Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Test Results WISC-IV and WJ-III Achievement

Just recieved results for DS (6y4mo) on WISC and WJ-III ACH and wondering what you guys think. We had him tested because he was complaining about being bored in Kindergarten despite reading and math pullouts for advanced work and we wanted data to use for advocating with the school. We told him that he was going to meet with a woman who would ask him questions to determine his learning style and see how we could make school more interesting and fun. He translated this into she was going to make school harder (which he viewed as a good thing). At the center, he was very focused and quiet during the testing and very intent, but he is reluctant to give answers when he isn't 100% sure because he doesn't like to be wrong.

Anyway here are the results:
WISC-IV
Verbal Comp
Scaled Score
Similarities 11
Vocabulary 16
Comprehension 9
(Information) 13
(Word Reasoning) 15

Perceptual Reasoning
Block Design 15
Picture Concepts 16
Matrix Reasoning 19
(Picture Completion) 16

Working Memory
Digit Span 11
Letter-Number Sequencing 14
(Arithmetic) 12

Processing Speed
Coding 11
Symbol Search 13
(Cancellation)

Verbal Comprehension Score 110
Perceptual Reasoning Score 141
Working Memory Score 113
Processing Speed Score 112

Full Scale Score 126
General Ability Index 130

Woodcock Johnson Achievement III
Broad Reading (Age) 138 (Grade)141
Letter-Word Identification 146 151
Passage Comprehension 143 145
Reading Fluency 131 146

Broad Math 108 122
Calculation 102 116
Applied Problems 114 130
Math Fluency 86 99

Broad Written Language 123 133
Spelling 115 130
Writing Samples 128 138
Writing Fluency 104 109

I'm not a testing expert, but I find it interesting that your DS tested quite gifted in math, but not verbal on the WISC, while your WJ-III results have the opposite profile.

Yes, i think this is because he has been reading since late 3 years old and didn't really have any math exposure until Kindergarten. He only tested as reading around mid second grade at the beginning of kindergarten (due to his not getting comprehension questions right, for example, how did the main character feel (gave right answer) and why ("I don't know"). Now, six months later, the WJ-III puts him at a early fourth grade. His Comprehension on the WISC-IV was super low, but he seems to understand everything he reads at home. For example, he picked up an old Alice in Wonderland book that we had in his room mostly as decoration and started reading it. My wife found him and didn't think he was really old enough for it. She asked him what it was about and he was able to give an accurate summary.

Dottie,

Thanks for your comments (NJ mom too!). The comprehension low score seems to be related to his lack of willingness to answer when not 100% sure.

I also was wondering if you have read The Origin of NAGC's Position Statement, "Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification". In it the authors state "For the GAI to be a unitary construct and meaningful global estimate of intelligence, the VCI and PRI must be reasonably similar (less than 23 points variance)." DS's GAI is 130, but the variance between VCI and PRI appears to be 31 points. Does that mean the GAI is invalid? Do you know of another test that might be more appropriate to use with my son to guage his true ability? Thoughts on how to help him with his reluctance to guess?