So, I finally called around for pricing for IQ testing. I've had quotes from a couple hundred dollars just for the test and no interpretation to well over a thousand dollars for a whole work-up. The whole work-up won't be an option in this life time, so I'm leaning towards the cheapest option.
The absolute cheapest place does the WJ-III cognitive with a regular tester, not a psychologist. They do have experience with gifted kids, though. I noticed that for DYS the WJ cognitive has a higher requirement, does that make it harder to use it to get in or does that limit reflect an artificial inflation from the WJ scores? He really seemed to enjoy the WJ achievement and I liked the relaxed approach to it- he doesn't do well with pressure. But, I'm not sure if the WJ cognitive is relaxed like the achievement.
The other places cost about double the first, but I would have a choice of the WISC or SB5. They would be with a psychologist but no formal interpretations would be available.
The only other thing I'm concerned about is that according to the people I spoke with today, we won't be able to re-do the WJ achievement for 6 months to a year (the answer varied). We're missing some of the subtests we need for Broad Reading and Broad Math. One of the people said that we probably couldn't have gotten the Reading Fluency (the one we're missing for the Broad Reading and the area I'm hoping we might qualify for DYS) anyways due to age. Does anyone know what the truth is in all that?
So, is an IQ test without an interpretation better than no IQ test at all or is it a waste of money without the interpretation? I've already tried getting the schools to pay for it and their suggestion was to put him in 1st grade and hope that the new school was more accommodating and willing to test than the last- that wouldn't even begin to be worth it for "free" testing that they may or may not give! Short of winning the lottery, this really seems to be our only option, but I don't want to waste the money if it's a useless option.
One more question- what would our chances of being accepted to DYS with portfolio and the partial achievement scores? Are people actually admitted just on portfolio?
