Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Confused over WISC and WIATT scores

Our DS7 has been complaining that school is "boring" and that he hates the work. His teacher has told us that if he is bored, he should choose more challenging work. (This is a Montessori school and there is a heavy emphasis on demonstrating mastery by choosing to do the harder tasks) DH and I suspected that something else might be the root cause of his negative expressions about school. So, after having him tested, we have confirmation that he has strong ability based scores on the WISC-V.

VCI 142 99.7
VSI 138 99
FRI 126 96
WMI 117 87
PSI 114 82
FSIQ 139 99.5
GAI 138 99

The tester indicated that this is a pretty typical spread for gifted kids (relatively lower processing speed and working memory). At this point, I was preparing to advocate for some kind of acceleration, which in theory should be easy in Montessori. But then we went over his WIATT-III scores . . .

Total reading 122 93%
Basic Reading 121 92%
Written Expression 115 84%
Mathematics 135 99%
Math fluency 104 61%

The subtest results give better information about his clear strengths (reading comprehension, math problem solving, and numerical operations) and weakness (anything that has the word "fluency" in it) . Oh, and the tester said no evidence of a learning disability. His overall achievement is just what his teacher observes--above grade level, but not significantly.

My take is that DS7s brain just hates repetition and gets frustrated with tasks that rely on processing speed, but now I don't know what to advocate for with the school. DS's achievement is not commensurate with ability. This clearly has something to do with engagement with the curriculum, but I'm at a loss with how to move forward.

Do I understand how the WIATT and WISC relate to each other (achievement versus ability)? Anything about these scores that jump out to anyone? Any BTDT thoughts on gap b/w ability and achievement? I'd like to help DS find some joy in learning and I'm struggling. Thanks so much for any thoughts--

The WIAT-III is an achievement test, so it measures learned skills, and yes, it does correlate with the WISC-V. However, it is not accurate to say these scores are not commensurate with ability. Other than math fluency, they are all within the range predicted by his FSIQ and GAI, and, actually, even his VCI, which is his highest index score. I don't see any evidence of a learning disability at this time, either.

But it is also not accurate to say that his skills are not significantly above grade level. Written expression and math fluency are both notably gated by fine-motor skills; if his handwriting development is merely age-appropriate, it would not be surprising for those scores to be in the upper half of average, rather than above. You also note that the higher level reading and math reasoning skills are his strength areas. It is possible that his teacher is assessing his achievement level by his written output, which may not be (probably is not) fully representative of his academic skills. Math scores in that range are well above grade level, not just a little above, and if his reading comprehension is in the same range, the same would be true there. It is also possible that you have a particularly high-achieving school community, in which case the teacher's perspective may be locally accurate without being consistent with national normative data. (IOW, just a little above grade level for your community, although well above grade level when compared to the nation-wide population of age-peers.)

His working memory and processing speed are comfortably in the range often observed in GT learners--high average, but not at the same level as his reasoning. This is not surprising, as, in addition to age-appropriate fine-motor skills, GT learners often also have age-appropriate executive functions, manifesting here as working memory. And yes, fluency and processing speed are closely related.

The questions of choosing more challenging work, and advocating for more challenge, require a better understanding of what "challenge" looks like in his setting. If "more challenging work" is just the same level of complexity of work, but more of it, then there is no particular reason he would seek out "challenge" in his setting. Sometimes the absence of significant complexity is not apparent to teachers. For example, say he is expected to do single digit addition and subtraction, but he's already mastered them. His teacher may believe that giving him double- or triple-digit addition and subtraction is "more challenge", but really, what he needs is multiplication and division. More digits of the same addition and subtraction is not increased level of complexity; it's just more volume of the same type of work. So when he "chooses" not to do "more challenge", the teacher perceives that he's been offered more and won't do it, and sees no need to increase the level of complexity.

Thanks so much, aeh and Portia. Your comments are a tremendous help. You are right, Portia, DS's subtests are really tight. Except for processing speed, which is split between higher CD score of 15 and lower symbol search score of 10. There is also a split for FRI and WMI, but not as dramatic.

aeh, thanks so much for putting his WIATT scores in context. I didn't realize that both written expression and math fluency are so dependent on fine-motor skill. The tester noted that DS had well-formed letters, but his writing speed was slower, which may explain some of the subtest scores. I also feel more comfortable with (and less alarmed by) his WIATT scores wrt the WISC. There are still a couple of stunners in the subtest (e.g., how can a kid that's been doing addition problems since toddlerhood get a score in the 37th percentile on addition fluency?) But I feel like I can place all the information in the broader context of the whole test. I'm so grateful for your insight.

On advocacy, I think you raise an important question, aeh. What does the teacher consider a challenge? Your example is spot on--she considers working on addition with 3-digit numbers a challenge rather than moving on to other operations. I need to do some more homework to understand how she approaches these issues. And may be back with more questions once I know more.

"Bored" can mean many things to a young child and it may be shorthand for DS7 for not sufficiently complex or for too repetitious or for not a subject of interest or for I'd-rather-be-outside-on-a-beautiful-day. But I do want his learning environment to be interesting to him and we have a long way to go as today was yet another "I don't think I can go to school because (my legs hurt or my stomach hurts or I have a cough or I feel too grumpy or I hate it too much)."

Slow-but-accurate writing speed would definitely be a plausible explanation for lower subtest scores in Alphabet Writing Fluency, both Math Fluency subtests, and even, to some extent, Sentence Composition, as he may have been investing some energy into correct letter formation that could have been devoted to sentence formulation. If there is a marked difference between AWF and SC, that would more clearly support the impact of writing speed on his overall Written Expression Composite.

So far, I get the sense that all of the fine-motor tasks are age-appropriate for speed and accuracy, so I'm not ringing alarm bells (especially in a young boy in Montessori), but I'd definitely keep an eye on handwriting speed and automaticity over the next few years. If it doesn't appear to keep pace with NT peers, there might be more to it. Also, even if it's just asynchrony, when advocating for more challenge in areas that require some kind of handwriting response (language arts, spelling, sometimes math, etc.), you may find that accommodations and scaffolding for the physical act of writing may be necessary to give him access to the higher level skills. For instance, if his appropriate instructional zone for reading and comprehending is third grade-level text, but his physical writing skills are on grade-level for his age, teachers may need to assess his comprehension (let's say in the form of a book report) through alternative tasks (e.g., oral/dramatic presentation), or assistive technology (scribed report).

3 digit addition is just 3 lots of 1 digit addition with occasional slight variation. It is 3 times as dull not 3 times as challenging. Adding fractions maybe ...

Yes, the thrill of working with 3 or 4 digit addition lasted all of one day. Day one: "Mom, I added 3478 plus 1257!" Day two: "Mom, addition is so boring. Why do I have to go to school?" His psych also noted that during testing DS seemed to "check out" during any of the subtests that looked too much like school work--math fluency. He would also get easy problems wrong and harder ones right. So, it seems this pattern is well ingrained.

Fractions is a great idea! It seems like teachers forget that novelty is currency for quick kids and, used strategically, can be used to build the same skills in different ways.

Thanks, aeh, for the note to keep an eye on handwriting and automaticity and for some ideas about getting away from written work product as the prime or sole assessment method. I'm meeting with his teacher tomorrow and have lots of questions.