Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WPPSI - age question / new and need help

I am taking my DC for the WPPSI next week. She will be 5 years, 10 1/2 months at the time of testing. What kind of effect will her age have on her results. I have heard that there can be a big effect on the scores from just a few days difference on the WPPSI. is there some sort of advantage to wait another month until she is 6. I am in no rush for the test, this timing just worked out right now. Thanks in advance for your input.

In another month and a half, she can take the WISC-IV, which has a lot more room for her to show her gifts. If there is not a looming deadline, I'd wait.

What does that mean that it has more room for her gifts? I am testing her because i think she is probably highly gifted (seems smarter than my other DC with fsiq of 148). Is it 'harder' for very gifted children to score high on the WPPSI? PS. I'd like to know more about her intelligence so I can advocate better for her at school.

We ended up being given the Stanford Binet V when we took our son (5y4m) for testing last fall. The tester was concerned that he would end up hitting a ceiling on the WPPSI, and he was too young for the WISC. He also said that the SB V is often a good (?better) test for kids like my son who are more mathematical, and has a very broad range in terms of age.

It seems like almost everyone on here has taken the WISC; any comments from the knowledgable types like Dottie or Grinity??

She is both very verbal and extremely logical and 'mathy'. I will need her to take the WISC at 7 1/2 for placement into the GT program. i don't know if she took the WISC at age 6 they would consider those scores since she's in K and the testing later would be for 3rd grade GT classes. that's why i picked the WPPSI. But i had not considered the SB-5. I guess i should consider whether that would be better.

Elizabeth -
It's really important to have goals whenever one does a test, to help guide the tester.
What are your goals?
Write them down and share them with us if you are comfortable...I think it will help.


I you think that your child is more than 'usually' gifted, then it is super important to find a tester who 'gets' gifted children, and can help you.

There is an advantage to waiting until age 6 and using the WISC. The problem with any gifted kid taking the WPPSI - not to mention an unusually gifted kid, is that they run out of test. You may be used to 5 year olds who read well, but if most 5 year olds don't read, then why put items that measure reading on the test? Since the WISC was designed for kids who do the sorts of activities that your child does, it will give a more accurate picture?

Hope that Helps,
Grinity

Another thing to keep in mind is that these are not achievement tests. Although a child may well do "better" or "worse" on any given day the theory is that IQ should not change that much. Whatever your DD scores on the WISC now, theoretically she should score pretty similar in 2 years time, because it is not supposed to be testing what she has learned but how she thinks. So the school should not need WISC results done at exactly 7 1/2.

I appreciate that explaination. I don't know what is on the test so I didn't really get how the higher test would capture what she could do whereas the WPPSI might not b/c it doesn't ask those questions.

My goal is to understand how intelligent she may/may not be so that i can confidently push for more challenges for her at school. She says she is constantly bored at school, but yet the teacher thinks she isn't bored because she is always busy. (Well of course she's busy... she's looking for any shred of interesting work anywhere she can find it. As if bored children just sit and look out the window all day). I am trying not to make the same mistake i made with my older child. Although i knew he could do multiplication in his head in 1st grade - they would put him in a math class where he added 2 apples with 1 apple. I would complain but they insisted that was where he belonged. "you know everyone thinks there child is smart" they would tell me. well finally i couldn't take it anymore and had him tested and he has a 148 fsiq (wisc), hit 2 ceilings one of which was arithmetic which wasn't even included in the fsiq calculation.

Having her take the test is really for me, so I can understand her intelligence and make sure i ask for what she needs at school.

i feel like i have to reconsider the wppsi now and investigate the sb5.

As much as we might like to think that IQ scores are stable, I really don't think that the data supports that and the younger the tester, the less stable the results. Granted, a child who tests HG as a young age is likely to still test gifted later, but is not likely to test as high on a second testing at an older age.

This article deals with group ability tests, not IQ, but addresses that general idea: http://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/dlohman/pdf/Gifted_Today.pdf

This is probably totally irrelevant to the original question, but I am just finding that the assumptions I've had in the past may be inaccurate and sharing ...

So it sounds like you are making the assumption that the best way to solve the problem: "Child is bored" is by getting private testing. This is the route you ended up taking with your older son - what happened after the testing? Did school change? Did you change schools? What options became available because of testing? Did the tester work with the school to get better options available?

If this is so - I would disagree. I don't think that you need testing as a first step, and the school may actually pay more attention to the testing that they do themselves. Have you told the school that she is bored? What was the response? The teacher seems to have blown you off. Have you tried again, with the 'well thanks for listening, but it looks to me like I'll have to take this up with the next level (principle) because we are perceiving the situation very differently - that happens sometimes - who do you recommend I speak to next' in a warm tone of voice tacked on? You want to make absolutely sure that the teach has some idea of how far apart your perspectives are before you take it to the next level - if possible. Have you tried asking the school to test your DD?

Or perhaps your are trying to solve the problem: "I believe my child is gifted, but I don't entirely trust my belief, so I want testing to assure me."

If this is so - I would partially agree. I think this is a great use of testing, but OTOH, you know what she can do, so spending 45 minutes observing her classroom is a much more nuanced way to confirm 'fit is wrong!'

I would encourage you to reframe the first problem. The first step is to talk about what steps you have already taken, and we'll make suggestions and give guidance from there. Yes, there will probably be an IQ test somewhere along the way to 'check' but that isn't' the main thrust.

Also - I'm confused, when you say: are you referring to private testing or something offered through the school? Is this tester someone you've used with your son?

Sometimes schools that have accommodated one child from the family are more willing to provide accommodations for the next child. BTW what sort of accommodations are you hoping that the school will provide for your dd?

Love and more Love,
Grinity