I just received my 7 year old's WISC IV scores and I am unsure if he qualifies to apply for DYS. We homeschool and I was hoping to get some help via networking and consulting from DYS. Educating a gifted child has been lonely for me. I got the scores verbally over the phone and do not have the report yet. This is my first experience with IQ testing.
VCI 108
PRI 137
WMI 148
PS 112
Full scale 135
Thank you for any help!

Welcome!

In answer to your specific question, my understanding of the criteria is that your child would need scores of 145 or above in VCI, PRI, GAI (which is a composite generated from the VCI and PRI only), or FSIQ, which is not the case. This is not to downplay the need for support and community that you and your child may need. Or restrict you from online forums like this one. (I don't have any DYS-identified children.)

Your child has some nice strengths, but also has a profile that is not easily captured by either the Full Scale or the alternative General Ability Index. It would be interesting to know if the subtests within the Index scores were consistent, or if there was variability there as well. And, as a general caveat, IQ/cognitive scores in young children are not extremely stable, so these could change a bit in three years.

With a 2.7 standard deviation range from lowest to highest Index score, I would be hesitant to put too much weight on the global composite scores. The strongest areas are perceptual reasoning and working memory, which often combine to manifest as academic strengths in math. Given the relatively (though not disturbingly) low processing speed score, in the high average range, I wonder if perceptual reasoning might have been affected by the one timed subtest (block design) counted into that index. The language reasoning area is essentially average, which constitutes a significant relative weakness (though not normative weakness, obviously, since it is, as mentioned, average). This may suggest the presence of a learning difference or disability of some kind (2e, or twice exceptional). Since you homeschool, you are in a good position to tailor instruction to challenge areas of strength and support relative weaknesses, without having to arbitrarily advance subjects that are not as exceptional.

Is there a supportive homeschool community where you are?

I was going to say that the scores aren't qualifying for Davidson, but I bet your DC is going to need a lot of differentiation in math. Those are fantastic WM and PRI scores and will help a lot with academics.

My dd8 has a very similar profile on the wisc as well (higher wmi and pri with lower vci and psi) and she is extremely strong in math. Her one area of weakness when it comes to math is when the problems are overly wordy.

Yes, math is his area of talent! We are starting Art of Problem Solving Prealgebra (6th grade level). He seems to just "know" math before formally learning it and just conceptually "gets it." He regularly got 100s on math tests without having looked at the lessons when I only had him 2 grade levels ahead. He is also a competitive chess player. I don't have the full report yet, but the psychologist said his scores in matrix reasoning and digits were both 19, sequencing was 18, and block design was 17. His reading comprehension level per the CAT test when he was 6 years old was 5th grade, and he reads books on about a 5th-6th grade level now and understands what he reads. He is an intuitive speller. I do not think he is 2e. He is shy with people until he knows them well but I don't think that is overly unusual. My other children are more outgoing with strangers, and are not gifted, at least not mathematically.

We are a military family and move every 2-4 years. Currently we live in a rural area and don't have a large homeschool community. Hence, why I was looking into DYS. =) I have felt isolated for a long time and don't know anyone who can relate to our situation.

Oh well there is always us. We are here for you.

You can also go achievement + portfolio route to qualify, if I am recalling correctly.

Glad to hear you have no concerns with 2e.

If he had two 19s (ceiling of the subtest), did the psych calculate extended subtest scores? His composites aren't high enough to make an extended FSIQ or GAI worthwhile, but it would certainly be interesting to know whether/how much of an underestimate those 19s were.

With that matrix reasoning and block design score, his picture concepts score must have been much lower, like a 12, which would be right in line with the VCI. It's a more concrete task, and is a mixed measure, with a lot of overlap with verbal mediation. That's partly why it's been booted from the core battery on the WISC-V. So even though he might not be 2e, it looks like the VCI could be a legitimate number, despite his strong actual reading skills. All this to say, I suspect his PRI is a low estimate of his true ability. If he is re-assessed in the future (in another two years would be good), it will be on the WISC-V, which is good, because the equivalent of the PRI (split into two indices) will not include picture concepts, which, if he continues this profile, may result in DYS-qualifying numbers in the Fluid Reasoning Index, and possibly the Visual Spatial Index.

And if I were to pick one subtest where I'd like to see a kid hit the ceiling, it would be matrix reasoning.

DS7 was tested at age 6 and sounds similar. Very strong in math, but reading as well. His PRI was 141 and VCI was 114. I wonder if the fact that your DS is a quieter kid has something to do with the lower VCI score, as I think this affected my DS's score. He tends to give very brief answers to questions, have anxiety if put on the spot, or say "I don't know" unless he's very interested in the question.

He had a 19 in Picture Concepts though, and Matrix Reasoning was 18.

Wow! That is a high WMI!!! Yes, you are not alone - you have us!

Do you have any of the achievement scores that meet the criteria for DYS? An outstanding portfolio (demonstrating 2-3 years ahead in math achievement) combined with high achievement scores might do the trick. I cannot offer suggestions about the portfolio (both of mine used scores), but others here might be able to offer advice on how to submit a qualifying portfolio.

All the best to you and your DS!

Aeh, you certainly know a lot about testing! Do you have a good resource that explains what each category is testing for? The psychologist briefly explained it to me but I didn't quite catch everything, and my toddler was dividing my attention. I have never thought my ds7 was verbally gifted, so I didn't expect a high score in that area. He was a very early talker and has always understood the mechanics of language well, but is not overly perceptive of things that are not explicitly stated, if that makes sense. Yes, his picture concepts score was 12. I got the results in the mail today.
Similarities 12
Vocabulary 13
Comprehension 10
VCI 108

Block design 17
Picture concepts 12
Matrix reasoning 19
PRI 137

Digit span 19
Letter number sequencing 18
WRI 148

Coding 12
Symbol search 12
PS 112

FSIQ 135
The psychologist did not calculate extended subtest scores. This psychologist is not super familiar with gifted children, but I would have had to travel and pay 10x as much for testing if I wanted one who was.

I am interested in getting one of the achievement tests that DYS accepts but does a psychologist have to administer it? Or is there a cheaper option? Paying a another $375 isn't really in the budget. He takes a yearly CAT test to satisfy the state homeschool requirements but has never taken another achievement test. I do feel confident that I could create a portfolio that DYS would accept, mostly using video of him explaining/teaching math concepts, which he does for a class he takes anyway. Students present weekly on any topic they want and he often chooses to explain math concepts, none of which his classmates understand, ha ha.

Thanks for all the replies - this is helpful.

Not expert in testing, but I would be curious to see what his score would be using the extended norms. It might bump the PRI score. Also, the picture concept score seems off to me. Someone might know this better than me, but could there be a possible vision issue? Fantastic working memory!

Many families find the information on indexes and subtests at wrightslaw helpful: http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/tests_measurements.html

Also this Pearson document, with a quick summary of indexes and subtests on pages 9-12:
http://images.pearsonclinical.com/images/Products/Wechsler/Wechsler_GAI.pdf

Another Pearson document easily found online discusses clinical interpretation and looks in detail at FSIQ, Indexes, Subtests, Items, and Task Components:

I strongly doubt there is a vision issue. He has never had difficulty with reading, writing, or depth perception, or learning age appropriate skills that require normal vision. If I understand the picture concepts subtest correctly, I think he probably didn't recognize many of the objects and therefore could not identify which objects had common characteristics. I understand picture concepts to be essentially analogies but in pictures rather than words? That goes along with his lower verbal scores. He is not perceptive or observant of things going on around him that he is not interested in, unless he is explicitly taught, so objects that may be common to most people are not necessarily familiar to him because he hasn't noticed or thought about them in everyday life. His area of giftedness is very specifically math, and at this point it looks like that will head toward physics and (mechanical or computer) engineering.

The links that have been posted should have good explanations in them. There are also brief descriptions in the manuals, which should be very similar to any presentation posted by Pearson. I'm afraid my own resource is the one inside my head, after years of writing evals!
An educational diagnostician (usually certified as a special education teacher) can also administer and interpret achievement tests.

I mentioned uppost that picture concepts has significant verbal loading on it, and may reflect his average verbal reasoning, in this case. Vision issues should have affected block design as well.

With only one 19, and an index score only in the 130s, the extended norms are not indicated, and probably would not raise the PRI enough to hit DYS-level anyway. I agree that the PRI is probably a low estimate, though, and would think about re-testing in two years.

I'm no expert, but his verbal scores seem surprisingly low if this is the case. The above sentence approximately describes my DD's verbal capacities at your son's age and her verbal score was in the high 130s. He certainly sounds verbally gifted to some degree or another if he was comprehending 5th grade books at age 6. Could there be another issue at play here?

Actually, this may sound surprising, but, based on the linking studies, the predicted grade equivalent on the WIAT-III reading comprehension subtest for a seven-year-old with a PRI of 137 is exactly 5th grade (keeping all caveats about grade equivalents in mind). This is equivalent to a standard score in the High Average/Above Average range (117). Using the PRI as the cognitive measure would generally be done in situations like this, where the VCI is significantly lower.

I would still keep an eye on the development of verbal abilities, though, moving forward.

So in other words, you might expect a high reading level based on the PRI even without a high VCI? Interesting. I guess I don't get it, but maybe it's because VCI measures verbal abilities beyond reading/comprehension? I was surprised that the Vocab score for this child was what it was if he is reading significantly above grade level.

It's both because VCI measures verbal reasoning beyond reading and reading comprehension, and because reading comprehension also involves abstract reasoning skills captured by the PRI. As multiple factors lead into reading comprehension, one can use strengths in one factor to compensate for weaknesses in another.

Thanks for that tidbit of info! That makes sense. I think his only possible verbal issue is shyness. I don't worry about it now because I think it's within normal, but I am aware of it.

While his reading comprehension is normal, he doesn't make connections to other things while reading a story. So for example, he is currently reading the Narnia series and can easily summarize what he has read verbally and in writing, but he can't answer more abstract questions appropriate for 5th/6th grade (Narnia is 5th grade + reading level). That is consistent with his working memory. So I think he is a normal 7 year old as far as comprehension goes.

And now that I think about it, he does better with learning new math without any verbal explanations. He does fine with word problems, but step by step how to's bother him. Often times he will tell me an answer before I've finished reading the problem, if we are working together, but gets fidgety if I ask him to explain how he got his answer on more than 1-2 problems. He thinks about it correctly and arrives at the correct answer, though.

I might test him again in a couple years, and maybe look into an achievement test.