Hello,

My son was tested by the school psychologist two years ago, at age 7, for the gifted program. He didn't qualify at that time. Now in 3rd grade, his teacher mentioned that she considered referring him to the gifted program, so we had him re-tested.

While his FSIQ is consistent between the two tests, his performance on the sub tests seems highly varied to me. The report from the school psychologist does not include any comparison/analysis of this test to the original results. Although he isn't gifted based on these tests, I'm hoping someone can help explain the variances between the results. Also worth noting is that the school chose to administer the latest WISC-V immediately following state achievement testing. He wrapped up three consecutive days of state testing before lunch and was given the WISC-V after lunch on the final day. Regardless, DS indicated to me that he enjoyed the WISC-V testing and thought it was fun.

Although he does well in school, with grades in all subjects maintained in the 90's with minimal effort, we feel that he does not work to his potential in most areas. I realize it may just be his personality to do the minimum required to get by, but if there are any indicators in his test results that we should look into, I'd like to do so now before his schoolwork becomes more challenging.

Age 7:
VCI 127 96th percentile
VSI 117 87th
FRI 115 84th
WMI - not administered
PSI 80 9th
FSIQ 111 77th
GAI 120 91st

Age 9:
VCI 124 95th percentile
VSI 108 70th
FRI 103 58th
WMI 115 84th
PSI 100 50th
FSIQ 113 81st
GAI 116 86th

Subtest Results age 7 - age 9
SI 14 - 14
VC 16 - 15
BD 10 - 12
VP 16 - 11
MR 14 - 8
FW 11 - 13
DS 11 - 14
PS not administered - 11
CD 5 - 7
SS 8 - 13

I appreciate any feedback.

Thank you,
Emily

Keeping in mind that the index level is the most robust level of interpretation, there are a couple of notable changes in subtest scores, though most of them are fairly consistent from test to test. Also, as general commentary, though I don't, of course, have any direct observational data on this, it doesn't look like he was too affected by the timing of testing, as the tasks that are usually most sensitive to inattention and fatigue (WMI & PSI) are generally average or above, and uniformly higher than on previous testing, where comparisons are possible.

At the index level, he has a pretty clear, consistent pattern of personal and normative strength in the language area, and average skills in the nonverbal areas. His strength area is very suited to traditional school expectations, especially in the primary years, when language has an even larger role than it does later on, and is in a range often described as optimal intelligence--strong enough to excel and be appreciated by educators, but not so far out of the norm that systems struggle to provide appropriate supports.

The changes at the index level are not extremely significant, except in PSI, which rose markedly, though they do result in nominal changes in classifications (High Average to Average, Low Average to Average). Without some clinical/test observations, there is not an obvious specific explanation for the lower VP and MR scores, though in general, first grade scores are less stable than third grade scores. The PSI changes are easier to understand, as CD is a different task at the two ages, and SS likewise is a slightly different task. Also, many young children lack the fine motor skills to efficiently complete the PSI subtests, with the wide range of NT fine motor development adding a layer of variability to those scores. They may also be unfamiliar with timed tasks, and lack a sense of urgency.

I will note that the most fine-motor-involved task on the test is also where his lowest score is (not horrible, but in the Low Average range). That is probably the primary area I would keep an eye on, as it is also consistent across test administrations. With regard to the lack of effort, it is possible that it is temperamental, that it is developmental, or any number of other reasons, but it is also possible that he finds handwriting just laborious enough that extra written output is aversive. If handwriting or other hand skills are significant concerns across settings and tasks, you may wish to consider consulting with an occupational therapist about fine-motor skills.

You may also wish to go back to the school psych who administered the test and ask these same questions, as they will be in a better position to comment on test observations.

Although I am not working now, I used to be a special education teacher. I too would have his fine motor checked out by an OT....can't hurt.

And in the meantime over the summer could you become real arts and crafty? All the work in arts and crafts can strengthen those muscles....play dough (or other clay and dough crafts), collages, painting, cutting, etc. just fun ways to work the fine motor. Michaels and even Oriental Trading Co have kits and supplies. For my gifted kid when we homeschooled we might learn about a culture in historical context and their artwork and then do our own....so cutting up small squares and triangles of construction paper and glueing down our own mosaics was part of history but I was also working on some OT goals. I had fun too.