Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC IV GAI vs FSIQ.. discrepancies with PSI?

I recently had my 7.5 year old son tested for gifted placement. I was expecting scores to be a bit squewed as ds first language is spanish and he has only been in an english speaking program for barely 2 academic years.

I received the following results:

Composite scores
Vci. 136
Pri. 143
Wmi. 110
Psi. 97
Fsiq. 132

Technically, this qualifies him for gifted.. However, the difference between pri and psi threw me for a loop. I did some research and requested that a GAI be calculatted, for accuracy.. But the tester is not so inclined... I've been attempting to calculate it myself, but wanted to get some help from you:

Verbal Comprehension subtest scores
Raw. Scaled. Percentile
Similarities. 26. 17. 99
Vocabulary. 34. 15. 95
Comprehension 25. 16. 98

Perceptual reasoning subtest scores
Block design. 30. 14. 91
Picture concepts 23. 19. 99.9
Matrix reasoning. 25. 18. 99.6

Working memory subtest scores
Digit span. 14. 12. 75
Letter-num seque. 15. 12. 75
Coding. 40. 8. 25
Symbol search. 28. 11. 63

Process summary is different.. I'm not sure how to put it here..
Process summary and discrepancy analysis
Process scores. Raw. Scaled
Digit spad forward. 9. 13
Digit span backward. 5. 9

Process score. Raw. Base
Longest dig span fwd. 5. 60.5%
Longest dig span bck. 3. 76%

Discrepancy comparisons
Ldsf - ldsb. Raw1. 5. Raw2. 3. Difference. 2. Base. 62.4%

Digit span fwd - digit span bck. Scaledscore1. 13. Scaledscore2. 9. Difference. 4
critical value 3.62. Sig. Diff? Yes. Base 14.2%



Now.. I think that the GAI should be close to 148, a very significant difference (16 points) from the fsiq. Is it worth my time to fight to have her amend her report and include this information?

What do you think?

It ocurred to me that his low-in-comparison score on coding subtest might mean some sort of learning disability? Maybe?

I have been getting complains from his private school teachers that he fidgets and has trouble focusing in class. His tester, however, said "he definitely doesn't have ADHD, he was fine in focusing."

I calculated and got his GAI as 148 which is 99.9 percntile so yes it is a huge difference and means a lot I think. I would ask for it to be included. My dd's processing and working memory are much lower- 2 standard deviations each, from her other scores and it takes her FSIQ from 144 to a GAI of 160. My tester emailed me this but it is not in my report so I will be requesting that it is added because I feel it is so significantly different and that it gives a truer picture of DD's giftedness.

Thank you. She finally gave in and listed his GAI at 148 (with a disclaimer that GAI represents cognitive ability if working memory and processing were similar to verbal and non-verbal). She also included a paragraph where she stated that he might need extended time to do his work and may benefit from an educational specialist... So my fear about a learning disability might come true..

Should I be looking for specific lack of skills, difficulties? What could this actually mean?

Interesting, my tester said it is a better indicator of giftedness than FSIQ. Although she said DD's "abilities to sustain attention, concentrate, and exert mental control are a weakness relative to her nonverbal and verbal reasoning abilities. A relative weakness in mental control may make the processing of complex information more time-consuming for A...., draining her mental energies more quickly as compared to other children at her level of ability." Although I see it as her having a hard time getting it out of her brain an onto paper, even out of her mouth, she will often not stutter but it seems that her brain goes to fast for her mouth as her pediatrician said.

Good luck. I am still trying to figure everything out myself.

Mmmm, maybe it's an visual processing disorder. My som hates writing but has no trouble talking your ear off.. http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-...ng-disorders/visual-processing-disorders

Anyone have experience with these?

Omg! I called a neuropsychologist and she said additional testing is $1600!!!
Yikes!

I just received a written report from our school psych and she stated that our ds's FSIQ was not "the best estimate of his cognitive abilities" because of the much lower PSI than VCI and therefore recommended using the GAI "which best represents his CA."

My DD8 has a not dissimilar pattern:-

VCI: 150
PRI: 145
WMI: 104
PSI: 123

In her case the WMI (and to a lesser extent her PSI) just slaughtered her FSIQ (143) whereas her GAI is 158, literally a whole SD away.

To my DD8's credit, she did the full test without any breaks and was flagging towards the end by the time that the WMI/PSI tests came along - I had not provided any snacks/drink and the test spanned her usual lunchtime - note to others, provide these.

What the tester told us was that WMI/PSI often end up depressing scores for 'gifted' kids and that the GAI is a better indication of her cognitive abilities. This still feels like cheating a bit but even DYS apparently considers the GAI in lieu of FSIQ.

Having said all that, we did apply and I think that my DD's application to DYS was rejected as I have read that all of the rejection letters are sent out at the end of the month and we haven't heard anything yet so take all that I have written above with a grain of salt .

Hope you're wrong and you hear good news soon.