Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Is the UNIT test not a valid IQ test?

Two years ago whil in 2nd grade my son was tested. He had (and still does have) behavior issues in the classroom so the school suggested the tests. He was adopted at the age of 2.5 from China and has always struggled a bit with language. He was given the WISC-IV and received the following scores

VCI - 100
PRI 139
WM - 83
PSI 68
Full Scale IQ 102
General Ability Index IQ 123

Since there was a difference between his verbal and non verbal scores and the fact that he struggles a bit with language he was given the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test.

Full Scale IQ 145 (99.9 percentile)
Memory Quotient 148 (99.9 precentile)
Reasoning Quotient 137 (99.3 percentile)
Symbolic Quotient 142 (99.7 percentile)
Nonsymbolic Quotient 143 (99.8 percentile)

I asked the school about a Mentor for math as he is VERY good at math and would really do well with in a one-on-one situation with an adult. He has a terrible time with his peers---he tends to talk about things that they do not find interesting and has always gravitated towards adults. The schools is saying that a 145 (99.9 percentile)on the UNIT does NOT mean he is highly gifted he would have had to have received a 145 or above on the WISC-IV. The gifted coordinator at his school is strongly discouriging me from taking the issue to a steering committee as he is in her words "not even close on the WISC-IV test and it is the only test that he has been given that is a true and valid measure of his IQ.

So I am wondering is she giving me the correct information?

I am not at all familiar with the UNIT but did want to say that his PRI score on the WISC is highly gifted and I'd push on that. 139 should be about the 99.5th percentile which is in line with the UNIT. I'd see what tests they do consider valid.

Would they consider the Raven? It's a group test, but based on the strengths he is showing in math and visual spatial, I bet that he'd do quite well on that. What is their protocol for identification of English Language Learners (ELLs) for gifted programming?

Were they the ones who gave him the UNIT? If so, why did they administer a test they don't consider a valid IQ test?? Actually, I'd say that the WISC isn't a true and valid measure of his IQ b/c the discrepencies are so large btwn subtests that neither the FSIQ nor the GAI is considered fully valid.

I just googled it quickly and the UNIT is published by the same company that publishes the Stanford Binet intelligence test. You can get some basic info here if you've not already found this: http://www.riversidepublishing.com/products/unit/

Did the school administer both tests? Did they offer any potential explanations re why the VIQ and Processing Speed vs PRI are so different on the WISC, or why he seems to have performed much better overall on the UNIT (sorry, I'm not familiar with the UNIT so take my ? with a grain of salt - I have no idea what it tests so maybe it's just looking at the same things the WISC PRI is?).

I think I might consider asking for advice from a private neuropsychologist if you can. I would be concerned that perhaps there is a challenge present that can be addressed and will help your ds. Once I had more complete info from the private neuropsych, I'd share that with the school, ask for any accommodations etc that your ds needs, and request that he be considered for the gifted program at that time.

I'm not sure who the "steering committee" is made up of for the gifted program in your school/district, but fwiw I'd never take what one staff member says as a gold standard, as in, he won't get in, especially if the person who told you that isn't on the committee or isn't a gifted education staff person. The folks on the steering committee might very well be excited and happy to admit him to the program. We've found in our journey that there is a wide range of attitudes among school staff - some staff members are happy and eager to refer kids for the gifted programs and will go out of their way to help students qualify, others are for some reason very opposed to it and will do anything they can to discourage parents and won't submit referrals.

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - has he ever been evaluated by an SLP? If he's had difficulty acquiring or processing language, that's something you can ask for based on his uneven WISC scores and history. Our dds were also adopted from China, although at a younger age. One thing that I think is very difficult to tease out sometimes when you see a difficulty with language acquisition or whatever is, how much is due to being introduced to English at a later age, or how much is due to something that is a developmental challenge and would have existed in the child even in their first language, kwim? Our ds who is 2E was born to us, and it's a lot easier to look into his background and bio-relatives and see similarities and hints of challenges even when he was an infant; when we have questions about our dds' development we have no clues to any of that - so again, it might help to have a private look into what's going on with the uneven test scores and uneven language development.

In fl they have what is called plan b....which qualifies low ses, minority and ELL...they have a lot more flexibility when using plan b....not sure if this is a fl law or a federal law.