Hi. I'm new here and was hoping you all could help me. My 5 year old son, in kindergarten, was just tested for the gifted program and we just got back his scores. I'm having trouble finding any info on the net. I'm wondering if any of you can help me to interpret his scores to determine what they mean exactly. Here they are.

Composite intelligence index. 136/99 th percentile
Verbal intelligence index. 138
Nonverbal intelligence index. 126

Verbal subsets- guess what 74, verbal reasoning 68
Nonverbal subsets- odd item out 61, what's missing 66

The report says that his "overall cognitive functioning is in the Significantly Above Average range"

But I can't find anything online to verify where this score falls in comparison to other gifted children nor how "gifted" he is exactly?

Thanks in advance for any insight you all can provide.

Well 99th percentile means he scored better or equal to 99 out of 100 on whatever the sample was normed against. I don't know enough about the test (not in the US) to tell how useful that is.

I'm fairly familiar with the RIAS because my daughter was given it to support her grade acceleration. It's a shorter IQ individual IQ test, so you don't get all of the detailed subscale information you would get with an SB-V or WISC-IV. The composite is basically like the full scale IQ score. So if you see a discussion that refers to full scale IQ of 130, for example (that's a common cutoff), then you'd refer to that composite number.

There are some reports that the RIAS may tend to give higher scores than other assessments. Our experience was that that was true for the composite score versus her WISC-IV score, but not for the subscores. The RIAS was pretty consistent with my daughter's other scores, except that her verbal intelligence index was a little lower on it and her composite score was a little higher (but not much).

She did think the RIAS was the most fun of the tests she has taken. She really enjoyed it.

My child just finished the RIAS.We're still waiting for the details,but were told her IQ is 141.This was the only test she has completed.Does she need more?

She probably doesn't need more unless you want a more detailed breakdown. However, there are a few programs that require other specific tests (e.g., DYS).

The main product page on that test

http://www4.parinc.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=RIAS

provides a few more details, including a link to an online PowerPoint (in the .PPT document format)

http://www4.parinc.com/WebUploads/samplerpts/rias.ppt

with perhaps more than you want to know about that test.

Because the RIAS says there is a 5 pt spread around the I Q,is this reason enough to take the WISC IV?Just a point higher on the 139-144 spread would be PG.

And it is just as likely to go down to the lower end of the confidence interval. The meaning of the spread (properly called a confidence interval) is standard error. If we could give the same test to the same person many times (and have them not memorize it!), without re-test effects, there would be natural variation in their scores. The ci on most IQ tests is 95%, which could be explained as, if we were able to do the above repeated test experiment 100 times, we would predict that the score would fall within this range 95 times.

Also, unless the PG label gives you access to something of high value to you, there is negligible qualitative difference between a 141 and a 145.

Of course, if you want richer information about cognitive profiles, the WISC and SB are more in-depth instruments. And I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm not too fond of the RIAS, other than as a screening instrument.

I don't think DYS accepts the RIAS, do they? If so, my DS would be DYS-eligible from his verbal (150) but I had the impression it was irrelevant. I have considered retesting him with another instrument but have the impression the RIAS scores high.

I can tell you my experience with the RIAS my son took it at 5 to support a grade acceleration in K. He hit the ceilings on everything and the estimated his composite score to be 160+ because they couldn't scale in higher. In order to determine if he was DYS eligible they then administers the Standford Binet 5 months later. He received a IQ score of 132. With math added in and other factors it was a much more level score. I was surprised a little at the variation but the psychologist said it isn't too surprising because the RIAS is such a brief snap shot. So we did not find it highly correlated. It is possible his Standford Binet is a little low for his abilities and the RIAS too high. I always read threads like this because I find the variation interesting.

Wow--what a huge difference. That's a little wacky and makes me wonder. If my kids went down 30 points from their RIAS scores, they would not be considered gifted! I assume your son's real life performance indicates strong giftedness?