Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Another Newbie Question - WISC-IV Extended Norms

We had the WISC-IV performed on my DS6. He reached the ceiling on the Matrix Reasoning Test. The psychologist did not use Extended Norms, but I just read something about them that suggests she should have....Is this true? He received a raw score of 26 and a scaled score of 19 on the Matrix Reasoning test.

Thanks!

I think the consensus is that the extended norms are useful and can't hurt, and some people here also reported that their testers simply didn't know about them. Can you forward Technical Report # 7 to your tester and have her include the extended score(s), maybe reissuing the report? It will probably cost a little money unless you were charged a flat fee, but I personally think it would be worth it.

I think the the psychologist didn't use the extended norms because, as I understand it, you would usually need at least two subtests to ceiling...

"The extended norms are useful when a child�s score is the
maximum (ceiling) on two or more subtests (e.g., obtains scaled scores of 18
or 19 points)."

Ugh!!! Just got off the phone with the psychologist. She says that the extended norms are only for when you reach the ceiling in multiple tests. He only reached it in one, so she is not willing to change the reoprt.

The reason why I thought he might qualify was because I read this....

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Extended_Norms.html

The extended norms only apply if your child achieved at least one subtest score of 19, two scores of 18, or a mixture of 18s and 19s. The norms are based upon raw scores. They are currently available for use only on the WISC-IV, not any other Wechsler scales (e.g., WPPSI-III or WAIS-III).

Is the same thing true of the SB-V? My son (5y3m at the time of the test) received scaled scores with two 19s and one 18 on the nonverbal domains, and two 19s and two more 18s on the verbal domains. Is there a similar effect where you can calculate a higher level for the subtest portions? I guess I assumed that the extended norms wouldn't apply because his overall FSIQ was 152, well below the "ceiling" of 160.

I'm pretty sure that there aren't extended norms on the SB-V. But not totally sure. On the WISC-IV you definitely don't need to max out on FSIQ for them to apply, though. The idea seems to be to get a more accurate read when someone tops out on subtests, since the ceiling on those subtests may artificially limit the results.

On any test with decent headroom, if extended norms were only available for people with top-of-range FSIQ scores, they'd almost never be used, right? Also, they might be pretty much useless at that point, due to the subject exceeding the capability of the test to measure anything useful. I'm just thinking out loud here.

ETA: I found this, but don't have time to read it right now. Looks like there might be the equivalent for the SB-V after all.

Argh. Silverman writes a lot and tests a lot of kids.

Is administering and scoring IQ tests an art or a science?

Would you be able to calculate the PRI composite score? My son was 6 years 7 mos at the time of the test. So if I read Technical Report #7 correctly then with a raw score of 26 on Matrix Reasoning, his scaled score would become 22. His block design raw score was 38 and picture concepts raw score was 16. Thanks!

Dottie, I PM-ed you too. I hope it's okay. No rush.