Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Is WPPSI-III accurate?

I think it's really important to remember she's 6 years old, no matter what her level of giftedness. I, too, was an extremely motivated student and high achiever - but honestly I don't think I was at 6 - at 6 I was still very much into play and having fun at school etc. My EG ds also didn't seem motivated *at all* at 6, or even for several years after, and I honestly thought he was going to be totally mellow and non-motivated forever, but once he hit 6th grade he found that same internal motivator and I'd now say he's highly motivated to be high achieving and it shows. Way back when ds was in early elementary (K-1) we had him in a school that was all about student-led learning and developing independent thinkers etc - but the teachers there felt that most students didn't really have that inner-motivation kick in until around 3rd grade at the earliest.

There's also another piece to the 6 year old puzzle that may be impacting some of what you're seeing - most children go through a developmental stage around 6-7 where they are starting to see themselves as individuals completely separately defined from their parents in a much more significant way than when they are younger, so some of that resistance to doing what you want her to do could be coming from that.

Re the not listening, my older dd was sooooo like that as a young child - still is sometimes. She too went through an auditory processing eval at 5 years old because she simply didn't seem to hear well at all or remember directions when we asked her to do something that involved more than one step. If we asked her to pick up her coat and hang it on a hook in the room next door, she would pick up her coat and get lost on the way to the room that was right next door. She has a sister that is two years younger, who was able to carry out much more complicated directions so we were worried *something* was going on and a psych recommended the auditory processing eval - but all was ok there. Much later on (with many more episodes of dd being "lost" and not following our directions and seaming to not hear us) we found out she had a vision challenge - and that was why she would get "lost" and not follow through past the first simple part of a multi-step direction. I don't think your dd has a vision challenge - her Symbol Search score is beyond great. But my point is, sometimes what is driving one behavior isn't the first suspected and most obvious answer, kwim?

I'll also add that for my dd who didn't seem to hear well - the things like having to hold her shoulders and make eye contact to get her to hear us etc - she does have ear wax that builds up in a huge way - really dry stuff (probably tmi lol!) - and we can tell when she has a build up because she starts talking loud and we start having to do things like get right in her face when we're trying to tell her something - so... if your dd hasn't had a ped checkup lately you might want to have her ears checked for wax buildup. With our dd it's not something we can see with our eyes - not your typical obvious-from-a-distance kid with ear wax - it's dryer and deeper.

Re the lower coding score - what you're seeing isn't hugely lower. Most of the parents I know here on these forums who have kids who are impacted by low coding scores (my dysgraphic ds is one of them) have a larger discrepancy between scores. That said, your dd definitely has a dip in processing speed. I'd watch for patterns in her work refusal - is it generally all over the place, or mostly when she's asked to do written work, things like that. If you start to see a pattern see if it might relate back to that dip in processing speed.

Re WPSII reliability in general, my one child who was tested with the WPSII *did* test much higher than she later tested on the WISC - but in her case, I did not expect through-the-ceiling scores and the test results she has received in subsequent ability testing correlate better with what we see in her academics. OTOH, I've not seen many parents post with similar experiences - I think most high WPSII scores hold up as the child gets older and is tested with the WISC etc.

And my last comment (I promise lol!) - is that playing with Legos etc isn't just wasted time - there can be a *lot* of mind-building and creative thinking and synapse-connecting going on during activities like Legos. My EG ds spent literally years playing with Legos - they were the creative outlet for him instead of the fantasy-play world of dress-up and Barbies my dds lived in I think really that type of unstructured play is *so* important for our children - it's where I feel like I've seen their most creative, original thinking. Even now that my ds is much older and doesn't play with his Legos *as often* - I still feel that his brain strengths are nurtured more during the time he's just free to read/explore/think for himself than they are doing most schoolwork, whether or not it's work that is the right level of academic challenge.

But that's just me

Hope some of that helps!

Best wishes,

polarbear

1 SD - isn't that 15 points? Is that considered significant? Seems quite significant to me ... And did the WISC give a higher or lower score?

I wonder why some testers choose SB5 over WPPSI-III and vice versa. But the fact that she was tested on WPPSI-III and that Davidson requires a 150 on WPPSI-III compared to 145 on the other tests also makes me wonder if test scores on WPPSI-III are inflated. I actually asked the psych whether her scores could be artificially inflated somehow but she was very adamant that that couldn't be the case because she did not accommodate her at all.

I will try to put her into mainstream school next year, thus ending my homeschool journey for now at least. And yes I do wonder whether, in advocating for grade acceleration (although the chances of that being granted in her school are very slim) would be in her best interests. The only thing I know is that, I really hope she has a good experience in school and that I don't get all that feedback about my kid being inattentive, naughty, uncooperative etc again. It gets really sad. She really is just the kind of kid that so far, NO teacher or coach has liked.

Thanks polarbear, that's a lot of good advice you have given me there. I really have a lot to learn as I grow with this child. I really get you there, that playing with Lego is not a waste of time. My DD6 does play a lot - and on good days I think, ok that's great she is learning and being creative and being a child. And on other days I see how she really can't even get off her *ss to do just one sum and I wonder whether I have failed to teach her discipline and should really get her ready for schoolwork and regular school. But she also changes moods from day to day - so I guess that is the roller coaster ride that gifted kids do bring their parents on.

Thanks also for your comments about the IQ tests - WPPSI-III and WISC. It seems like this testing thing objective as it is supposed to be still works out in different ways for different kids? At the end of the day, I would like to have some certainty, although I do realise that at the same time, even with the certainty there's not going to be an instruction manual for this kid

Yes, that is significant, IMO. In my dd's case, I believe the lower WPPSI score was totally due to perfectionism (not answering unless she was sure she was right) and a tester not experienced with gifted kids--I took her to the tester at the Down syndrome clinic my son went to because the price was right...) I anticipate that my younger dd's WISC score will be higher as well, because she was wiggly and not totally cooperative, and I think perfectionism and just quirkiness plays a role with her. I have heard of higher scores on WPPSI than WISC, I think if a kid does fully cooperate on WPPSI this might be possible. But I doubt it would be a hugely signicant amt. In my older dd's case, the successful skip and achievement shows WISC was more accurate. Good luck.

Just wanted to also encourage you to do some reading on gifted perfectionism and underachievement especially in gifted girls. It could help a lot to understand what may be going on with her.