I'm guessing you've already had your meeting with the psychologist, but in case you haven't, the questions I'd ask are:

1) What order did she give the subtests in? (I'm curious if the two subtests that are relatively low were at the end of testing). If you didn't have a chance to ask this, you can google "Order of WISC subtests" and find out - it's my understanding that they are supposed to be given in the same order each time.

2) What reasons does the psych feel came into play re the lower subtest scores? Did she see other issues? Does she recommend any follow-up testing? Is there anything you can look for in your dd's academic work or life functioning that would show a correlation with lower scores in those areas?

3) Is the subtest scatter statistically significant? There is a certain amount of scatter that is acceptable; above a certain amount composite scores are considered not reliable. I think the statistically significant difference is greater than 1.5 SDs, but I'm not 100% certain of that. If it happens that your dd's scores *are* statistically far enough apart to question the VCI and PRI calculations, then you can certainly use that to explain a possible reason why they aren't higher if you share the scores with the school. It's usually important in advocating, however, that if you have a case of scores that don't make sense or are scattered or don't match achievement scores etc that you also dig into *why* they are what they are. Just stating that you can't trust them or they aren't accurately reflecting ability without that understanding of what's at the root of it doesn't usually gain you anything when advocating, plus it could mean you are missing out on the opportunity to help your child with an issue that's not obvious on the surface.

FWIW, one of my daughters has a considerably higher WM/PSI than VIQ/PRI (VIQ and PRI are "high", just not as high as WM/PSI). My experience having seen her through several years of school now, as she goes into higher grades and more challenging work, is that I believe she needs to be placed where her VIQ/PRI put her, not the WM/PSI. If anything, having her uber-high WM/PSI just makes her impatient and more likely to become frustrated and not want to have to deal with the details of work such as checking spelling etc. It hasn't caused her to have the same need for a rapid pace of learning or depth of discussion that my higher PRI/VIQ ds needs, so I would be hesitant to accelerate her to the same degree or put her in the same pace of classes that ds needs. Hope that makes sense!

It doesn't mean your dd isn't gifted or doesn't need challenging classes, just that I'd be hesitant to make the class placement decision based on WM/PSI without equally high PRI/VIQ. And of course classwork, achievement testing etc are all important too.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Last edited by polarbear; 05/06/14 01:24 PM.