Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WPPSI, Woodcock Johnson. Please help interpret.

I have a bright 4.5 yr old who was just evaluated. I'm looking for help interpreting his scores. He seems to be pretty advanced at home academically. He enjoys math, science, books. He has good social skills at home, but his teacher expressed major concerns because he needed more redirection than his peers. He did well with pre-academics at school but did not socialize with his classmates for most of the year. He can be a little reserved at times but he is great on playdates, and has a handful of buddies he plays with. He seems to literally freeze up (sometimes) at school and will not get started on independent work without a nudge from the teacher. He is focused at home and can work hard when he wants to. He got a maze book today and worked on it for an hour.

WPPSI-III

Subtests
Information 15 (95)
Vocabulary 12 (75)
Word Reasoning 13 (84)
Block Design 14 (91)
Matrix Reasoning 18 (99.6)
Picture Concepts 11 (63)
Symbol Search 9 (37)
Coding 3 (16)

Composite
Verbal 118 (88)
Performance 127 (96)
Processing Speed 88 (21)
Full Scale IQ 120 (91)

Woodcock Johnson III - Tests of Achievement

Subtests
Letter-Word ID 135
Spelling 129
Passage Comprehension 96
Applied Problems 124
Word Attack 151

Cluster
Brief Achievement 134
Brief Reading 124
Basic Reading Skills 147

The psychologist didn't say much about his strengths but she focused on his low coding score. She thinks the low coding score could be a red flag and talked about his slow processing speed and a working memory problem. I know I sound like a denial Mom, but I really don't think he is processing that slowly. Something is not adding up. These tests were only for the assessment. He was sick and coughing during testing so he spent a lot of time getting tissues, etc. He has never done any timed work. Because I had never heard of coding, I ordered some practice coding worksheets online about 2 weeks before the test. He really enjoyed them. He completed almost 50 pages of them. This morning I pulled out the hardest one and timed him. He did well, all correct. He was also fidgeting with his glasses a lot according to the report, so I need to have his eyes checked too. How do I know if it's a legitimate issue?

I greatly appreciate any help interpreting this info. What do you think of these scores? I realize that a 120 isn't very high but his achievement scores are better. What does that mean? The psychologist does not specialize in gifted so I didn't get any feedback as to whether or not he might be gifted.

What spurred you to get an assessment?

I'm not sure what to make of the coding, but want to strong discourage you from prepping from any future IQ tests. If you are going to devote the time and resource to going through testing, it's in your best interest, long term, to get the most accurate result possible - that means no prepping. I know that you had the best of intentions, but I want to mention it for the lurkers who are reading your post and thinking 'I should try that myself!'

Even if his processing speed is just fine working memory limitations can make showing a child's strengths really hard at school. I also notice that he is quite a different kid in his home environment than he is at school or with the tester. Does he have anxiety challenges? It's hard to pay attention when one is frightened.

He certainly is bright, but his scores don't reflect a kid who is so far out there in brightness that socializing would be affected. Some kids who are fearful get test scores that aren't accurate.

I guess you could find a reasonably kind adult your child doesn't know and send your kid to the stranger adults house to do more coding pages and have the adult get some timed scores and see if that's the issue.

I know with myself, I was somehow able to get the very best behavior out of my child by not pushing his buttons. I didn't do that consciously, so it took many years to try and figure out why things were so different in different environments. Maybe he and I are so alike that I just fell into it by treating him the way I would want to be treated in his situation.

That isn't the cultural norm. Kids are expected to adapt to environments, not the other way around. One parenting book that help me with this is http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Difficult-Child-Workbook-Interactive/dp/0967050758

As far as afterscooling, I would suggest you follow his lead. If he likes doing academics and it's fun for you, then do them at home by all means, but spend some of your attention helping him with his interpersonal challenges. The workbook was helpful with that for me.

Smiles,
Grinity