My 10 year old son was tested by the school in the fall 2014 (he was 9). He was given the WISC IV and WAIT III. A processing speed issue was discovered and he receives extended time now. He recently took the SCAT for grade 4 (normed at grade 6). He ran out of time on math despite extra time (time and 1/2). I will attached all scores. He is elible for CTY on line courses and others, but they are expensive. I see he doesn't quite make the cut off for Young Scholars and am wondering if it is worth pursuing any further via portfolio or if I should just wait it out or if there are other options. He is currently taking a summer tech camp at MIT and is in Heaven...next year his plan for grade 5 is very vague and I would like to have options for coursework. They denied a grade skip and have a wait and see attittude. Thoughts?????

WISC
Scale Composite score percentile
VCI 132 95
PRI 131 16 *i think this is a typo
WMI 120 91
PSI 85 16
FSIQ 125 95


WAIT
total reading 133 99
math 126 96

SCAT
verbal 454 86
math 459 82 *

*he ran out of time and answered only 31/50...which mean I think he gots most if not all correct. This makes me think that he made need untimed testing accomodations rather than extra time.

You might want to check your scores, as some of the numbers don't match up:

132 is the 98th %ile
131 is the 98th %ile

The remaining WISC and WIAT standard scores match their percentiles.

The GAI (derived from only VCI and PRI) may also be a better representation of your son's cognition, especially given the extreme relative weakness in PSI; I expect it would fall in the low-to-mid 130s. Did the psych compute that for you? Oh, and with that PSI score, the PRI may be somewhat of an underestimate, as one of the required subtests is timed. Actually, one of the WMI subtests is timed, too.

To my knowledge, none of the major group standardized tests of the SAT/ACT/PSAT/PACT variety allow completely untimed testing. Usually, one must request +50% time or +100% time. It is possible that this applies to the SCAT as well.

In any case, his SCAT math score appears in line with his WIAT math score (which is completely untimed), so he may not have lost as much as you fear from the SCAT.

I don't know whether a reasonable portfolio for DYS can be assembled from your son's data, not having attempted to do so, but I will note that most of his scores are a standard deviation or more away from the DYS minimum--not an insubstantial difference, which suggests that it would be a bit of an uphill climb. Other than the slow processing speed (for which, if you have not already done so, you may wish to request a 504, most likely under the neurological classification, in Massachusetts--I assume you have, since he had accommodations for the SCAT), your son actually has quite a nice profile for excelling in school within the range of services usually available in high-performing districts, especially once he reaches the secondary level, when honors/pre-IB/IB/pre-AP/AP classes start to become available.

Is he unhappy at school? What specific concerns do you have about his educational needs/services?

Thank you for that well-thought out response. The school psych did not provide a GAI.

He is happy in school because this year he had a teacher that gave him above grade level work and he completed it pretty independently (she showed him how to access the material on line, but other than that he was on his own). His writing is pretty advanced for his grade as well.

The school did not want to whole grade accelerate bc it is not a common practice, but they assured us that they could meet his academic needs. He has already completed next year's math and will need something different.

Our son is at his best in the throes of learning and is at his worst when he feels an iota of boredom or lack of structure. We are just trying to figure out how to access more for him in a cost effective way.

He is currently doing an ID Tech camp and LOVING it.

And yes, he is on a 504 for the processing.

Thanks for the response!

Good that the school is at least willing to give him more advanced work in his existing grade placement, even if they won't whole grade accelerate at the moment. The nominal grade level is not as important as the instructional level.