Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – 4
Edition (WPPSI-IV)

Verbal Comprehension 132 98th%
Visual Spatial 138 99th%
Working Memory 72 3rd%
Full Scale IQ 121 92nd%
Vocabulary Acquisition 127 96th%
Nonverbal 106 (120 estimated) 66% (91st%)
General Ability 143 99.8th %

Test was taken with DDS was just shy of 4yrs. He was having some issues in his montessori school so they suggested we have him evaluated. He is now in a playbased preschool as we thought montesorri wasn't a good fit and he was miserable. He is in a 4yr class even though he should be in the 3rd old class based on his birthday (he just misses cutoff). Our plan has been to put him in kindie next year (he will be the youngest but also the tallest) instead of waiting a year.

He does have some attention and sensory issues (over excited, difficulty self regulating in a multi sensory environment...like gym). This can interfere with his class and cause him anxiety. We are wondering what makes sense in the long run.... Stay the course and place him in kindie next year (where he will be youngest but tallest)? or put him in a private "gifted" pre-k class (where he will be the oldest)? We don't want to over analyze but he's a great kid and we want him to be happy and so far he hasn't liked school much.

I am a bit concerned about the sensory overload issue and his very low working memory score and wonder if that may hold any clues as to what is best for him. (I should note that the working memory portion of the test was given towards the end when his attention/engagement was limited so i don't think it's a completely accurate score but still....)

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Overall, those are good scores for a not-quite-four-year-old. Do you feel that the working memory (which is quite low) is consistent with anything you see IRL? I notice you say he has some attention issues. That can certainly affect working memory scores. Were the subtests within the indices consistent with each other? Or was there diversity within clusters (roughly > 3 scaled score difference)?

We didn't have quite the same situation, as we didn't have a gifted program option. We ended up skipping K and going from 4-yo preschool straight to 1st. Similarly, though, we had a very excitable, impulsive preschooler, with fleeting attention, and had to consider what would provide the best match on the maximum number of indicators. We considered social, cognitive, and physical factors (e.g., naps, length of day), among other things, and ultimately concluded that, for our child, the mismatch in social maturity was not going to be fully closed anyway, by staying with the younger children, and the increase in social mismatch involved in moving into the higher grade was smaller than the decrease in cognitive/academic mismatch.

In your case, I would ask what the classes are actually doing in the standard K vs the gifted preK. It may be that the pace and quality of instruction will help make your decision clearer. It may also be worthwhile sitting with him over a period of several encounters to try to tease out what it is he doesn't like about school.