Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Complete Newby and Test Results

Hi Everyone,

I have been checking out these forums for the past couple of days. Wow - a lot of information to take in but everyone seems so knowledgeable and helpful and this is totally what I need right now!

My DS age 8.5 has always been a bright and very inquisitive kid but ran into trouble at school around the end of 1st grade and into 2nd grade when he started having difficulty with learning to read, we practiced relentlessly even though he hated it immensely and would say things like "maybe I am too stupid to learn how to read" and "I don't get this"... He did manage to figure it out and is reading fairly well, then he was having trouble writing - he can tell you amazing things about so many things but will write a 6 word sentence; illegibly with mispelled words, no punctuation and letter reversals when he has to write things down. His 3rd grade teacher (current teacher) indicated back in November that he was concerned with his progress. Around the same time DS was getting increasingly frustrated saying that other kids were teasing him that he was always the slowest and he had said to us that maybe he was too stupid for school. Teacher said he would like to have him tested at the school for an LD -we agreed that we thought there was 'something' going on, since his interest in and ability to learn was way out of line with his grades and his written output ability. Testing through our school board can take a long time, in the meantime we decided to seek testing (psych. assessment) outside of the school board to speed up the process.

These were the results (sorry I only have percentiles and not the actual score):

WISC IV

VCI 95th
PRI 99.9th
WMI 95th
PSI 9th (yep that is 9th not a typo)
There was no FSIQ given since the large discrepancy
GAI 99.8th percentile

He absolutely loves to learn and figure things out but does have a somewhat negative attitude towards school, his marks are not great but it really doesn't seem to bother him in the least.

We sent the psychologist's report to the school and are having our first 'official' meeting on Tuesday with his teacher and the principal (not sure if a SERT will be there or not) and have no idea what to expect.

Any advice or any more insight into what these test scores mean for my DS would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Amber

Hi althca and Welcome!

Good for you for getting your child tested! I imagine that this information will make a huge difference for your son. With a profile like this I'd bet that his teachers haven't recognized just how bright he is.

Have you already sat down with the tester to discuss these scores? I'm sure Dottie (or another testing guru on the forum) could give you a pretty good estimate of his GAI from that 99.8 percentile.

I am running out so will finish my thoughts a little later, but wanted to "bump' your post a little, as your meeting on Tuesday is really soon!!

athca- Does DS have any medical problems or past medical problems that may be a possible source of the slow processing speed? It must be so frustrating for him to have it all in there, but not be able to get it out. Did the psych that did the testing give any input as to suggested accomodations for school? Although my DS9's scores aren't nearly as discrepant as yours, it is extremely frustrating for me to know how truly smart he is and NOT see that translate into excellent performance in school because of his defiencies in processing speed.

Thanks so much for your response.

We have sat down with the tester to discuss but it was a bit of a whirlwind meeting.

Should I request the WISC subtest scores and the actual WISC scores from the psych.?

I am worried that at the meeting tomorrow they will want to focus on the processing weakness LD - which I think will be a huge detriment to him. Given his self doubt comments I really think that being able to excel at something will give him a huge boost.

In an informal conversation with the principal, she had indicated that she wasn't sure if his scores would qualify for a gifted identification - so I don't know if we will have a battle on our hands. I feel really bad about not advocating for him sooner but I was hoping that with time/maturity his school performance would catch up with what we see at home.

Is there a way to increase the processing speed? I would love to hear about it, if there are any suggestions...

@ perplexed "Does DS have any medical problems or past medical problems that may be a possible source of the slow processing speed?" (I need to learn how to do that box thing!)

Nothing that we know of, I will give a brief history of it all in case there is a connection that I am missing ... at birth he had shoulder dystocia that resulted in very low APGAR scores at birth but he fully recovered by the 5 minute APGAR interval. He had breathing issues (cold induced asthma that he has thankfully appeared to have grown out of). He had chronic ear infections and at age 5 he had his adenoids out and tubes put in and that seemed to solve the problem.

I would definitely request a complete report from the psych. You will want to have all the information possible to help you understand DS. For my DS with processing speed issues and a disorder of written expression, the psych recommended that the school allow DS extra time on assignments and tests and that he be allowed to use keyboarding or voice recognition software. We just finished our testing a few weeks ago, so we won't put any of this into place until next year (4th grade). The school is being extremely cooperative, but I'm a bit skeptical about how well this is really going to work. I mean, if he was the only student in the class, it would be fine, but when everyone else is writing...how is it really going to work for my DS to be sitting there dictating into a computer? I need to start a new post to see if anyone has had success with these accomodations.

I'm just learning about all of this myself, but I stumble upon any helpful info, I'll let you know ASAP.

O

I think I figured out the little box thing!! :-)

The psych. has suggested that he will need extra time to complete test and assignments. He will need help with additional support with writing skills, spelling, organizational and planning skills. She also said that he will beneift from programming geared to gifted students.

We are at a very small rural school with no separate gifted program... there is a gifted program in a nearby town that (last I heard) had a gifted program that was 1/2 days integrated, 1/2 days segregated. I don't think we can get him in for September given the timing of all this...

Thank you so much, I do truly appreciate all the input/comments!!

They did WIAT third edition these were the results with standard scores:

Oral Language 126
Total Reading 107
Basic Reading 105
Reading Comp and Fluency 108
Written Expression 86
Mathematics 123
Math Fluency 98

I have a child with a 50 point spread between his VCI and PSI and also has profound reading disabilities and significant writing disabilities. Like your son, his oral expression scores are very high.

I agree with Dottie that you need the WIAT subtest scores. Additionally, I would want some specific testing in reading. I'd like to see the CTOPP to test whether or not the phonological and naming skills are in place and the WJRMT and TOWRE tests to see what his word reading for real and nonsense words is under time and un-timed conditions. Given his processing, my hunch is that his naming skills and overall skills in timed situations may be low.

Also - look at his math fluency number - I'd like to see the subtest for computation. My bet is that it is low. This would be another indication that he has trouble with rapid retrieval of rote information. His overall Mathematics is pretty solid - this tests more of the abstract/conceptual skills. These kinds of patterns are typical of a one that has reading disability such as dyslexia.

Did they do any testing for grapho-motor issues? How about memory, organization or planning?

Here are the WIAT III subtest scores:

Listening comprehension 129
Early Reading skills 144
Reading Comprehension 110
Math Problem solving 124
Alphabet Writing Fluency 90
Sentence Composition 87
Word Reading 114
Essay Composition 93
Pseudoword Decoding 98
Numerical Operations 118
Oral Expression 115
Oral Reading Fluency 104
Spelling 88
Math Fluency - Addition 92
Math Fluency - Subtraction 98
Math Fluency - Multiplication 103

Thanks again,
Amber