My son made several comments about the questions on the WISC IV being "weird". Hmmm?
This made me think of something else funny in the psych's notes (which are now in the IEP): "this subtest required him to repeat a series of unrelated words. As the word strings became longer, he exclaimed, 'That doesn't make sense! I don't like it!' This is actually a positive sign that he is monitoring for meaning, and that he understands that meaningful information is easier to recall." Um, yes, but what did that do to his score? did he keep going or did that lead to him stopping prematurely? these are things I'm asking myself (and duh, Mr. VSL prefers meaningful info, who doesn't).
It sounds like you're correct about the SB-5 being better for VSLs
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/About_GDC/newiqtests.htm :
10. In selecting an instrument to use for assessing the gifted, it is necessary to keep in mind that the WISC-IV and the SB5 identify different students as gifted. As 30% of the WISC-IV measures abstract verbal reasoning, compared to 10% of the SB5, the WISC-IV is likely to find more highly verbal children. As 20% o]f the SB5 measures mathematically gifted children, compared to 0 � 10% of the WISC-IV (depending if Arithmetic, an optional test, is administered), the SB5 is likely to find more mathematically gifted children. While 20% of each test is devoted to the measurement of visual-spatial abilities, there may be more visual-spatial content in the SB5, so it may be preferable for locating spatially gifted children.
It would seem then that the SB-5 would be the preferable test for my ds6, at least for the purpose of identifying giftedness. I haven't gone on to look at the other advantages and disadvantages yet... Interestingly, dd was tested at the GDC on the WISC, but that may have been before they realized she was a VSL, and they may preferred it for other reasons (we were actively looking for LD type issues).
