Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Could this be "domain-specific" giftedness?

I was tested a few months ago for LD and was really surprised at how much variation there is; could this be a case of "domain-specific" giftedness?

I really appreciate your time and thoughts. Thanks very much.


RIAS scores:
VIX: 102
NIX: 100
CIX: 101
CMX: 86

WJ-III NU scores:

Reading Fluency: 138, Very Superior, Above 18.0 grade equivalent

Writing Fluency: 130, Very Superior, Above 15.6 grade equivalent

Math Fluency: 101, Average, 13.0 grade equivalent

Math Calculation Skills: 103, Average, 13.0 grade equivalent

Academic Fluency: 129, Superior, Above 18.0 grade equivalent

I'm no expert in interpreting test results, nor do I know how good the RIAS test is, but assuming it's a good, valid test, I would assume, with those scores, that your base IQ is average, but that you got early exposure to reading/writing, and fell in love with it and spend a lot of time reading and writing. It's perfectly normal for someone of average to above-average intelligence to become incredibly talented and excel in a particular area due to their love and passion for it.

Now, having said that, I would assume their are sub-tests for each section they gave you scores for, and it would be very interesting to see if there is a lot of variation on the sub-tests... perhaps there is some particular thing that's dragging the scores down, preventing these scores from giving you the full picture.

I'm not a testing expert but I analyze a lot of data. It looks to me like you are not as good at math/non-verbal activities. You also mentioned a memory issue in one of the other emails. I don't know if there are subtest scores with the RIAS test or not but that might tell you more info. If you had problems on certain tasks that reflect memory, processing, non-verbal ability. A quick google of the RIAS shows only 4 subtests so if the non-verbal abilities are all mixed in it would make sense that all these tests are average. A more specific targeting test like the WISC or adult version might be helpful if it's important to figure out the breakout. Just looking at the discrepancy between verbal achievement and math, it does seem possible that you are verbally gifted with some type of memory/LD. Good Luck, I can't recall reasons for testing. If you are doing great in school, just keep going. Find something you like and excel. Effort/motivation is important not just test results.

The RIAS is designed to be a cheap and quick IQ assessment. It's a reliable guide to general IQ, but its results can be skewed on the low side by a number of factors... and an LD is at the top of the list. The RIAS scores suggest you have an overall intelligence that is average, but that CMX score of 86 does seem to indicate a memory deficit, which would affect all the other scores. More extensive testing and evaluation would be required.

The WJ-III is an achievement test, and achievement doesn't necessarily correlate to giftedness. Gifted individuals are often underachievers, and achievers are often not gifted. It could be, as was said before, that you simply love books, and work hard.

Or, it could be that your WJ-III non-math skills are the best indication of your true abilities, since that's the one part of the assessment that didn't lean on a memory deficit. Again, more testing required.

Thanks for your time!

Neither of my parents are readers, and I think I've always loved it BECAUSE it came naturally to me. I never had to work at it, and still don't.

Those are all the scores I got, unfortunately. The test wasn't very comprehensive.

I went for testing because I suspected dyscalculia, and the psych explained that away with the rather large discrepancy between my math and my reading.

Thanks!

I was diagnosed with a mild memory disorder, actually. The psych said that probably had a hand in my feeling like I had dyscalculia, along with my reading and writing scores.

I do love books, but I think I love them because reading has always just come to me; I've never had to work at it, and even when I was in the early grades, teachers would always say in reports that I was an extremely fluent reader. I was grades ahead where I should've been.

The freaky thing? My parents don't read. They hate it, and they never read for fun when I was growing up.

I really do think the memory thing has something to do with it. I'd have another assessment done, but I don't have the money, and this testing was done for free.

All I know is that the psychologist described me as gifted 3 times in his report, so I believed him.

Thanks so much for your time! I really appreciate it.

I think the WISC or another comprehensive IQ test would probably give you a much better picture of your strengths and weaknesses. You could try and have one administered when you get to college by someone in the psych dept. for very cheap.

Although the term isn't in wide general use, I like to refer to this sort of thing as a 'bottleneck.' Many people believe that a 'true' learning disability has to bring a person well below average in their abilities - therefore your difficulties with math wouldn't cross into the LD territory. Of course many other people think that that is nonsense, and of course a gifted person who is average in some area may be experiencing a true LD. I use the term bottleneck to describe weaknesses in a person that is otherwise functioning in a gifted range, even if those weaknesses are weak enough to qualify as a full fledged LD, and side-step the political argument.

I wonder about the working memory disability though - have you ever been offered any ways to strengthen your WM? Biofeedback, Internet games, or the sorts of medication usually prescribed for ADHD. ADHD, particularly the inattentive sort, can be seen as a weakness in working memory, although I think that point is still quite controversial. So much depend on taking an honest look at how much the weakness is affecting you in daily life.

Smiles,
Grinity

IIRC, the RIAS has one section that is exclusively vocabulary. It seems odd to me that you would score so well on reading and writing fluency on the WJ and yet get a dead-average score there. Do you remember that aspect of the test?

The other verbal measure is analogies, which is a bit different. Your RIAS scores confuse me a little--they're reported rather differently than the RIAS scores I received for my DD. I don't know what those abbreviations mean other than VIX, which I believe is verbal. NIX I assume is nonverbal. But what are the other two?

ETA--never mind. You were given supplementary memory tests, which my DD was not.