Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Assistance with WISC IV

I was hoping someone could assist me with understanding how the test is done. My son took it today and it's like pulling teeth to get any info out of him. He told me he went through every test to the "grey" page. I know if they miss so many in a row the test is supposed to stop so what does it mean if it didn't get stopped? That he got the majority of the correct answers?

Yes, I know I am probably really overthinking this but I am chewing my nails to non-existence until I get his scores back.

What an interesting description, it does sound like it's possible he did get to the end of the material in many subtests. Keep in mind that even if he did get all the way to the end (if that is what the grey page means) some children get to the end having performed perfectly all the way through, while other kids (like mine!) make careless mistakes along the way (more at the beginning when it's super easy), this means that they don't get maximum points despite having in one sense ceiling-ed the test.

He did tell me that he knows he missed a few things and it frustrated him. With the vocabulary he said he knew what many things were but had trouble getting out the proper meaning. The psychologist had him "explain" what he means, if that makes sense.

The psych did say that his CogAT scores were very interesting because they were so low.

Ugh! I hate waiting on results!

Jaggirl I could hear my eldest being tested on the SB5 from the next room and there were questions where she clearly knew the answer but could not spit it out. The tester gave her extra opportunities and prompting (to the limit of what was allowable or appropriate "could you explain" "more detail please" etc) because they could also clearly tell that she understood the concept but wasn't able to word it. She never did get any of those answers that the tester tried so hard to get her to verbalise.

From my perspective as frustrating as that is because she KNEW, it's also a realistic indicator, in her particular case, of how her disabilities impact her communication - she can't show what she knows a lot of the time. And the WISC is not just about what you know or how you reason - it's also about how you function. In my DDs case her functioning has some specific impairments.

I am in no way suggesting that is the case with your son! And I should clarify that this post is about a different daughter to the one in the previous post! They had different blips with their testing :-).

Mine was diagnosed as ADHD (suspected from the age of 3, now 8)recently. His doctor today had me fill out a different scale form from the one I filled out before. He seemed to confirm the ADHD today but stated my son does fully concentrate on things that challenge him.

I am just really impatient to know how he did. He needs a much different educational path than the one he is currently on. He is in 2nd and tested in between the 91st and 98th percentile on his math MAP subtests. On the MAP reading he scored up in the 100th percentile at a 10th grade reading comprehension level. The other reading subtests were between at grade to 6th grade.

my tester scored while I waited in the office. Since it is computerized, not sure why the wait...?

The wait is due to a couple of reasons. 1 being my son has ADHD and they want to insure the accuracy of the test results. 2 is this is for the highly capable appeal for our school district and the requirements needed in the paperwork. 3 is the educational recommendations by the doctor for each and every individual thing. It isn't just the scoring itself but the overall picture. Of course, the score today would have been great.

The doctor also has a psychologist that is working towards their child developmental/gifted specialty that is shadowing him.