Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Low Comprehension Sub Test score/Low processing sp

Hi, We recently had my daughter tested for possible admission to our local school for Talented and Gifted. The psychologist Administered the wisc-iv. She received the following scores:

VCI 134/ 99th
PRI 106/ 66th
WM 113/ 81st
PS 83/ 13th
FSIQ Not valid due to wide subtest variance
GAI 123

Subtests:
Similarities: 19/ 99.9
Vocabulary 19/99.9
Comprehension 9/37

Block Design 12/75
Picture Concepts 11/63
Matrix Reasoning 10/50

Digit Span 14/91
Letter Number Sequencing 11/63

Coding 4/ 2
Symbol Search 10/50

The evaluator indicated that the VCI would probably qualify her for the program we are considering but that she might struggle because of her slow processing speed. He recommended further testing. But she isn't having any problems in school so I'm having a hard time justifying the expense.

I'm wondering if anyone has any insights. I'm especially curious why the comprehension score would be so much lower that the other two components of the VCI?

I've mentioned recently on another thread that the commonality between Similarities and Vocabulary is that both consist of very limited language input (single words), while Comprehension consists of lengthier questions, requiring more listening comprehension. This means that Si and Vc are primarily measures of expressive language, while Co is a mixed measure of expressive and receptive language. Comprehension also relies on contextual learning, which is quite dependent on one's cultural and experiential setting.

BTW, were extended norms used on the other two VCI subtests, as both reached the maximum scaled score?

How old is your daughter? If she is young, she may not be having problems because the demands are so little at present. Her PSI is quite significant, as it is not only a relative weakness, but a normative weakness. In particular, the Coding score would be considered impaired. How are her fine motor and writing skills?

I would second the suggestion to pursue further testing, but--full disclosure--I am a school psych, so I have a little bias toward assessment.

Thank you for your insights. I should have mentioned she is 10 years years old in the 5 th grade and yes she struggles with handwriting and other fine motor skills (aso I did a her age) The report does not mention anything about extended range.

Welcome, pdxmomto2


I'm curious how old your dd is? If she's in early elementary, it's possible she's somehow compensating for whatever issue is causing some of her scores to be low. I don't want to sound alarming in any way, but her coding score is *very* low, and the spread in everything is really huge.


In addition to the advice offered above, I wonder if it's possible she has some type of vision issue? I have a dd who was doing very well in early elementary but also had a severe vision issue at the same time that no one recognized - we first discovered it when she was given the WISC and scored in the bottom 1/2 percentile on coding, as well as really low on another subtest. The reason she was able to appear to do well in early elementary was the relatively low work demands - had she gone on into mid-elementary and beyond with the vision issue uncorrected she would have had huge issues with reading demands.

What types of further testing did the psych recommend? If there were specific types of tests recommended, that might help us with further insight.

I also wonder if you might be able to request the further testing recommended through your school district to help with expense. Or if any of it might be covered by medical insurance. I may sound biased in favor of testing, but fwiw, I have two 2e kids in addition to the dd who had the vision issue (who is not 2e, by the way, she just couldn't see :))... with my 2e kiddos, one obviously struggled with reading, the other just *looked* like a perfectionist in early elementary, so his challenges went undiagnosed until he simply couldn't keep up with the workload and expectations as he moved up in school.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Good to hear that she has been successful in school through the fifth grade. At the same time, I would echo polarbear's cautions about changing expectations going up through the grades.

Looking just at the cognitive profile without any achievement data, if I were doing this evaluation, in addition to the vision and fine motor coordination questions, I would be asking questions about possible concerns in mathematical reasoning and spatial thinking, writing skills and written expression--especially handwriting, spelling, and lengthy writing. I would be interested in any disparity in length, quality, or efficiency between oral responses and written responses.

Depending on the type of follow-up testing recommended, you should be able to have much of it done at no additional cost, through the public school system of your residency, even if she attends a private school. You would need to write a letter requesting a comprehensive special education evaluation, with particular concerns in, for example, handwriting/fine motor skills and written expression. I would suggest speaking to someone in the special education department, and making your outside evaluation report available to them, so that
1) they don't repeat the testing, invalidating the second administration, and potentially causing eligibility decisions to be based on erroneous data, and,
2) they can see that you have specific concerns, even though she appears to be doing all right in school. Speed is of particular relevance as she enters middle school, where the work load tends to increase substantially, even when not in a selective school.

The extended norms are worth investigating whenever two or more subtests reach the maximum scaled score of 19, as this is an indication that the child may have exceeded the ceiling of the test, reaching the point where the typical scaling does not differentiate her ability sufficiently. Additional range for ten-year-olds can go all the way up to a scaled score of 22 for Similarities, and 25, for Vocabulary. So the difference between a low 19 and a high 19 can be as much as 2 standard deviations (you could compare it to the difference between a 13 and a 19 scaled score, which is the difference between high average and very superior).