For those of you who've had children tested as required by the IAS, could you share what you know? Obviously facts will differ depending on school etc, but I'm curious, is this a one-day test, or will the psych spread it out over a few days? Also, how long before the information will be available to us?

Any insight will be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm not sure what IAS is,but for the individualized tests like WISC and SB(Stanford-Binet), it's going to depend on the tester and the kid. Some kids need more than one session as they could be fatigued or distracted or bored at some point. I've seen a lot of people mention the WISC running across 2 sessions. For some reason school psych used 5 sessions to do SB with my DS, which seemed excessive.

It's not a test, it's an assessment.

The IAS has a number of categories and the answers to questions receive a score. For instance a certain IQ number gets a certain score, achievement testing, whether there siblings in the skipped grade gets another score, relationship with teachers, relationship with peers, size, physical agility, all get scored based on the answers.

I think there's a category on whether the child wants to skip, what the teachers recommend in terms of a skip, etc. And the answers all get a numerical score. (If the child doesn't want to skip, it's assigned a lower number.)

Then, based on the total numerical score, there are (I think) four categories "excellent candidate" "good candidate," ... and I don't know the name of the bottom two which basically mean "don't skip."

The IAS is the Iowa Acceleration Scale and it isn't actually a test that your child takes. It is essentially a likert scale that is filled out using prior testing information and subjective opinions of teachers and parents. If you want more info on the IAS from those of us whose kids have had it filled out on their behalf, let us know.

In regard to the WISC, both of my kids who've taken it did it in one session and also did achievement and other testing in the same session.

Right, I understand that. Actually I was more interested in gaining knowledge about the WISC IV which is the IQ test required (using the IAS) for subject acceleration or grade advancement. But now that you're so kind to offer, I would love any info on the IAS! Thank you!

Also, thanks, Cricket, for the time info. As DS is 11, I don't think it would be unreasonable for him to do it in one session, but I don't really know how long the test is or how they'll work it in to his schedule.

Thank you, syoblrig!

It's been quite a while since the IAS was filled out for my dd14, but as I recall, there are a few different sections with just a couple of them being automatic "nos" in regard to skipping. The pieces that are considered to be immediate disqualifiers are: IQ below 130 (98th percentile) unless the child is old for grade, in which instance I believe that they consider kids with IQs around 115+, a sibling in the receiving grade (although this has been successfully done by some), or the child does not want to skip. The first part is objective and just assigns scores for IQ and achievement (both grade level and above level tests). As I recall, it doesn't specify how far above grade level the test should be which is a bit of a flaw IMHO. For instance, the kid gets a certain # of points for a 75th percentile + score on an above level test and a different, lower, number of points for a 50th percentile score on the same test. My dd took the Explore as her above level test. She was in grade 4 at the time, so it was +4 levels. I believe that I've seen kids given just a +1 level test, though. Personally, I'd want to see everything at or above the 75th percentile if the above level test is only +1.

The other objective parts are the child's physical size in relation to grade peers, grades and timeliness of turning in work, and age in relation to grade peers.

Other parts of the IAS are more subjective and ask the teachers to rank how the child gets along with kids of different ages, parental support including whether parents are overly involved and pushing the kid, school support for the skip, and a few other things along those lines that I cannot remember at this point!

Regarding the WISC, it has four subtests and really isn't something that you are supposed to prepare for although I imagine that it feels pretty high stakes in your situation. We weren't in that spot so much in that dd had taken the WISC two years prior to her skip so we weren't waiting to see if the IQ scores would rule her out. Essentially, the WISC will look at your dc's verbal reasoning abilities (verbal comprehension index), visual spatial and abstract reasoning abilities (perceptual reasoning index), short term auditory memory (working memory index), and speed (processing speed index).

Ooh, this is great info, as our DC may have been similar ages when the IAS was done? DS took an EXPLORE test (+3) and scored overall higher than 92% 8th grader and in reading, the subject we're considering for acceleration, he scored higher than 95% eighth graders. Math, his lowest, was still 75%. I'm hoping he won't have to take another above-level achievement test.

He's definitely interested in accelerating by subject. He states that's he's unsure about whole grade because many of his friends are in his grade. (though many times he complains he doesn't have friends, so I wonder) Anyway, if he's unsure, I doubt they'll consider the whole grade skip a possibility and that's okay with us, but I don't want it to negate the possibility of subject acceleration.

Oh, he's certainly not prepared in any way and because he's never been given an IQ test, we have no idea what to expect. We know he's been in the gifted program since first grade, but you know that doesn't necessarily mean high IQ, and really, the fact that he scored so high on the above-level test was a bit of a surprise. We were the ones who looked into subject acceleration not the school. I think they were content to have an essentially straight A kid who never got in trouble to carry on as usual.

Then again, I feel I have underestimated DS all along.

That is some pretty high achievement. It sounds like your ds would be a good candidate for a skip and I'd be skeptical that subject acceleration alone could meet those needs. If he's not radically opposed to the skip, but just hesitant, I might push it a little with him. My dd wasn't opposed, but she also wasn't seeking it out herself. The school brought it up.

What we did was have her shadow a 6th grade student for a day at the middle school to see what she thought about going there next year rather than staying at the elementary for 4th. Perhaps if the school can arrange something like that for your ds, it might give him a glimpse of what it would look like and improve his opinion of skipping.

In some ways he sounds like my dd12 in elementary. She had "friends," but they weren't kids with whom she was really deeply connected and she was bending herself into whatever shape it took to fit with them. I think that, at the time, she didn't know what having real friends felt like. She is not skipped, but she has found a much better social fit in middle school for other reasons and I think now understands the difference as she has people with whom she fits without having to change or be someone she is not at the core.

Thanks, Cricket. So much to think about, and you've helped quite a bit.

Oh...and how long did it take before you were informed of the results?

I just want to pipe in on this one. We too got a shock with my DS Explore results at age 11. He was in GT language art program that was really strong program. His Reading and English scores didn't surprise but his Math scores did. He had been totally grade level up to that point. I would encourage you as Cricket said to really feel out his level of opposition. My DS was 100% against skipping grades. He had to many close friends and activities he was unwilling to part with.

We approached the school for subject acceleration in Math and later Science. He is already in an accelerated LA program. The regular class in higher grade would have been a step backwards for him. He has since skip 2 years of math, 1 of science and compacted curriculum both subjects. He is dual enrolled in middle school and high school. Now that he is at the high school and has made a lot friends, he may have had a different opinion about skipping. He is happy with his set up and has friends at both schools. The sort of radical subject acceleration with his age mates has worked for him. He should have been skip early before his friends and activities impact his view. We do have a school that has been supportive of him and helpful in making it all work for him. Each situation depends so much on the school you are working with and you child.

Is the school testing him? We got our private results the same day as testing followed by a written report a few weeks later. School results - we have always had to wait for the scheduled follow up meeting. Private testers vary in how quickly they give the results. Some seem to keep the poor parents waiting for a long time.

Thank you, Jtooit, This is all helpful.

Yes, the school is testing him. Did you find your DS's IQ supported the high achievement scores? I have to admit, I worry that this has been all for nothing and I will have consequently gotten my DS's hopes of subject acceleration up only to disappoint. (I've already spoken to him about the possibility that the school may not find it a good fit to subject advancement him and he will have no way of knowing if the scores were the reason.)

Like I mentioned, we had the IQ done two years before the skip came along so they were two different processes. For IQ, I think that it took a few weeks before we got results. For the IAS/skip process, the whole process played out over a month or two. It has been a while (dd14 is a 10th grader now and was in 4th grade when the school was evaluating her for a skip), so I can't recall for sure. However, I believe that I wasn't too concerned that they were going to say "no" since they were the ones who initiated it. We were more the ones who needed convincing and we left the meeting at which they approved the skip not having made a decision and telling them that we'd discuss and get back to them.

I can see as how this whole process may be a lot more stressful in your situation since you are waiting on test scores and the school may not be as gung-ho behind it. In regard to whether IQ supports achievement, though, I can say that I've seen it both ways but it is a lot more likely that you are going to see achievement higher than IQ when you are dealing with achievement that isn't as high as your ds'.

For instance, I've seen high achieving, but not gifted, kids who are pretty consistently A students in grade and who get grade level achievement scores that generally run around the 90th-95th percentile and which even sometimes pop up to the 98th or 99th percentile. I think that above level tests can help tease out the high achievers like that from gifted kids to some extent as they really become more of aptitude tests than achievement tests when they are taken a few grades above level like your ds did.

I'd bet that, with as highly as he scored on the Explore, there is a very good possibility that the IQ scores will come in where you need them. Not hitting the IQ bar on the IAS also doesn't rule out subject acceleration, but I'd expect that his chances are good on IQ none the less.

Thanks, Cricket. I was all set to give DS a pep talk as in "have fun, relax, etc," but the test was already given today. He came home and said it was the most fun test he's ever taken--more fun than the Explore test, even. He said it took about an hour and forty minutes and that the pysch was really nice.

So...we'll just wait and see.

Good luck! That sounds positive at least.

My kids loved the IQ testing! I agree with what Cricket said about the IQ testing. It can go both ways. It is nerve racking waiting for the results. We didn't approach the school until after we had results. It was probably a lot less stress as nothing was really riding on it. My ds scores did come out inline with his explore testing. I do have friends that have been quite disappointed. Above grade level results are more suggestive than similar scores on grade level testing to me.

My ds came home since my last post. I asked if he would choose a different route now that he has done this crazy schedule and 2 schools at once. He said, "No way, I have the best of both worlds." For him our situation just works and for others the our situation would not work at all. He said if you skipped me early it would have been great but once I was really connect to my friends I would have really been lonely. He feels anything after 4th grade would have been hard for him. I would really get down to the nitty gritty of your DS's feelings on the topic. I would probably wait for results and the schools reaction before having the conversation. We knew the school would probably give us what we asked for by the time we really pushed for it. We had one of his subject skips before the testing but neck breaking pace of the last 1 year or so was post testing.


For me as a parent the testing was really helpful in understand my kiddos. I was really clueless or in denial anyway about how different he was from his peers. It help us as parents advocate for him with more conviction. For my dd6 it has been just as enlightening as she presents very different than ds13 does. I know that wait stinks, but I think you might find it very helpful in understanding your ds.

Glad your ds enjoyed the testing. It's good for it to be a positive for him.

Thanks so much Jtooit. This is all useful info. Your DS sounds really self-aware.

I received word from the AIG specialist that he did very well on the WISC so we are moving forward with the possibility of one or two subject advancements. The next and final component is an on-grade level national achievement test in the two subjects he's interested in.

And I have to add that if it weren't for this site and the experience and knowledge found here, I wouldn't have known what to do for our DS or how.

Great news for you and your DS!

I am glad you didn't have to wait long for at least some information from them. I would ask them for a copy of a full report so you have the information. If the scores are high enough you may want to apply for DYS with them.

Numbers removed for ds's privacy. Thanks to all who helped!

Yes both VCI & GAI qualify him. It looked like his Explore scores did as well.

One of my kids had fairly big discrepancies between VCI/PRI & PS/WM.
It does seem to be fairly common. You can pick apart the subtest once you get a full report.

You should get busy on that app

Congrats!!! Those are very good scores


FWIW, I don't know how typical it is - but it's very typical among children who are 2e. There's not really anything in your posts that I recall that might be a 2e concern... but I went back quickly to look and in your first post you mentioned that your ds has trouble with timed tests - chances are that whatever is driving that is the same thing that's at issue with timed tests (the PSI tests are timed, so is one of the PRI subtests... that might be why his PRI score is lower than VIQ. Does he ever complain about running out of time on timed tests, or not having enough time to check his work? If he does, it's *possible* you might want to consider seeing if he qualifies for an accommodation of extra time before he's faced with taking PSAT etc.

Good luck with advocating for subject acceleration!

polarbear

Polarbear,

Thanks! I hadn't thought about that. I will look into it. Perhaps when I get the other pieces of info, someone in here will be able to help me, or should I look to the school psych for those answers?

I just peeked at the application. Should keep me busy all right.