Well, DD6 took the WISC IV today! So of course I am biding my time until we have initial results tomorrow. But I am curious to know how long the testing lasted? I was a little concerned that she was done in just about 1 hr 20 min or so (I think?) Maybe 1.5 hours? She is a pretty quiet kid and sort of hard to draw out which was my concern all along. And she didn't really tell me much about it -- also typical for her. But she's such an internal processor I am hoping the tester could get a good read on her?

Did the tester say how long it would take before your child went it? 1.5 hours seems right, but many other posters have tons more experience! Did the tester say anything to provide any hints? If it was way shorter, you'd think they'd make a comment and say why (uncooperative, having a bad day...)

Are you supposed to get a written report? They usually provide comments as to how the testing went with the child's cooperation and things. If you don't think the results represent your child well, you could talk to the tester about why that might have been the case (poor connection with tester, didn't feel well, distracted...my DD's first report said she was VERY distracted by a particular doll house in the room)

I guess you'll find out more soon!

Hi
I think our tester said 1:15 to 1:30 was about normal when we brought DS in. I honestly opened up a book and started reading to avoid thinking about how long he was in there. I think it was in the range of 1:30 but I'm not really certain. It sounds about right for 1:20.
At least you don't have long to wait.

OK, sounds good -- I think in our first conversation she said 2 hrs but then that morn she said 1.5. So maybe that was wrong. We will have a written report but not for a week or two. Interestingly, she did come out toward the end for her teddy bear. I just have this "feeling" it wasn't the best, easiest, most productive morning ever. She woke up in the night the night before, though not for long...and she just seemed like her "younger self" -- does that make sense? Like not the big, grown up confident girl I've come to know.

Also, in our first conversation I said 1st grade -- so she probably thought "oh she's 7." and she's a late summer birthday so she's the youngest in her class -- and is still 6. So maybe that had something to do with it?

Anyway, we'll know very soon so there is no sense in speculating, I suppose.

DS (6) kinder was in there for about 2 hours with a couple of 5-10 minute breaks. DD (8) second grade was in there for about 1 1/2 hours with a quick restroom break.

If it's her first 1:1 testing experience it was probably just a little overwhelming. Does she understand why she's doing it? I used to tell my DD it was "brain research" (because she's like the brain since she was 4) and we wanted to know sooo much about her, she's so cool! I'll be a bit more down to earth this time, she has updated testing coming up (hasn't had it in 3 1/2 years). She understands the mismatch in school much more now, being more experienced in 3rd grade and she can see that we're trying to help but it's like science, you have to keep gathering information before you make conclusions and figure out what to do next.

So guess who woke up with a fever this morning!? Yep, DD6. So, on Wed. night she woke up hot and a bit sweaty but from her room being warm -- no fever, no complaints of not feeling well. She was happy and excited all morning yesterday and then seemed quite reserved going into the testing yesterday, but perked back up after and we actually had a mommy daughter afternoon at the mall. Then this morning slept in late (not like her) and went in to get her up for school and she's in bed sick, warm, and stuffed up.

So maybe she wasn't feeling well yesterday!? Ack!!

It was her first 1:1 testing and we just told her that the doctor wanted to see how she learns best. We said she'd be doing puzzles and thing similar to what she does with her gifted teacher at school, etc.

Soooooo....

Those darn kids and their timing!! (lol)

I know, right!? Well, what can you do!?

My older son ended up testing with a fever and being sick. It was the only time slot for the summer, and the tester said that she'd note the file that he was sick so if the scores weren't what we expected, we could request a retest. He still qualified, so with any luck, your daughter will as well. But I'd let the tester know so they can note it in case the scores aren't what you're expecting.

Thanks so much for this. I just e-mailed the tester, so we'll see if she says anything about it? I don't know...but at least now she knows!

I bet her scores will be great.

When my DD was testing in K we had to get off the highway, call the tester and then turn back and go home because she was throwing up like crazy, and of course not expecting this to happen and her being 5 (not 1) I didn't have a change of clothes in the diaper bag (lol!).

She was sick for a couple of days and then the second phase of that testing also had to be broken up into two more visits and it got quite spread out and chopped up. She was also having alot of problems in school, which is why we were trying to get through the testing in the first place.

Anyway she still scored really high.

Soooo, the moral of my story is, maybe your DD gave the tester her last good 1.5 hrs before falling apart, and you'll be pleasantly surprised. If not, you've communicated the issue and I'm sure the notes will be in there.

(When DD was tested in K, we were give a draft that we were asked to read and any feedback we had was incorporated for the final draft, but I don't know how common that is. The tester did misinterpret a couple of key points we provided during the intake meeting, her wording struck us like...whaaaat?...so it was a good chance to catch that).

Interesting...so sorry to hear she was sick and that the tet was delayed, etc. Kinda crazy, right!?

I just had this "feeling" it didn't go well? Not sure why? But maybe it was just me? I've always been a bit worried b/c she's shy and quiet and very much an "internal processor" that maybe she wouldn't speak up enough?? But that is one good thing about private testing. It isn't going to the school unless I want it to!

It is kinda hard though b/c she needs a 133 to get into the program -- doesn't that seem quite high for a public school program which really amounts to maybe 2-3 hours per week of being pulled out? I just can't imagine...that seems tough...even under the best of circumstances?

I don't know the background on your child but there must be things you have noticed about her or things she's done that indicate her giftedness so I would just concentrate on that for the time being and try not to think too much about the test results. Maybe in a couple of weeks you'll be posting again needing help with extended norms!!

Your doubtful feeling might just be your own stuff. Cold feet or editing your instincts, alot of us moms do that. You'll still love your DD the same when you know her number.

Scores in the range from 115-130 are sometimes referred to as "bright" and sometimes as "mildly gifted" or "moderately gifted". 130(ish) is an often used cutoff for admission to GT programs, I think partly because it is a threshold for a common score-based definition of giftedness these days, and possibly because modern GT programs often suffer from a lack of funding to serve more children. Yes, roughly 1 in 50 or less is fairly rare compared to what you'd expect to see on average in a typical public school classroom; only one child in 2-3 classrooms would qualify. Still, out of the children left behind, the idea might be (hopefully) to at least provide some form of enrichment, and for those children there's a greater chance of in-classroom strategies actually working.

There are some GT programs with very low criteria for entry (I believe Cricket2 lives in an area with such programs) and they are not without their own problems, since they may increase the chance that, by orientation to the greatest common denominator, the programs will serve highly gifted children no better than ordinary classrooms. Remember that out of any slice of the gifted population, most scores will cluster at the lower part of the range. The ideal gifted program (or program for anyone) would involve perfectly individualized instruction, which almost never happens; barring that, the next best thing for a particular gifted child could well be a program where they did not feel out of their depth, but were as close to the gateway score(s) as possible.

Lucounu -- thanks for the info! Glad to hear that this is pretty much within rage for school criteria. I thought I read (possibly here?) that many school (or at least some) schools accept a 95th percentile on the MAP tests as entrance? So, it seemed to me that would be a lower threshold?

Anyway, I guess we'll know soon enough!

Bzylzy -- Ha, ha! You've really helped me today -- while I wait -- thanks for the positive encouragement. And maybe you'll be right? We have all the evidence she's gifted, all the signs since a very young age, and very high MAP scores. She's been pulled out for gifted the past two years -- under a "phase 2 intervention" -- meaning, they are looking at her. And that is very rare especially in kindergarten. But they prefer to test in late 2nd to mid 3rd grade and we just didn't want to wait that long.

So we'll see!!!

If I recall correctly, 95th percentile or above is in the NWEA MAP documentation as being a general gifted cutoff. I've also read that some schools use it as a cutoff. I just know 130 is a pretty common cutoff too. I guess I agree with the feeling that the threshold should be lowered a bit when the GT program is not full-time, since then the gifted programming tends to assume the role of enrichment more.

Yes, our district claims to already teach a full grade level above average (don't really believe it) and to have so many bright students that they have to raise the standard. So, luckily I do believe it is a good school! And if we don't get it then we don't -- it is OK, luckily she's a good kid and very young. If we need to revisit it later we can.

Try not to worry too much about it! My guess is she did great

FWIW, our ds has been tested multiple times, and he always tests consistently at around the same level. The first time he had an IQ test it was spread over two sessions, each seemed like they were around 90 minutes. The second time he had an IQ test, I wasn't sure that I wanted to share the results from his first evaluation, so I took him in for testing and then sat in the waiting room with the envelope containing the first testing report contemplating whether or not I should give it to the neurospych who was testing him that day. After about 30 minutes, they both came out for a water break, so I decided to just give her the report so I could go run an errand and forget about it all.... (ds was supposed to be at her office all day).... I gave her the report, told her the #s... and she replied "Yep, that's right in range with what he had when I tested him this morning!"... sooooo... go figure!

Then... he had his third test a few years later through school, but we were not going to be told when he would be tested, which was frustrating for me, because I wanted to try to be sure he got a good night's sleep and had a good breakfast before testing. Instead, what happened was I took him ice skating on an early school release day, he took a hard fall, fell on his head, sliced his mouth open when he bit it during the fall, had a headache that was still raging the next morning but went to school anyway because it was during the one part of the school year where kids got to spend the full week studying a special elective class (one topic) of their choice.... and wouldn't you know it, that's when they pulled him out for testing. Not only did he have a mega-headache still... he was fuming mad because he had to miss the class he was so excited about!

He still had the same IQ profile.

Once again, go figure!

I hope your dd gets into the program!

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thanks Polarbear -- this is encouraging as well. I guess it seems the test isn't quite as volatile as it might seem to be the, huh? It kind of freaks me out that it is just this one woman -- deciding this number -- and voila! That's it! Ha, ha! Even though I know that's not really it at all.

I am painting my kitchen table now. Ha!

My youngest was in that spot with the EXPLORE when she took it. She told me that she's wasn't feeling that well on the way in, but I figured that she just didn't want to take it and it was the last testing of the season, so I made her go anyway (I know, this is beginning to sound a lot more like this is on me than your situation lol!). when I picked her up, she had an outright fever and started vomiting in the car on the way home.

FWIW, while I think that it was far from her best performance, she had a few areas such as math where she did quite well none the less.

It's been so long since my kids were tested on the WISC-IV that I can't recall how long that took, though, on your original question and they both took it in connection with a bunch of other tests on the same day so I'm not sure what time was devoted to the WISC and what time was part of other tests. Like others have said, 1.5 hrs sounds about right, though.

Oh wow -- that's crazy, Cricket! I can't believe how many people have similar stories!! And look at all of these smart cookies doing great under difficult circumstances!

Got the results! And talk about unusual circumstances, we were in the car on the way to the children's hospital for an x-ray for my younger daughter who is having GI issues -- so not an emergency, but we had to get there before the end of the day so I was trying to take notes while driving so that was interesting!

Anyway, she qualified!

So I guess her comprehension was low b/c she was really hesitant to warm up and talk much (it was a 10) so she switched to information instead which she said takes more one-word answers and she got a 17. And then her processing was only 97 -- she said just really taking her time and trying to do everything perfectly which she said wasn't uncommon with gifted kids. So, with the two low scores I guess her full scale (is that what it is called?) was 132. Which qualifies, because with the range it still gets to 133. And her GAI (which is also accepted by our district) -- and I am not even really familiar with what that is but she said it was throwing out the slow processing speed since that isn't unusual for gifted kids -- was 146. So she's well within the district standards, and she'll be writing a recommendation as such.

So, whew! I am not even really sure what to think! Happy, of course! Kinda shocked!

Congratulations! I'm glad to hear that she qualified.

Thanks Elizabeth! Me too. Now for a drink! ha, ha!

Congratulations!

Wow, all that good news AND it's the weekend! Nice!

That's just what my same dd from above's profile looked like -- 130 FSIQ and 148 GAI with a low comprehension score (12) vs. much higher other scores in the other two verbal indices.

Congrats!

Congratulations! Exciting news for you!

Thanks everyone!

Cricket -- does that "mean" anything (other than the obvious) when there is such a big difference between the FSIQ and GAI?

I have to tell you since I am going through a bit of a medical mystery with my younger daughter it is really nice to have this mystery revealed -- and now I know I'm not crazy. Whew!

I would hesitate to say anything for sure based solely on an IQ profile. Especially in your instance since your dd may have been sick, it may just have been an off day.

My dd is twice exceptional, however. It has become more obvious as she's gotten older (both that she is very gifted and that she has something else going on). She is HG and has an ADD diagnosis and possible dyslexia. When she was younger, she tended to look "bright," but neither significantly gifted nor LD to many people.

She, none the less, performs well above grade level in everything and is doing well in accelerated classes. She does have challenges, though, and doesn't perform on par with 99.9th percentile as I'd expect it.

I suspect that she is able to do as well as she does despite her other issues b/c she is very, very intelligent.

OTOH, my older dd is not 2e and she had a bit of a nutty profile on the WISC-IV as well when she as 7. Her FSIQ and GAI weren't as far apart mostly b/c she also bombed one piece of the perceptual reasoning index, which is part of the GAI and FSIQ, and b/c she did very well on the working memory index, which is only in the FSIQ not GAI so her rather low processing speed index didn't depress the FSIQ much below the GAI.

My oldest was uncooperative to some extent and had some major anxiety issues going at the point she was tested.

I mention the second one b/c there are times when you get really high #s combined with really low #s (my kiddo's ranged from 8-19+ within one index) and there is no 2e issue going on, just a kid being a kid.

Cricket -- thanks so much for the info. I do sometimes wonder and worry about why dd is so reluctant to speak up? Is it something in her social and emotional experience or something in her brain? Even her gifted teacher at school has said how quiet she is. (Although she still does really well with kids at school -- isn't really afraid a lot and seems to enjoy school -- so she isn't really what I would call just shy.) Also, her gifted teacher talks about how persistant she is -- working slowly but surely on something, and while other kids just give up and move on she never gives up -- and she just works until she's right -- and she's always right.

How old was your DD when ADD became apparent? I can see that -- sort of -- with Natalie -- but not in a hyper way at all -- more in a my brain is going faster than I can keep up with sort of a way.

She had reflex anoxic seizures (an involuntary breath-holding spell from pain or startle that leads to passing and out and then a seizure) from 14 mos - 4.5 years. Believe it or not -- she got it from me -- I had them too. It is like her brain couldn't process the pain or startle info and just shut down -- once it matured a bit it was able to take in the information and sort through it (my words - not a doctor's). But I sometimes wonder if it is the same thing with her intelligence?

My dd, too, is not hyper per se although she can talk non-stop at home (she, too, is known by her teachers for being quiet and when I see how she is at school she looks present in body only at times).

In hindsight, it was apparent from early on -- by 1st grade at least and possibly much, much sooner. B/c her issues are related to "inattentiveness," which seems to be her attention being in too many places or her mind moving in many directions at once rather than inability to pay attention from what I can see, the issues really weren't something that would be issues prior to school, though.

When she's been asked to do tasks, such as reading, that require prolonged attention to one thing without the mental divergences, that's when it has been really apparent. She takes forever on things b/c she can't stay focused on that one thing or she does less than her best b/c she can't or doesn't sustain the mental energy needed to stick it through and do her best.

Those types of issues were apparent by 1st grade but not to teachers b/c she was still performing well by the standards they had, which were for children of average intellect. Likewise, I suspect that many or most of her current teachers would say the same -- they don't see the LD b/c she compensates well enough that she does not stand out to someone who doesn't know her as well as I do.