Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WPPSI Test Scores and Davidson Scholar Program?

My son took the WPPSI III when he was 4.5. He has always been bright, seems to have a photographic memory, has been reading since 2, etc. Here are his scores. Note that he couldn't complete the coding section (and therefore doesn't get a full score) because he has weak fine motor skills (I guess this is common in gifted kids!) and is currently getting OT for it. Here are his scores:

Verbal IQ - 147 (99.9%) info - 17, vocab-18, word reasoning-18
Performance IQ - 144 (99.8%) block - 18, matrix- 15, picture concepts - 18
Processing Speed - symbol search - 15
Global Language Skills - receptive vocab - 13, picture naming - 19+

I know he doesn't meet the requirements for the program with these scores, however, once his fine motor skills are better, is it worth taking the WISC to see where we are again, or is he not likely to meet the requirements? I was just wondering your thoughts before I think about our next step. Thank you so much for your help! These boards are so great- it's so hard to find information on gifted kids!

How old is he right now? Is he very ahead academically? If he is reading well or doing very well with math; I would consider getting achievement testing done and then submitting the results for consideration for the YS program.

Some testers calculate the prorrated FSIQ w/o the coding section and I am pretty sure that number would be over the magic 150.

I would consider giving him the WISC when he is 6. My dd did not do very well in the WPPSI, but she had a very irregular testing experience. The academic gap from her to her peers only increased with time so we retested with WISC when she was ~7. That and qualifying AT (achievement testing) got her accepted.

My younger one tests very close to the DYS requirements in the WPPSI (like your son in the 99.9%)but we won't retest her unless/until she is much more ahead academically OR if we had reason to suspect some LD (learning disability).

Thank you for the reply! He will be 5 in June, so he is still very young. We had the test done this fall. He has been reading since before he was three, and is now currently reading around a fifth grade level. He LOVES science, and can devour "things that work" books about machines, flight, space, etc.- all non-fiction. He is also very good at math and reasoning. He had a tough time sitting still for the test, so I think when he's older and more focused, his scores may improve. We are in MA and trying to find a good Kindergarten program for him, but it's very challenging! Thank again!

I should have read your post before I posted my own, our kids sound very similar.

Did your child do better on the WPPSI than on the WISC? Why do you think that is? I thought the WPPSI was "easier?" thanks

Was that question for me? If so, my child did better at WISC, significantly so. We felt that WPPSI did not reflect what we were seeing at home and the issues with the testing experience casted doubts.

Yes, I was wondering about that. I thought the WPPSI was "easier" than the WISC. I think the WISC is a very long test (?). But you felt the WISC was a better test for your child than the WPPSI. Did you try a different tester?
I think some of these testers are great and others are just trying to push your child out the door.

I don't think it's so much that the WPPSI is "easier" but rather that there is a lot of instability in testing young kids. Some kids who do very well on the WPPSI score much lower on the WISC at an age where IQ results are somewhat more stable -- like 8 or 9. Some kids who do poorly on the WPPSI and better on the WISC. Some kids do great on both.

Given that the WPPSI is shorter and kids who are 4 are more squirmy, results don't necessarily predict what a kid will look like years later.

The instability is a big issue with the young kids just by nature of their age and uneven development. Also, you have more chances of the child goofing up, getting tired, wanting out, etc.

Another difference is that the WPPSI relies more on crystallized intelligence (that is knowledge already acquired) than the WISC. So a child who just by nurture has been exposed to more vocabulary and information will outperform similarly smart kids that have not. These smart kids will probably "catch up" in those areas in due time.

Neither test is too long, at least I don't think so. The number of sub-tests used in the wPPSI increases with age. WISC doesn't change in that sense.

We absolutely tried a different tester as I said, the first one did not handle things well from our perspective (was somewhat confrontational to my child while I was still in the room and they were building rapport).

The report from the first tester was somewhat generic or rather formulaic. Child is _ years and __ months old and lives with ____. She has attended preschool since ___. In many phrases it seemed like she was just filling the blanks. The second tester presented a more descriptive portrait of my child. She included many observations of how she handled the test, what she could see in personality, approaches to problems, etc.

I see what you mean.
My son has been in a Montessori preschool/kindergarten for 2 years. It is 100% Montessori, private school. He does very little reading and writing there; we have worked with him at home to get him reading, which he is doing well at.
However, I do think his Montessori is not very good at verbal things, getting kids to read, etc. At least half of the kindergartners finish that year unable to read. He did great on the nonverbal part of the test and good but not great on the verbal. I'm wondering if that is related to the school background.