Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Type of Test (just curious)

My DS is being tested and evaluated at school. I do not know what tests they are using but I know they are testing IQ among other things. Anyway, today he said he was given a test that had flat tiles ((no blocks or 3D) in various shapes with which he had to make designs (copy them from a picture). He said one design was of a human, one of a bat and one of scorpion. He was only given three of them and he said the third one was very hard. I am just wondering what tests this is? Does anyone know. And does it measure something different than the WISC Block Design? I am just curious because he did so poorly on the block design test last year (it had to be substituted) and I washoping to find out if he did so poorly on it becasue of an undiagnosed and untreated vision disorder. Basically I was hoping they would give him the block design test again so I could see if there was any improvement after so many months of vision therapy. Thanks!

marytheres, I don't know what test your ds took today (the good thing is - you will eventually get to find out!)... but fwiw, it's similar in some ways to the types of neuropsych tests my kids have had that are highly dependent on vision... so I'm guessing that you might be able to draw some comparisons from percentiles reported from the testing even if he doesn't have exactly the same tests as he did last year.

Let us know what you find out!

polarbear

ps - have you noticed that his vision therapy helped?

Polar, this is OT here-- just to let you know I PMed you about something else...

Thanks,
DeeDee

Yes, I know I will find out - LOL! I am impatient, I know. ... Plus, what I am really wondering is 'was this test given in leu of the/a block design?' (Again, I will find it out eventually). It's the three dimensional aspect of the test that I am interested in because it was the block design where I was like, "I know this kid can't see right" and even his Ot when she looked at his test result was like "yeah - it looks like he is having trouble with 3d" becasue when they substituted the test with two-dimensional test he did much better.

I mean, I wonder, could I ask her (the school psych administering the test, that is) to give it to him? Even if she doesn't want to to count it or whatever... I don't want to look like a nut but I'd love to see if I were "right" and if vision therapy helped YKIM? I wonder how suhc a request would come off. What do yopu think?

As for VT helping - yes I have noticed a big difference (but I don't always trust myself, i.e., do I see that it helps b/c I want to see that?) However, his writing has improved immensely as has his drawing... I mean *immensely*... and that just makes him feel better/more confident and I am sure it is the VT as he had OT for years and wasn't really getting anywhere and then he starts VT and the difference is amazing. I see improvement in his reading (he did jump FOUR levels)... However I still see issues in his reading hence why I am concerned abotu dyslesxia.

He also is still symptomatic with his vision though. I know it's b/c e can't seem to keep up with the home stuff consistently. I am not sure what to do about it - it's so hard. He has reading at night, math facts, and homework worksheets. My mom keeps commneting that he seems to have so much more than my neice does. However, he also just takes longer to do things (typical 2e type taking longer and also sspends time fighting me on stuff/avoiding stuiff etc.) I odn;t know, God-forbid we add an extracurricular activity and we're screwed completely!

The Stanford Binet has a section like that. I had anticipated my son having problems with something spatial, but was surprised that he tanked (a few standard deviations below other subtests) when doing the tangram picture reconstructions.

Thanks Zen. I googled tangram and that looks like what he had to do. My son said he was only given three and that one was easy, one was hard but doable and the last one was super hard. I am pretty sure he probably did poorly on that but we'll see.

Why do/did you anticipate that your son would son "have problems with something spatial?" His vision issues?

Yes, because basically he has only had depth perception for one of his seven years. That's a lot of catch-up learning for a brain to do. He definitely has problems or lingering confidence issues with finding things visually and can't catch/throw accurately.

Yeah, I hear you... my guy seems to have a lot of residual processing issues as a result of his vision disorder. I can't wait to see what these tests show. So glad your guy is finally seeing in 3D! You know, there is a memoir out written by a person who went her whole life - until 40 I think - without seeing in 3D and then after some therapy began seeing in 3D... I heard it's pretty good... you and your son should check it out.