Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC IV scores- looking for help

hello- new here and looking for some help in understanding these scores and what to do next.

I was approached by the school psych at my son's school asking if I would want them to do an informal test as they thought he could be bright and they wanted to be sure the curriculum and any/or modifcations were appropriate. They did not do an acheivement (which seems odd to me, but I was grateful for this at least), but I can get one done. We wil meet in 2 weeks to discuss a plan for school. For now I have the following:

WISC-IV: Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children - Fourth Edition
Informal Cognitive Assessment

Subtest Scores:
Block Design: 13
Similarities: 19
Digit Span: 6
Picture Concepts: 13
Coding: 13
Vocabulary: 15
Letter-Number Sequencing: 10
Matrix Reasoning: 12
Comprehension: 19
Symbol Search: 13

Composite Scores:
Verbal Comprehension: Standard Score (SS): 146; 99.9th percentile, Very Superior Range
Perceptual Reasoning: (SS): 117; 87th percentile, High-Average Range
Working Memory: (SS): 88; 21st percentile, Low-Average Range
Processing Speed: (SS): 118; 88th percentile, High-Average Range
Full Scale IQ: (SS): 125; 95th percentile, Superior Range

I know she should not have listed FSIQ given the >23 point split with VIQ and PIQ. I am surprised by the WM score, and disappointed that I cannot even get a GAI given the split.

Any thoughts? I thank you for your time.

There are others on this board who know a heck of a lot more about these tests than I do, but that is a significant amount of spread. The WM seems especially low, although I am not sure what conclusions, if any, can be drawn from that. FWIW, my daughter also had significant spread, including a 27 point spread between VCI and PRI, and crazy spread between VCI and PS, but my tester did calculate both the GAI, and the FSIQ, although she wrote in the report that the GAI would be a more accurate reflection of her abilities. It seems like some testers do, and some don't, and I don't really understand why...

I get a GAI of 138 with those scores. You can look up online how to calculate it from the scaled subscores.

thank you. I had been told that with a split that is more than 1.5 SD, the GAI/FSIQ were not valid. I think if I pursue more testing, I may ask for a WRAML to better assess the memory issue.

I appreciate your feedback. It just seems like a very large spread with VIQ and WM!!

Honestly, I'd be asking both my child and the tester some questions about what happened in the Digit Span test. That looks like the only one that is way off. It seems possible that the subtest was spoiled and that something else should have been substituted. I don't know enough about the administration of the WISC to know if that is right, but that score raises my eyebrows quite a bit in the overall profile.

Scale CS PR CI QD

Verbal Comprehension 99 47 92-106 Average
Perceptional Reasoning 119 90 110-125 High Average
Working Memory 116 86 107-122 High Average
Processing Speed 88 21 80-98 Low Average
Full Scale 108 70 89-99 Average

Was the only reason the school offered testing to check for giftedness, or was there something else going on at school? Is he struggling in any way (academics or behavior? does he not seem to be working up to his potential?). That's a lot of scatter - if he's flying along happy and successfully at school with no issues other than his teacher thinking he's very bright and might be gifted... I'd tend to think that he wasn't engaged with the tester and the results are unreliable. Have you seen issues with working memory?

OTOH, if he's not doing as well in school as you think he should be, or if there are any kinds of issues other than giftedness that led to the school suggesting testing, my suggestion is to follow up with a private neuropsych evaluation - if the scatter is really real, a private neuorpsych will follow up with additional tests to determine what's behind the scatter, as well as including achievement testing. You can't retest with the WISC again for another year, but you could ask for an eval with a different IQ test or at least ask for an opinion on what might be causing such extreme scatter.

Best wishes,

polarbear

thank you again. I really appreciate all of the feedback.

The school psychologist actually said she thought he was more engaged on the Letter-Number Sequencing than the Digit Span subtest. She said he worked diligently, and that she had to stop him during some of the verbal tests as he went on and on.

DS started working with the school psych as a part of a social skills group. He is in the 4th grade, but has always felt that other kids do not like him and think he is weird. He believes this in spite of the fact that he has many friends, makes friends easily, etc. Coaches have commented to me before that his language/ use of sarcasm, humor, etc is far above the other players who sometimes do not know how to take him, so maybe the kids do sometimes tell him he is weird. It was after these group times with the school psych that she asked me if I would allow her to test him informally.

DS has always had issues with handwriting, was diagnosed at age 4 with right sided weakness, convergence issues and sensory integration issues, and he went to OT for over a year. In school his teachers would tell us he had trouble writing for two reasons- that the physical aspect of writing was laborious and that his mind worked much faster than his hand could write.

In terms of memory, I am not sure if this is what you mean, but ds still has trouble decoding words, and learning multiplication seemed to take longer than I thought it would have. He can follow multi-step directions very well, and does well with writing, even thought it is slow. What kinds of thinigs might I notice with working memory?

oh, and I am sorry Roadrunner, but I do not know what that means

oh no- something happened to my post!

Thank you again everyone. I really appreciate the feedback.

Let's see if I can recap what I lost.

DS is in the 4th grade. The school psych began working with ds in a social skills group as he has always felt other kids think he is weird. He makes friends easily and plays with everyone, but still he has always felt this way. One of his coaches once told me that his use of language, sarcasm and humor is way above the other boys, so perhaps they have called him weird.

It was after a month or so she asked me if I would allow her to test him informally. She and the other school psych are very invested in supporting all learners. One of the school psychologists developed and ran the GATE program in another distrcit before coming to ours. I am grateful for their interest and enthusiasm. There was no such support in our last district.

A bit more background on ds. When he was 4, he was diagnosed with right sided weakness, convergence issues and sensory integration issues. He worked with an OT for almost two years. He still has difficulty with the physical aspect of writing, but does well on his written work. He struggled with decoding, and still has trouble. I also thought it took longer than I thought it would for him to memorize the multiplication tables. He can follow multi-step directions well. Are there other things I should look for?