Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Abbreviated Weschler results

Hello! I am new to this forum and find it very interesting so am hoping for some advice. My DS6 has heard all his life that he's so smart, advanced, precocious, etc. Well, his K teacher recommended he get tested for the G/T program, said she uses a pretty "accelerated" curriculum (its a private K) and he sails through that. I had him tested in our public school system for their G/T program. They used an abbreviated form of Weschler, using vocabulary (where they asked him the meaning of different words) and a block design test. They said he scored 121. She said he was a little higher in verbal but pretty even for both tests. How accurate do you think this is with just using the abbreviated Weschler? There is another school district not far from us that he could also be tested at that uses an IQ test where they test "verbal and performance" and they also use an achievement test. She said the total time to take this test is 30-45 minutes so it still sounds abbreviated to me. Would it be worth having him tested in the other school district or do you think the 121 is pretty accurate? In my local school district, they have a magnet program and cluster program and with the 121, my DS would qualify for the cluster program (cluster is 120s, magnet is 130s) so he would still get some enrichment but his K teacher makes it sound like he really needs something more challenging.

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

We don't know him, so I guess I'd ask *you* if the 121 sounds accurate or not. Does that fit with what you see of him?

If not, something may have been off about the testing and you might wish to test again, possibly with a more comprehensive test. Testing is just one day, and you see him all the time. As long as you are really being honest with yourself about his abilities, then you're the expert! Not us!

Well, to be honest, I guess I thought his score would be higher. I really have nothing to compare him to so have always gone by what his daycare providers and teachers have said, which has always been how crazy smart and advanced he is, so I guess the 121 did surprise me (although I never thought he was PG or anything like that, maybe HG?). I've read many posts on this forum and see all these different scores, subtests, etc. so was just curious if anybody had any opinions on the accuracy of the abbreviated test, and wondering if adding an achievement test in there would make a difference or not. Thanks!

Was the tester skilled at working with GT kids? If not, scores can be a fair bit lower just from that. If the tester is used to looking for learning problems but not high scores, s/he may stop asking questions too soon.

If your "mom gut" is telling you that the score is too low, then it might be a good idea to get a full IQ test from someone who is used to working with GT kids. If you need the 130 to get the help you think he needs, then I'd say retest. IMHO...

I don't know if you need the achievement testing. It was useful in our case, but if you would only have him take it because you're curious, I'm not sure it would be worth it. Unless the tester offered a 2-for-1 deal or something. Then I'd jump at it if I were you!

I'm also confused about my son's scores. His teachers have always taken me aside to tell me how smart and advanced he is. They've recommended grade skips. He was hyper and developed early in every way, cruising furniture at 6 months, stacking boxes to make a stool at 7 months. How he scored a FSIQ/GAI of 118/129 is still beyond me but whatever. I don't doubt the tester as she was private and seemed to really connect with him. I'm starting to view IQ tests like the old hats here say, "It's a point in time... a data point...a score from one day" So, now I'm putting energy into understanding his issues and looking into educational options for him.

Hi, new here, probably in wrong place, I'm totally baffled by the WISC-IV composite results my son (12) recently got from a private tester: a full scale IQ came up as psychometrically invalid because of the 4 standard deviation scatter between the VCI (144) and the PSI (88)... I had him privately re-tested because of some problems that were cropping up lately

so, MindyLu, a private test might be in order to find out if there is a specific area of ability/weakness

Maggie, what were the results of your son's retest, if I may ask? Was the 4 SD gap between verbal IQ and performance IQ narrowed?