Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC-IV and SB-V scores: low VCI, any thoughts?

Drangon's Mom,
I get that raising this kid has been hard, and that the school has not been able to build a working relationship with you - and I send compassion to you for both of these situations - I've been there.

But, if you can set that aside, lets look at the scores and see if there really is a big difference between the school's sores at age 8 and the private scores at age 8.

I put italics for the Verbal IQ and Bold for the Performance or Nonverbal IQ. Do you see that the Verbal IQ scores are the same for all 3 tests, and the Performance IQs are almost identical for both age 8 tests.

Processing speed and Working memory are important, but they just aren't felt to reflect intellectual strength. Every school lives in fear of skipping the wrong kid. What could be more 'the wrong kid' than a kid with great memory, well able to get their words out, but really a great fit with their agemates in terms of how deeply they are learning? That's the whole point of using IQ tests instead of just giving end of year tests and placing kids where they are shown to need to be. The IQ tests try and 'predict the future' to say, well at age 6 your child was certianly very advanced in his problem solving skills, but was he a fast developer, or is he on a course to develop an unusal level of intelligence.

I compare it to babies who may be very tall at 6 months old, and at the 90th percentile, but have shorter than average parents. Is the kid going to keep growing at that rate, or is it just a precosious growth that will slowly and gently head back to his family norm over the next 20 years. I know kids from each catagory.

You might say that there is a third possibility, that the child who starts of tall with short parents is meant to be tall, but was under poor growth conditions, and is now short because of an environmental problem. And by analogy, all those years at school could certianly have had a negative effect on your boy's problem solving ability. But then when one looks at the average Verbal IQ, it seems just as possible that the performance IQ spike was just a matter of precosiousness.

It seems like homeschooling your son is the only way to know for sure. Only your mom-gut will know if he would gain more than he might lose, but I can totally understand the school not wanting to accelerate your son. Of course that isn't the same as understanding why the school won't figure out what his learning strengths are and helping him get more challenge in those areas. PRI is really tough for schools to provide appropriate challenge in, because it's about problem solving rather than retained knowledge - and that sure isn't in the job description of most elementary schools.

If I were shopping for a private school, I would look for one that likes active boys, and it very into hands on and project based learning where the PRI has a chance to shine. Afterschool I would look for a mentor who would help him build things with a hammer and nails and design new products to solve old problems based on his interests. Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.

As I mom, I would keep believing that the problem solving afinity is in there, and look for ways to encourage that flame.
But I would also be careful about not mistaking the high speed and good working memory for the kind of school smarts that start being needed in middle school when the abstract thinking starts up. And be ready to pause in the middle of a TV show and ask: "Why does this character do that? What else could the character have done? Why do you think he didn't?"

I hope that helps,
Grinity