, they don't seem to be official IQ tests? But from the results should I consider further testing for actual IQ in a few years?

On DAS II:
Nonverbal Reasoning Ability: 121 (92%)
General Conceptual Ability: 121 (92%)

On LAP-D her results were within or above her age range and about a year 1/2 advance in her fine motor writing (95%)

From looking at them I'm guessing they would not be high enough by being in the low 90s to warrant pursuing the gifted program or to be too concerned about IQ testing however what confuses me is that I heard more than one tester tell me that she had reached a ceiling during one or more tests....but that is not what I would think by looking at the results. They also commented that on several of the subtests they have never seen a 4 year old do so well.

I did get a further breakdown but it's something called a T-score? Does that help?

Ah, thank you kindly for your reply. She was 53-65 range on her scores. The only 65 was on the matrices subtest. Just puzzling that her scores don't seem to reflect hitting any ceilings but yet I was told that on several of the tests she answered every single question/task correctly until they ran out of questions.

Guess it would make sense to wait a few years until she's reading well and then have her take a better known IQ test.

Thanks!

The DAS is certainly an IQ test.

The T-scores actually range from a low of 20 to a high of 80, although at some ages those min & max scores are not attainable in certain subtests. These lowered ceilings shouldn't affect your daughter given her age.

Are you sure the subtest in which your dd scored 65 was "matrices"? From what I understand, that subtest forms a part of the school-aged battery & is only normed for children from age 5. Your 4yo should have been administered the upper pre-school battery.

Were you given age equivalencies for the subtests, or only T-scores? Typically, if the age equivalency states "above x years", than that would indicate a ceiling was reached on that particular subtest.

I just thought I'd add - 4 is still young & tests at this age don't always reveal a child's true abilities. So if you don't think the results are an accurate portrayal of your daughter's abilities, by all means test again in a couple of years.

Thanks Dottie,

Yes, you're right, I was looking at the info from my oldest's report which was the original DAS. Just goes to show I shouldn't post at 11pm when tired!

Looked up more recent reports for my other kids thinking they had been administered version 2, but realised they were given BAS-II (British Ability Scales) which seems to run to the same format as the original DAS. (T-score range 20 - 80, same subtest batteries for pre-school & school aged) Go figure!

Cheers,
Cassandra

Thanks Dottie & Cassandra! Yes, I have the official scores and it was the matrices subtest that she received the 65 T score on. Well at the moment she's in an amazing preschool and will go to a great small Kindergarten class in the same school next year so I'm not really worried about her being too bored for the next year or so. (Her Kindergarten class will learn things that I learned in second grade.)

So overall at least I know she's probably well suited to where she is now and a different test maybe in 1st or 2nd grade might make more sense.

For a 1st/2nd grade child (7/8/9 year old range) is there a particular IQ test that might be more recommended than another? (Sorry if this is kind of off topic from my original thread question - I can post it as a new thread topic if you'd prefer.)

Thanks!