Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional help! Behavior issues, WISC-IV scores, and more

My son is 11 and well, difficult. He always has been, since he was a baby. He is also very bright, which almost makes things more difficult. We have finally scheduled him with a neuropsychologist because the behaviors are starting to scare me. Just 2 days ago he broke a pencil in anger, threw pencils twice, tried to grab things out of my hand, and kicked down a baby gate, breaking it and hurting his foot. He has always had anger problems, but they seem worse lately, perhaps because he is getting bigger so the tantrums seem bigger. A list of behaviors/symptoms we have noticed is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/...ZFcvZNE/edit?authkey=CLPmnbsP&hl=en#
Anyway, the neuropscyh's office asked me to bring in any previous testing so I got a copy of his IQ test from when he was 7 years 11 months old. These are the results:

Verbal Comprehension:
Similarities 17 99th percentile
Vocabulary 18 99.6th percentile
Comprehension 16 98th percentile

Perceptual Reasoning
Block Design 15 95th Percentile
Picture Concepts 15 95th Percentile
Matrix Reasoning 13 84th Percentile

Working Memory
Digit Span 13 84th percentile
L-N Sequencing 14 91 percentile

Processing Speed
Coding 7 16th percentile
Symbol Search 9 37th percentile

The index scores are :
Verbal Comprehension IQ 142, 99.7 percentile
Perceptual Reasoning IQ 127 96 percentile
Working Memory IQ 120 91 percentile
Processing Speed IQ 88 21 percentile
Full Scale IQ 128 97 percentile
GAI IQ 142 99.7 percentile

At the time the psychologist told us that he had Processing Speed problem, but that he was intelligent enough to compensate. She warned that he may need extra time on tests as he got older, but so far that is NOT an issue...he was always one of the first one done with tests in school. He has always been a straight A student.

I know that Processing speed can be lower in gifted children, but this much lower seems much more than that. Do you think that it plays a part in any of the other issues we are having, or is unrelated?

Sending you a PM

Hi, after just a quick read, I wonder what he is able to say about how he's feeling after or perhaps before and during one of these outbursts.
You can feel ok about the fact that he trusts you enough to let loose like that. Does he say he is happy generally? I couldn't access the list you posted, but wanted to add that 11 is supposed to be the usual beginning of kids acting out, and for gifted kids I suppose this will be done in their usual 'MORE' way! Sigh.

We have very low processing speed # on the wisc my ds10 took, and I guess because my son is only 10 we have not gotten into any issue other than slower than typical computation speed. He still gets mostly A's and seems about level with what he was doing in previous years, not falling behind as the dr. had indicated would inevitably occur.
I think there is a thread around here somewhere about especially low coding scores, and what sort of child that might point to.

ack, sorry about the broken link. Here is the list of problems: https://docs.google.com/document/d/...ZFcvZNE/edit?authkey=CLPmnbsP&hl=en#

His standardized test scores did drop from last year to this year....perhaps this is why.

Well, that is quite a list. I guess the main thing that leaps out at me is this 'On Halloween he got upset when one of his friends wouldn't trade him for a specific candy and went into the corner and sat all balled up with his hat over his eyes. This seemed extreme behavior for an 11 year old in front of his friends.'

My ds was depressed and this was exactly how things would go for him. One minute things were 'ok', and the next he would be in the corner balled up and miserable for and hour or more. The outbursts and inability to focus are also typical...I guess you have probably read up on this, but if not, there are some brief articles you can check out online. http://www.medicinenet.com/depression_in_children/article.htm

If this turns out to be part of the issue, the good news is that it is pretty treatable. Our ds has been back to his old self for some time now and is just a delight. (Not to say he is not still a handful, but a happy handful). I do wish you the best in trying to figure this out!! Hugs!

I was driving around today and thinking about this, god help me, and wanted to add this: when ds was treated for depression it was in the form of identifying the underlying cause of distress and dealing with that problem (in his case, lack of friends, and the treatment was mainly to work on social skills, though he did have some conversations about anxiety with his social workers).

I think Chris is right to identify the possibility of depression.

With the aggression, dislike of surprises/change in routine, rigidity, need for rules, in addition to anxiety, I'd also raise the possibility of Asperger's syndrome.

You have a good list of symptoms and observations to present to the neuropsych. With that list, I'd make sure they do the ADOS (to check social skills) and the Vineland (adaptive behaviors checklist) in addition to depression/mood disorder testing and the usual workup.

DeeDee