My son is 5 and 3 months, and he was tested by a private school using the WPPSI test. We just got his scores in the mail today and his IQ is 149, which is less than the 150 required for DYS.

The individual scores are

Performance IQ 152
Verbal IQ 147
Processing Speed Quotient 122
Full Scale IQ 149

He seems to have done (relatively) badly in a section called "Coding" - his score is a 12 on that section, all the others are 17-19. He got a 16 in "Symbol Search" in the Processing Speed section but that was not cosidered for the IQ number.

Can we still apply for the DYS program?

Thanks!
Concerned parent

Hi!

Do you have achievement test results also? If your DS's achievement scores meet/exceed the minimum requirement, I'd encourage you to apply.

Good luck!
Mag

DYS requires 150+ for Verbal, Performance or Full Scale and you your DS has it for Performance, so therefore meets their criteria for IQ. Personally, I would not be concerned about the processing speed. You'll need either achievement scores or a portfolio to apply. Good luck!

Exactly!

A 12 is the 75th percentile, so all in all his motor skills and speed seem to be a lot better some other gifted kids, mine included. My oldest had scores around 9 and 10 in the two subtests that make up the processing speed index in the WISC.

Especially if you've got comparable achievement scores, he sounds like a good candidate.

Thanks all!

He didn't get any achievement testing, and we don't plan to. We will apply with the portfolio option and see what happens.

Though I really don't know what kind of portfolio I can put together for a mathy-reading kid, who is not artistic or musical in the least

Video him talking about his favorite books and explaining what he is doing in Math recently....Book reports if they show him, Math work samples. Good luck!

Thats a great idea! My son doesnt like to write, so no book reports (He's just 5 and Im not going to push :)) We could do a video of him doing some math.

Quick clarification - is a portfolio required even if the IQ score is above the threshold? I took another look at the DYS website and it seems to be AND/OR. Is the portfolio required because his score is barely above 150?

Either portfolio or achievement testing is required in addition to IQ score, and you indicated that you would not pursue achievement testing. That only leaves portfolio. They want to see evidence of performance consistent with ability.

Ah, thank you! Didn't realize it was 2 out of 3. We just got the test scores in the mail yesterday and slightly overwhelmed by it all. I must check with the school district if they do any achievement testing.

Happy New Year!

I hope it's ok to quickly clarify this, Dottie. Have they changed their qualification criteria? I think sometime ago, I took what they wrote on their website to mean that DYS requires IQ score and either an achievement test result or portfolio. We are planning for DS8 to take the EXPLORE soon. We haven't sought an IQ score yet. If he does well and qualifies via EXPLORE, do you think we could try to apply with just EXPLORE results and a portfolio, without doing the IQ test? Thanks for your thoughts and hope I'm not hijacking this thread to ask my question.

The application says two of the three, so if IQ scores were mandatory previously, they are not now. :-)

Thanks Dottie and Gifted Mom! And Happy New Year to all

To extend this topic, my son (5y 5m) was recently tested with WPPSI-III and has the following scores:

Verbal:
Information - 15
Vocab - 16
Word Reasoning - 13
Total - 138

Performance:
Block Design - 18
Matrix Reasoning - 18
Picture Concepts - 17
Total - 148

Coding - 11

With a full of 138.

From my understanding of DYS, he would not qualify since neither his Verbal or Performance is above 150. Is that correct?

If so, I have a couple other questions (not to complain, just to understand). I thought his performance score was hitting the ceiling and he might have scored higher if the test allowed it. How can he hit the ceiling and not qualify?

Also, are the sub scores out of 18 or 19? From other posts in this group, I would say 19. But our psychologist (who ran the test) said 18. (actually she said he got every question right in the Block and Matrix tests.). I am a bit confused by if he got every question right how could it not be the highest number? Should I request the raw score? (It sounds like she was either confused when she told us the results or they calculated the results wrong. Or I am the one who is confused... Actually I am confused...)

Thanks in advance.

correct. But when he turns 6, if he takes the WISC IV there is every reason to think he will likely have a score over 145.
'hitting the ceiling' isn't a set in stone idea. I dont' know DYS's exact reasoning about having the higher cut off for WIPPSI, but as you get to the top of the age range for any IQ test, it's harder to tease out the difference between 'very very gifted' and 'very very very gifted.'
Blame it on the test- so frustrating! The portfolio + achievement option is still availible. The IQ scores don't 'rule out' DYS deciding in his favor.

it is always possible that a mistake was make in calculating the scores...Dottie?

Smiles,
Grinity

Also, he took the WJ-III, but I don't understand the results or what DYS is asking. His results are:

Brief Reading: 158
Broad Reading: 134
Brief Math: 137
Broad Math: 137
Brief Writing: 146
Broad Writing: --

BTW, thanks for the quick response.

Although the brief scores are over 145, they are looking for Broad scores. You can always apply, but I wouldn't expect an acceptance.

Let's look at it another way - there must be something going on in your life that made you think, gee, having the support of DYS would make my life better. If you want to get specific and start a new topic about what those thoughts were in detail, I bet that some of us here have faced those problems and might have experience that would work for your family too. A kid doesn't need YSP-level scores to have YSP-level issues.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

A kid doesn't need YSP-level scores to have YSP-level issues.

Grinty: you are so on with this. I think any of us (or all of us) have had some very frustrating experiences in dealing with our schools or the school system. I feel lucky that my husband is a teacher and knows the system and I am a committed mom with interest and educational experience and some above average advocacy skills, so we are able to forge a path that we think at least kind of works for our DS.

But, in thinking about the last year and half, I have had some very desparate feeling moments where I just think OMG these people have no idea what my kid needs (and even if they do in some cases they don't want to do it). The most appealing part of DYS for me is the advocate - someone that can say these people aren't crazy - their kid has special needs - when we feel like we can't say it ourselves or that we are not taken seriously.

Having said that, I think one of the next best things is a forum like this because whether your kid has DYS scores or not, if you are here you have had some of those frustrating or desparate experiences.

I feel like my DS's 2nd grade teacher, but I have to say it "More Details" - what happened that made your feel desperate? What happened that made your think 'OMG'? What have you seen your kid do that makes you think that the folks have no idea what he needs?

Start a journal, with a timeline, document a bit more than you think you need to.

Start up a new thread in 'Advocacy' and start telling your story. What did you notice, what did you try, what worked? what didn't?

Each of these kids has really individual needs - close observation tells more than IQ numbers can. The numbers back you up, but the detail point towards a solution.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Dottie, you are correct, I had I typo. The overall verbal was 129. (overall was 138.).

Grinity, thanks for clearing that up for me. When I was reading qualification page I was confused with the WJ-III Ach and WJ-III Cong (and could not figure out how our numbers worked.).

Also, we had our son tested to help deal with emotional issues (basically asynchronous development). Since we already had the scores, I thought it would be nice to qualify for YSP.

What all you have said is very true. I expect reading these forums and getting advice from others that have been through similar experiences will very helpful.

Once again, thanks for all the helpful advice.

How is that all working out c-dog? Have you been able to find some peers for him to hang out with? What have you tried and what seems to work?
love and more love,
Grinity

We have just started down this gifted road. My DS (see, I am learning the lingo...) is very friendly and personal, but has trouble keeping long term friends. We have not searched out other gifted children yet, but may do so.

We have not started school yet either. (other than pre-school). His birthday is a couple weeks before the cutoff (k starts at 5 here). But we held him back because we did not want him to be the youngest in his class (I was growing up. It is not fun being the youngest/littlest). The ironic part is we may end up pushing to have him skip grades...

We recently changed him from an unstructured play based pre-k (where he wasn't doing well) to a structured academic K/transitional. He is doing great so far and loves it (fingers crossed).

Once again, thanks for the help.

DS had 19 in Block design and Picture Concepts and 17 in Matrix Reasoning and that worked out to 152 performance IQ, so I would guess they all max out at 19.

DrinkMoreWater,

On some tests, even if an older child gets every question right, they can't get the top score, because the frequency of children in the population who could get every question right goes up with age.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Yes, I have the subtests for WJ

Letter-Word Id - 156
Passage Comp - 135
Reading Flue - 140
Word Attach - 141

Calc - 129
Applied Problem - 133
Math Fluency - 111

Spelling - 146
Writing Samples - 146

In the report they also commented my DS had troubles with simple math (1+3 on paper). I found that odd because he knows all his addition / subtraction upto 20. My only guess is he took the WPPSI and WJ back to back (with WJ last) and he was getting tired.

On the WPPSI-III my daughter scores are as follows:

Verbal 150
Performance 125
Full Scale 144
General Language 146

She has the achievement test scores in two different areas.

On the test report it shows the verbal of 150 as greater than 99.9%. My question is whether to avoid the portfolio requirement does the verbal have to over 150 or is right at 150 sufficient. I was a little confused by the 150+.

Since the verbal does qualify with that 150, if the achievement also hits the mark you can probably do the application without a portfolio. Good luck!

Sorry, it took me so long to respond with the raw score. It took a while to get them.

For a 5 yr 5 mo:
Verbal: 129
Performance: 148

Information: 29
Vocab: 32
Word Reasoning: 21

Block Diagram: 38
Matrix: 25
Picture: 23

So, I guess our psychologist was incorrect when she said he did not miss any in Block Diagram and Matrix questions. (which originally confused me). Also, it looks like he is just a bit shy of qualifying (one more question right...).

On a side note: our psychologist wanted to see how our DS reacted when he wanted to do a task and failed (part of the emotional issues we are having). She informally gave him the block diagram test for high schoolers (I am not sure of the test name, but my son thought the block diagram test was "the best game ever" and wanted it for Christmas...). He correctly created ever one of them very quickly.

Thanks,
Chiledog (aka c-dog...)