Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Working Memory sig lower

Hi,

i have been on before re my son who experienced a signficant decline in grade 3 particularly in reading - and also finds writing difficult (ideas are great but cannot seem to get them down in an organsied and logical fashion). His reading is quite slow and he seems to sound everything out and not-expressive/fluent. Also, it seems that when read to him his comprehension is excellent but when he reads he finds it hard to comprehend all that he has read (as he is reading).
Anwyay, fast forward, he has just completed the WISC IV and prelim results are -

Verbal Index - 132 (98 percentile)
Perceptual Index - 137 (99 percentile)
Working Memory - 97 (44 percentile)
Processing Speed - 108

I wonder if anyone has had similar experience or has any comments on this type of profile (in particulary the low working memory) . Also, does anyone know whether this is the type of thing a GAI is appropriate for, and how to calculate the GAI on the above? I'll also post on LD forum.

I would appreciate any input/comments anyone may have.

thanks
t08

I didn't know there's a GAI score for the WISC-IV because we were only presented with the FSIQ score plus the 4 scores, with the composite profile. I wanted to know more and found the Tech Report#4 mentioned by Dottie. http://pearsonassess.com/NR/rdonlyres/91DACD36-4E78-4F5C-976D-D6048BD67ED7/0/WISCIVTechReport4.pdf
On page 3, it talked abt when to use the GAI. Not sure if it will be helpful to you.

I would strongly consider a complete neuropsychological evaluation by a pediatric specialist. While it can raise "red flags", an IQ test alone is insufficient for diagnosing LD.

Thank you everyone for all your comments/input. Thanks Dottie for your help!
cheers
Tiz