Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Anyone who can help with WISC III?

I have a question about my ds's WISC III report, really out of curiosity and to find an explanation for why he seems so different! His scores were given to us in ranges as follows: VCI: 126-141 PIQ: 115-131 and FSIQ: 128-139 His Processing Speed score was at the 34th percentile which did, and still does point to an issue with writing and hand-eye coordination.
It would seem to me that his scores should put him in the so-called "optimally gifted" range, but this doesn't seem to hold true for him. He has real trouble relating to age-peers, finds school completely without intellectual challenge and seems to have a deep knowledge of things that most people either don't understand or aren't interested in! I thought he would find middle school a challenge but the opposite is true. If I thought he was something other than "regular gifted" I would try to change tack educationally, but his WISC scores don't appear to bear that out.

He did hit a few subtest ceilings and I wonder what that really means in terms of the true picture of him. This is just my own curiosity and attempt to understand what makes him tick, or whether I should be supporting him in other ways. He does attend CTY summer camp, but is also taking our national examinations this year and doing very badly which is making me very concerned. He's a great kid and endlessly fascinating to me, but I wish his education journey was more interesting for him. Someone tell me to take a few deep breaths and let him find his own path, please?? And if you have any insight into the WISC III I'd be delighted.

Was he given this test recently? If not, do you know why they used the WISC III rather than the IV which has been out for years?

That aside, those are pretty broad ranges you were given. If we assume that his scores fell in the middle of the ranges, that would put his VCI around 133-134 or just into the 99th percentile. At the center point of the PRI range, we'd be looking at 123 and FSIQ, again at the mid-point of that range, would be 133-134. With those numbers, the GAI would be right around the same spot at the FSIQ.

I'd look at this two ways:

1) what was the range within tests and was this likely your ds' best performance; and
2) what does your neighborhood school system look like?

#1 I ask b/c my dd12 had similar scores with a slightly higher PRI as age 7.5 on the WISC-IV. For her, both the tester and everyone else who has ever taught dd seems to feel that it is a "minimal estimation" of her abilities, which was written into the report. She completely refused to do the block design test, handed the blocks back and said she couldn't do it when pressed to work quickly. That one score being in the 25th percentile radically changed her PRI total score as the other two parts of it were in the 99.9th and 99th respectively.

Wide variations w/in subtests tend to make the totals less reliable. If it doesn't look accurate for the child, I'd also be less likely to rely on one IQ score as the be all end all of a child's ability. We've never had major reason to retest dd's IQ but we do believe her to be HG and all of her achievement test scores and behavioral indices would support that. She's done well with a grade skip as well.

#2 I ask b/c, as Grinity has mentioned before, what constitutes "gifted" may vary from one neighborhood to another. A MG child in a school with a lot of kids who are very bright (90th-95th percentile, for instance) might do fine and fit into the gifted/accelerated classes with nothing further needed. A MG child whose grade peers are all average probably would not.

Wow, that was quick Cricket, thanks!
No, the test was when he was 8, he is now 14! It has been niggling at me for years that he seems much more "out of synch" with other kids than the FSIQ would suggest. I have been thinking about it a bit more lately since he seems to be underachieving in exams and doesn't seem able to effectively work the system to his advantage, if that makes sense?

I have never defined him by those numbers and although he knows he is gifted, we never wanted him to define himself by it either so he does not know "his IQ". The problem with having a report is that other people, i.e. schools do define him by those numbers. Having said that, we don't have any gifted programmes here so it's moot point! He is who he is, but sometimes I wish he could be happier with that...it will take him a long time for his body and emotions to grow into that adult mind of his. I wish I could make the wait more palatable for him.
You've helped me answer my own question I guess; it really doesn't matter what the scores say as long as someone understands him. Thanks!

Thank you Dottie, that is what I thought, I guess I was really looking for confirmation that an ed psych report doesn't always give the full picture. Certainly, his behaviour is different than what I thought "optimally" gifted would be! When I looked at Deborah Ruf's levels, I ended up at Level 4 to 5 for him, so who knows what the true picture is?

We have a six year cycle for secondary school here. The first three years lead to the Junior Certificate State Exam. Then most schools opt for a Transition Year (TY) which allows kids to mature and explore a wider curriculum than the exam system can provide. Years 5 and 6 are preparation for the Leaving Certificate on whose grades college entry depends. There is the option of skipping TY, but it would mean changing schools. All schools in Ireland are mixed-ability, with support for learning disabilities, but none at all for gifted. However, we have a brand new government who have pledged to look at the supports in place for gifted learners...so there is hope on the horizon.

I wish we had some of the options available to you in the US, but I guess that also depends on your state and your district. It just seems as if you are so much further along the road than we are!

Yes, Dottie's info is always useful ! FWIW, my dd also falls around a level 4 on Ruf's estimates. She skipped a transition year going into middle school (changing schools as your ds would have to). It was the right decision for her.

Thank you for your thoughts on this.I think we are going to explore all the options as he heads towards the college years and base our choices largely on what he needs and wants out of it.

Sometimes it's hard to be seen to be taking a very different route though....I need to insulate myself against the negative views of others!