Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Scoring GAI

Hi all. New to the forum. In June we had our son 8 tested privately after 3 years of frustration with the local school. We expected him to perform well and he did. The tester gave us a breakout of the composite scores and the subset scores. However, we didn't get a GAI score. We read that if there are multiple subset scores in the 19's and 18's that the tester should refer to extended norms. Our son had such scores but I don't think that we got that. All we got was a one pager handwritten. Can one use the subset scores to calculate the GAI? Should we have received more from the tester?

thanks

DB

Welcome Brownd, so glad you are here!

Yup, you can calculate the GAI from the subsection scores.

Here are some useful threads:
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/128129/1.html

When the WISC-IV is used for the identification of gifted students, either the General Ability Index (GAI), which emphasizes reasoning ability, or the Full Scale IQ Score (FSIQ), should be acceptable for selection to gifted programs. The GAI should be derived using the table provided in Technical Report #4, available at http://www.pearsonassessments.com/N...DA-05888C7CC082/0/80720_WISCIV_Hr_r4.pdf or through a search for “WISC-IV GAI.” ).

But the main question is - what was the cause of the 3 years of frustration, and how are the test scores going to help you help other make changes so that the causes of the frustrations will be addressed?

The only number I've seen school folks be impressed by is College Board's SAT, BTW. Advocacy is important, but difficult.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

The GAI may or may not be relevant. It is only supposed to be reported when the VCI and PRI indices are significantly higher than the WMI or PSI indices. So, if you aren't seeing a profile where the full scale IQ (FSIQ) number is pulled way down by either the WMI or PSI or both, the GAI really isn't something that you'd need or which should be given in the report.

In regard to extended norms, yes they can be considered when you've got scores of 18s or 19s, but they may or may not increase the overall IQ number. It depends on the raw scores that fed into those scaled scores of 18 and 19. If you have the raw scores, we can help you figure out if extended norms apply for your child. If you have the scaled scores and a discrepancy btwn VCI/PRI and WMI/PSI, we can also help you figure a GAI.

You can also do that yourself if you google WISC technical report #4 (that one will help you figure a GAI) and WISC technical report #7 (that one will help you figure the extended norms and whether they apply).

One thing I'm confused about is whether the GAI is scaled separately or is supposed to be comparable to an FSIQ (factoring out certain things, of course). The Hoagie's site aligns FSIQs with significantly higher GAIs so that it's almost like it doesn't change anything in terms of where the kid is on the 'giftedness spectrum.' The WISC technical reports from what I remember didn't directly comment on this, but maybe it was supposed to be understood....??

The way I like to look at it is: VCI and PRI are better measures of intellect while WMI and PSI measure more processing skills that enable the person to show that intellect. Low WMI and/or PSI do impact performance in that a child with the same VCI and PRI with comparably high WMI/PSI will probably outperform as child with the same VCI/PRI scores and lower WMI/PSI. However, whether he is truly "smarter" is probably dependent on how you define that.

GAI is, in my understanding, meant to be an alternate way of looking at composite or full scale intelligence if the child has a disability or something else standing in the way of the FSIQ showing how able he is.

FWIW, my one kiddo with lower PSI (average) had FSIQ and GAI scores that differed, but only by a few points and they were both gifted scores b/c her WMI was very high. My other one, who is 2e, had an 18 pt difference btwn GAI and FSIQ with the former being HG+ and the later MG. Whether I'd really consider her as highly gifted+ as the GAI says, I don't know. She's certainly incredibly creative and has that ability to create new information rather than spit back learned info that I'd associate with giftedness. Whether she's one in a thousand in terms of raw intellect, that I'm not sure of. Then again, neither am I!

Thanks for explaining, Cricket! Our DD also had an 18-point difference (and is 2e in some ways), so I've just been kind of wondering. I guess like you are indicating it's unclear exactly what it means. Plus if she can't show it (the level of giftedness indicated) it kind of doesn't matter so much what the score is, except to help figure out some ways to help her do better in school.