Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment received WPPSI-IV scores. Retest with WISC-IV?

I posted back in march regarding my son(5 at the time, just turned 6 in July). He has been having horrible behavior issues his first year of Kindergarten. I had posted that he was a bright little boy but not quite sure if the term "gifted" would apply to him.

The school finally tested him and I got the results in June. Since then He has also received an ADHD diagnosis (which I am not quite 100% agreeing with yet).

Here are the results (he was 5y11m at the time of testing):

Verbal comprehension (VCI) 102
Visual Spatial (VSI) 132
Fluid Reasoning (FRI) 130
Working Memory (WMI) 113
Processing Speed (PSI) 97
Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) 121

The whole report was 16 pages long. There was a lot in there about his behavior during the testing (A LOT). He is a very fun loving and easy going people person kid. There isn't a person he meets that he doesn't instantly fall in love with and want to play with. The school psychologist was someone he had met many times before during the school year and considered her a friend (he loves adults). Because of this he was extremely playful during the testing. He would become silly and get off topic, he would try to turn the pages to move ahead... during the working memory subset he actually told her that he was going to close his eyes and not look at the pictures (playfully).

My question is this - due to his possible ADHD, his "playfulness", or even his general immaturity, should I consider having him retested? The school psychologist mentioned that she felt his scores would have been higher had he focused. While his results weren't very high, it was definitely higher than I expected. My little guy certainly surprised me.


The school's in my area of NY don't offer G&T programs. If anything the only thing this would do is help me advocate for him better, but I am not sure how the possibility of having an FSIQ a little higher would be of any benefit?

I also know that now that now that he is 6 he can take the WISC-IV, not sure if there is a greater benefit to that test.

Any ideas, suggestions, and thoughts welcome.

These are very nice results, generally. Is there any access or advocacy benefit to re-testing now? If not, I would hold off for a few years. His level of testability is not going to increase that much in a few months, and it would be a waste of the 2-year re-test period to test him now with the WISC-V, without a very good reason. I will say that the ceiling on the WPPSI-IV for a high-functioning nearly-six-year-old is fairly low, so this is just a starting point for looking at his areas of cognitive strength.

With regard to advocacy, his results do clearly indicate that he is in the MG range in nonverbal areas (VS and FR), which have implications particularly for mathematical thinking. Given the significantly lower VC and PS (how are his pencil skills?), advancement in first grade may or may not be necessary, as most of first grade is about reading and handwriting. From what you report, it sounds like you have advocates for him in the school, so the incremental benefit from re-testing would probably be negligible. (Since the SP already believes he is brighter than his scores suggest, and there is no GT service gated by a higher score.)

ETA: Went back and read your old posts. I see he is already advanced in reading and math. In that case, he probably will need something in first grade, but the point about already having in-school advocates remains. Did she make instructional or placement recommendations in her report? That might be a good place to start. Handwriting will probably still be a concern, when considering his programming, as he probably is not ready to generate any more written product than his age-peers. So you'll have to be prepared to ask for supplementation or advancement that relies on only limited pencil and paper work.

I personally don't think so, but wasn't sure if I was possibly missing something.


He hates writing. But, when he does write, he has amazing penmanship. If he's asked to write something long it gets worse and worse.


He loves math. He also seems to be very visual which I never realized. He was evaluated by an OT as part of the school evaluation and was given a "Motor-Free Visual Perceptual Test (MVPT-3)." He scored a 142 which is apparently high (I've been googling and cant find much about that test.)

[quote=aeh]
Did she make instructional or placement recommendations in her report? That might be a good place to start. quote]

Most of her recommendations were for the behavior issues (a whole page worth) since that is what they see him having the biggest issue with.

There were 2 lines for school functioning. DS "will likely need additional small-group individualized attention. He will need access to enriching and stimulating materials and curriculum." At least they were 2 good lines

We have a meeting next week with the Committee for Special Education. With the ADHD diagnosis he should qualify for services and get the smaller classroom. Hopefully that will help with the behavior issues and also get him access to some more advanced math.

Thanks again for your comments. I think I'm going to wait for additional testing.