Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Nonverbal is 20pts higher than Verbal score?

Hello,
I am wondering what these WISC IV results could mean?
Verbal is 121 (92%-ile)
Non Verbal is 141 (97.7% -ile)
Full scale is 138.

My kid is 11y.o., very strong in math. Very outgoing and social. Early reader (around 2). High achiever at school. No behavioral problems.

M.

I'm not a testing expert, but the one thing I would have guessed would be that math is your ds' area of strength

Really those are strong scores all around! And it sounds like your ds is doing great, happy and doing well at school. I wouldn't stress about the scatter in the scores as long as things are going well - keep giving him opportunities to soar!

polarbear

ps - one thing you might want to do is look at subtest scores - do they look consistent under Verbal and consistent under Non Verbal, or is there a wide range of scatter in the subtest scores under each category? If there is scatter... it might be interesting to know where. Also, if one particular subtest score is pulling down the Verbal score, and without it it would be more inline with the Non Verbal, I would wonder if the score was valid (was your ds tired during the test etc).

My DD7 has similar scores, as do I. I like to joke to DD and DW that, "I have the user's manual to DD's brain."

92-percentile on verbal is not a weakness, and indeed, individuals with this kind of profile tend to draw attention for their strong verbal and writing abilities. It's just that the 141 non-visual is a significant strength.

BTW, I think you made a mistake up there, because a 141 should be in the 99.7th percentile. That's a significant difference, because many definitions of "gifted" start at the 98th percentile.

Someone with this profile tends to:

- Excel at math, and find it fun.
- Learn by seeing, and use visual terms when describing comprehension/learning (ie, "Do you see what I'm getting at?").
- Learn from the top down.
- Be very concept oriented in learning. Once the concept is fully understood, owns the information forever, and leaps quickly from concept to effective application.
- Be big picture oriented, often losing the trees for the forest, rather than the other way around.

yes, it was a typo:
Nonverbal is 141 = 99.7% -ile

I will post subtests when i have the results.

Thank you all for responding! :-)
m