Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Odd Gifted Child - Any Insights?

My child was tested in the process of a grade skip. She was 12y5m at the time of testing.

WISC-IV
VCI 116
PRI 127
WMI 116
PSI 133
FSIQ 130

Most gifted kids are weak in PSI, and strong in VCI. My child is the opposite.

Subtests
Block 14
Similarities 12
Digit Span 13
Picture 13
Coding 17
Vocab 15
L-N Seq 13
Matrix 16
Comprehension 12
Symbol 15

She was also given the WJA-III on the same day.
Letter-Word 115
Reading Fluency 138
Passage Comp 121
Broad Reading 132

Calculation 117
Math Fluency 125
Applied Prob 117
Math Calc 123
Broad Math 124

Spelling 131
Writing Fluency 135
Writing Samples 118
Written Expression 132
Broad Written Lang 136

Academic Skills 128
Academic Fluency 139
Total Academic 136

My side of the family has a history of struggling to learn to read (even though we are all fairly bright). My dad, myself and my brother are now avid readers, but have a much larger reading vocabulary than a spoken vocabulary due to not knowing how to pronounce the words we know. None of us can help the little kids in our families with their phonics homework. It is Greek to us. Our spelling goes from below average to very poor. I was LD for reading/spelling in elementary, but was "gifted" by high school but still had poor spelling.

I guess I am just worried about her.
I know she is smart, and she is still making straight A's after the grade skip, it is just that I worry she has a deficit that might hinder her as the courses get more challenging in high school and college.
She too is an avid reader, and she had an easier time of it than I, but her pronunciation skills don't seem to be as strong as her other bright friends. On the plus side, her spelling is much better than mine at her age. We are both poor at associating names/faces. She is taking high school algebra right now, but still doesn't know all her time tables by heart despite concerted effort.

Any thoughts on the unusual scores of my beloved odd-ball?

I wouldn't worry about her reading based on these scores - all of the reading and writing subtests are above average or better.

As far as not understanding the phonics homework - you were most likely taught to read via the whole language method and were never explicitly taught the word patterns and spelling generalizations. Luckily, you were still able to read and figure out the patterns and chunks. Most likely, if you had a true reading disability, the whole language method of reading might not have worked for you. Most kids with reading disabilities do not pick up on the patterns themselves and must be explicitly taught word patterns.

As far as her multiplication tables - her computation skills are solid. If you feel that she is still somewhat weak at automatically producing the right answer with her times tables or other math facts - the best thing is practice. On line math programs, flashcards, quizzes in the car etc. Based on her profile - solid WMI and PSI, there doesn't seem any thing in her cognitive profile to indicate a huge deficit.

I think what you are seeing are her relative strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has areas of cognition and skill that are stronger and weaker than others. You haven't mentioned anything that is standing in the way of her learning and academic progress.

Thanks for calming my fears.

I had such a hard time with reading/spelling through out life, and even after graduating HS and an BS and MS I still have a very reduced spoken vocabulary versus my reading vocabulary due to not knowing what the words sound like. I also have trouble alphabetizing things, looking a name up in a phone book, a word up in a dictionary, or finding one particular can of soup on shelves full of cans that look too identical to me.

When I got the results back, and the "normal" highest score for most gifted kids was her lowest, and the "normal" lowest score for most gifted kids was her highest, it put me ill at ease.

Thanks again for calming my fears.

You might want to google "stealth dyslexia" to see if it fits.