Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Stanford Binet L-M still relevant?

Hi,

Let me preface by saying I'm a newbie first time poster and also new to the world of gifted education. So any commentary is appreciated as I'm still getting up to speed here.

We just received the following scores for our son and the tester has recommended additional testing ( at additional cost of course ) using the SB L-M. What are the current opinions on the usefulness of testing on a test that was last normed in the 70's? Anyone here from North Texas have schooling recommendations / suggestions?

WPPSI III

Testing Age: 4.0
VIQ : 151 > 99.9%
PIQ : 140 99.6%
FSIQ : 146 99.9%

WIAT-III

Listening Comprehension : 136 99%
Early Reading Skills : 131 98%
Math Problem Solving : 128 97%
Alphabet Writing Fluency : 127 96%

I do remember reading an article by someone who preferred it but I think it was for specific cases - maybe that it can differentiate better at higher levels. WPPSI and WISC top out at about 160 so you can't really get a clear picture at a high level.
But there are more modern tests with extended norms. Also at this point I don't see how it would really be useful. Were there any anomalies is the suggest scores? Or any other issues the first test didn't address?

Those are great scores and plenty to get into whatever school you are looking at for kindergarten/1st grade. I agree with Puffin that further testing likely won't tell you much, if anything, more.

Instead, consider waiting until he is 6 to test with the WISC IV or SB-5. My DS took the WISC and they do have extended norms for when kids hit the ceiling on subtests. Good luck!

Here is a link to a past discussion on this forum. Gifted Development Center

Googling should give you more threads (e.g., I came up with the above link by googling "sb-lm outdated & davidson gifted", and I'm sure if you tried other formulations you would find more).

I would say that unless you have very specific questions that remain unanswered, there is no point in using a very outdated test.

ETA -- Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think the WPSSI III is also outdated.

and

Welcome! I hope you find a lot of useful information here. Hopefully someone from the North Texas area will see your post and comment with suggestions.

There were no anomalies but the tester said that DS4 hit the ceiling on 5 of the 7 sub-tests and that the SBLM was the best instrument to remove those ceilings for his age.

Regarding the WPPSI-III, this is what the tester had told us when deciding to go with it vs the WPPSI-IV. Sound reasonable?