I'm hoping some of the folks on here have some insight into this. I'm having a difficult time finding much on the KABC-II and testing gifted, and I know there are many knowledgeable people on this forum.
My son was administered the KABC-II last year (he'd just turned age 6) as part of an IEP process for his SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder) by the school psychologist. I understand why he'd chose the KABC, kids like it and it's more fair demographic assessment, but I've also read it can be an inaccurate assessment of giftedness, especially when the child has other issues such as SPD (which my son has.) He scored in the 98-99% for 3 of the 5 areas, 96% for another, and high average 90% for one. His overall IQ from the KAFB-II was 124.
Based upon his abilities and just the way he thinks, I'm pretty sure the KABC-II was an inaccurate representation of his abilities. He taught himself to read right after his 4th birthday, was skip counting at age 4 and doing simple math. Now he's age 6 in first grade and doing division and multiplication, some fractions, reads at at least a 3rd grade level. He also can work double digit addition/subtraction in his head. And the questions he asks are not 6 year old questions!
I am planning on scheduling him for the WISC-IV with a psychologist experienced with testing gifted. My question is, do you think this is really warranted? None of the local extra-curricular programs for gifted in my area will accept the KABC, and he'd need one more point to qualify anyway. It's expensive, but if it opens doors for him, I think it would be worth it. Anyone have any thoughts? Is the KABC-II usually a close approximation or can it be off by quite a bit?
