Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment New here- Need help with WPPSI-III scores please

I could really use some help in deciphering this. I know she clearly is not Davidson material, but I am hoping someone here can tell me what all this means. Any ideas as to why her verbal and performance are so different? Thanks in advance.

WPPSI subtests:
Information: 15
Matrix Reasonging: 12
Vocabulary: 15
Picture Concepts: 10
Word Reasoning: 15
Coding: 10
Picture Completion: 12

WPPSI Composite:
Verbal IQ: 131, 98th percentile
Performance IQ: 108, 70th percentile
Full Scale: 119, 98th percentile

Woodcock-Johnson:
Brief Achievement: 133
Brief Reading: 135
Basic Reading Skills: 135
Brief Math: 120
Academic Skills: 132

Woodcock-Johnson Subtests:
Letter-Word Identification: 134
Calculations: 116
Spelling: 131
Passage Comprehension: 130
Applied Problems: 119
Word Attack: 132

Wow - that is a big gap!
How old was your daughter when this test was given?

Her achievement scores seem to support the Verbal IQ.

What was the reason the tests were given in the first place?

I wonder if the Performance Index is giving a true picture of her strenghts? Was it given at the end of the day? Was she baiting the tester? Is she very shy?

Does she have vision problems? Are they corrected? I'm wondering if she could see the pictures used in Performance Index...

If my child got a set of scores like this, I would try and tell myself: 'So, we didn't really learn much from the testing, it would have been nice if we had, but one out of a hundred times the tests don't work out, and it looks like for now that my child is one of those one out of a hundred. She might be bright, or gifted, or she might be gifted with something holding her back. I'll just have to keep wondering and watching and see what the future brings. At least we know that her achievement is very strong.'

Does that seem about right?

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Thank you for responding. She is 5, nearly 6. Just finished K and is going into 1st next year. We had her tested for class placement. We strongly feel she needs to be in the "accelerated" class and testing at a 130 or higher would do the trick.

No vision problems, it was given middle of the day, she's not shy and I don't think she was baiting the tester. I do think the verbal IQ is a more accurate representation of her abilities. The psychologist thought so as well.

She is very much a perfectionist and the psychologist who tested her thinks that played a big role in lowering her performance score. Maybe that's what happened?

That sure can happen, and it's a problem often solved by accelerating into a 'better-fit' classroom.

I would go with what the psychologist says and take the accleration if the school is willing. Meet her needs now.
G

The psychologist we used said that the difference between good and great scores on the WPPSI is quite small in terms of the questions answered. It could be that it is not accurately representing her skills. I wouldn't make too, too much out of it. If you think she is reading well, etc. and can handle acceleration, it's something to think about.

What happened to block design? It's usually the first test given, it seems odd it's not in there? Both my DDs seemed to not deal with the Wechsler picture based tests at all. Picture concepts & matrix reasoning were both my DDs' lowest (cognitive) scores on the WPPSI & the WISC, but both did very well on the adult Raven's, which is supposed to be testing the same skills as Matrix Reasoning but with line diagrams rather than weird cartoons.

To be perfectly honest I found the Raven's easier too. My 5yr old DD just received a work book for her birthday that had a matrix reasoning type exercise in it that neither DH and I could figure out. In the end we concluded with the workbook that our thinking was too complex about a simple question, we also had some trouble figuring out exactly what animal was represented by one of the cartoons (was it an axolotl or was it a lizard? edited to add - if the picture was a "lizard" it was the same as the other reptiles and the fish was different, if it's an axolotl then you need to know is the turtle a land or water creature? Arrgh! The answer could be that the fish is still different because the others are all amphibians, but is a ND 5yr old likely to be able to classify reptiles or know which creatures are amphibious? I have no idea!) and I wonder if that was where my girls went wrong with Picture Concepts and Matrix Reasoning.

Finally, my 5yr old did the WPPSI at 4yrs9mths and hit the hard ceiling of the picture completion test and that score was only a 17. If I had not seen her finish the whole test perfectly I would not have thought she could have done better when her score was 17, as I thought 19 was the hard ceiling for all tests. I called and confirmed with the psychologist that 17 was the highest possible score for a child of her age. I would be asking some more questions about how your DD went in the picture completion. I would not be surprised if she only missed the last question (it was the only one my DD even had to think about) or possibly even that she completed them all but there's just no head room for an almost 6 yr old to really show their stuff on that test.

SharonM -
I can't wait for you to get back to school and take a look at those IQ scores.

I'd predict that the 'blow me away' kids will fall into several catagories -
The ones that are above 125 in Processing Speed are amazing for the shear speed at which they can answer questions.

The ones with Working Memory above 130 probably know the answer to everything, and if they have Processing Speed over 125, they probably have their hand up all the time, to every single question. And know the answer - Impressive!

The ones who ask the really deep questions - the paradyme changers - would be predicted to be above 137 in Verbal or Performance, maybe both.

I'd guess that some of the ones with the highest Verbal and Performance scores are very reluctant students, and don't seem to care much about the academics that are going on in the classroom.

A full scale of 130 could be 150 on Verbal or Performance with 100 on Processing speed and look like 'not such a big deal' or be flipped and be the one who wins all the intra-class competion. So much depends on personality.

I've just made some wild generalizations, so I don't expect them to apply to every student - and perfectionism, anxiety and other problems can give very misleading results. Still it's the best we have for now. 'Snapshot in time' is a great way to think about it.

Love and More Love, and great to have you here!
Grinity

Grinity I am terribly curious too!

You have private messages. Click on it!

You might need to go post here then:

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....ng_Envelope_Issue_UPDATE.html#Post102205