Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment help understanding wppsi scores

My son did not test in the gifted range but this board seems to be most knowledgeable about testing so if anyone wants to weigh in, I would appreciate it. My son (4 y 10m) took the WPPSI-IV for kindergarten admittance. I only have the summary, I do not have access to the other scores. I may be able to get them but not for 4 months and I can ask for a recommendation from the pediatrician at an appointment next month so for now I just want to research as much as I can. He had low WMI and VSI scores in relation to the others, particularly the WMI. I'm trying to figure out what that means and if he needs additional testing. From what I have read, it could be an attention issue.

A little about him if that offers any clues. My son was conversational an early age and has a very advanced vocabulary. Ironically, I would say memory is one of his strengths. He remembers little details and events. He's also my grocery and errand list. I tell him what we need and when we go to the store he reminds me. He has always seemed to do well following multiple commands. If I drop him off at school and ask him to bring something home from his locker, he usually remembers to do it and if he forgets he'll tell me as soon as he gets in the car that he forgot to go to his locker. He is socially adept. He gets along well with his peers, younger kids and older ones as well. His teacher tells me he is very well liked and from the number of play date requests, that seems true. He is high energy and never stops until he gets into bed. To me, he seems to pay too much attention to what everyone else is doing and not to what he is doing. I have asked his teacher if that is the case in the classroom and she says he's just very social and doesn't want to miss out on anything but does focus when he is doing his work. But I think he does a lot of watching others. He is impulsive. His handwriting is not great and coloring still needs a lot of work. The school teaches cursive first and he seems to struggle with that.

So, my real questions are 1. possible reasons for low WMI and VCI and 2. can those two low scores bring down the FSIQ? I'm very unfamiliar with the scoring on the WPPSI so I do not know how the various subtests factor into the whole.

Scores below, any input is welcome and appreciated.

VCI 125
VSI 107
FRI 124
WMI 102
PSI 128
FSIQ 128

I'm sure that aeh will be along soon to give you more detailed information, but I can tell you a little. The FSIQ is a composite calculated from all of the subtests, so the same subtests that brought down the VSI and the WMI will also have brought down the FSIQ.

The type of memory measured in the WMI is not the same sort of memory as you describe being one of your son's strengths. It is really about short-term memory and how much you can hold in your brain at one time. The reason it is tested is because it impacts how well you will be able solve complicated problems that require you to hold all the pieces in your mind at once as you manipulate them.

The impulsivity is associated with ADHD, but it is also associated with being a 4-year-old boy. He may just need a little more time to mature. Again, aeh will give you more reliable information, but you may want to wait until he turns 6 before you do further testing, as that will open up the possibility of using the WISC, which is probably a more reliable instrument.

The Wikipedia articles on the WPPSI and the WISC are as good a place as any to get an idea of what the subtests are and what the different indices represent.

Welcome!

The FSIQ includes both VCI subtests, both FRI subtests, and one each from VSI, WMI, and PSI. As it happens, your DC has lower VSI and WMI, so the impact on FSIQ depends a bit on whether the two subtests contributing to those index scores were consistent with each other, and, if not, which one was the lower score.

Without the subtest scores, it's a bit more difficult to say what is going on, but speculatively, I wonder if there was a difference between his motor-involved and motor-free performance, as that might be a common thread between the relatively low VSI and the relatively low WMI. Both of the VSI tasks are hands-on assembly tasks, and one of the WMI tasks requires some perceptual-motor skill (placing a marker in a specific location). You are describing a child who can follow multistep verbal directions, but is challenged by handwriting and coloring (though I must say--cursive for four year-olds?), which suggests to me that his auditory working memory (at least) really is just fine, if not strong, but that he very well may struggle (comparatively) with some aspects of visual spatial skills. VCI and FRI are both motor-free. PSI came out high, but at this level, there are limited fine motor demands. Of course, many non-disabled four-year-olds (especially boys) have some challenges with fine motor skills and handwriting.

In your position, I would continue monitoring the behavior and fine motor development, and possibly investigate further with an occupational therapy evaluation (e.g., for motor coordination or motor planning), if he doesn't appear to be making progress, or has to pour excessive effort into making that progress. He is very young, so it's also possible that this is just a lagging skill that is developmentally within normal limits, and that he may catch up on his own. Or not. It can be hard to tell at this age.

If there is advantage to be gained from a gifted score test again after he turns 6. In the meantime you could see how he does with those listing games "on the way to grandmas house I saw/took etc".

Hi. I'm back again for more input. My son (5.10) had to redo the WPPSI for school admissions this year as well. Since last year, he had an OT evaluation. He did not show a strong hand preference and was switching hands amongst other balnace and strength issues. The therapist vacillated on his handedness as well for a number of visits until they seemed to establish using the right for writing. The therapist said his hand would never be able to keep up with his brain but he has worked very hard since then and has made great progress. I would say his handwriting is middle of the pack in his K class and legible so a vast improvement. He is 2 grade levels ahead in reading and about a year and half ahead in math. He came from a Montessori school so I had no idea where he was relative to his peers, academically, prior to starting K this fall.

His WPPSI scores were higher this year but he still was low in WMI and VSI. His PSI was in the 99% so he must have been the one racing through the test. I don't have subtest scores but I have the opportunity to speak to the director of testing that does have them and I was wondering if there are any questions I should ask that would give me any insight. None of this would really matter if I didn't have to make a schooling decision. Does any of this mean anything when looking at whether he could do well in an academically rigorous program? Does low WMI he might struggle down the line?
Any imput appreciated again.

VCI 90%
VSI 73%
FRI 95%
WMI 58%
PSI 99%
FSIQ 96%

Nice to hear from you again.

It's unfortunate that the school chose to re-test only 12 months later on the WPPSI, as that is well shy of the best practice 24 months between administrations. Fortunately, he doesn't appear to have huge practice effects in his scores, as they are very consistent with last year's testing. Nearly identical, actually, and well within the standard error ranges.

I will reiterate that none of his scores are low. His visual spatial and working memory skills are comfortably average, and are only lower than his verbal and abstract reasoning strengths in comparison. The relative weakness in VSI has potential to affect his performance in traditionally academic programs mainly if it turns out that handwriting becomes an obstacle to meeting output demands (and possibly in geometry--but with his strong fluid reasoning, that's less likely). There are cases where it affects written expression, because of impacts on writing mechanics and fluency, but it's far too early to be making that call.

At preK/K age, a fair number of essentially neurotypical children have yet to establish clear handedness. Most OTs I have worked with recommend that ambidextrous individuals pick a hand (probably right, for general convenience), and just work on developing it for writing, as your OT appears to have done. He won't need handwriting at the same level as his verbal cognition to demonstrate skills at that level. Just average handwriting will do. In the meantime, while his handwriting develops, you can scribe his stories, or audiorecord them, if he has interesting thoughts to express that his hands can't yet keep up with.

And with regard to schooling decisions: despite what you may hear from the community around you, there is no need to feel that a placement decision made now locks him into his entire future educational and career trajectory. His needs and your family's needs will change from year to year. Give yourself some freedom to adapt.

Thank you AEH, I appreciate your thoughtful response. It's not that easy to not worry about a schooling decision!

Flash forward six years! I have returned for questions and if it helps others to see changes over time. DS had very low WMI scores (relative to other scores) and I was told he would struggle in school because executive function was critical so I had lowered my expectations a little. DS (now 11) was diagnosed with ADHD and dysgraphia in 1st grade. His teachers did not express any concerns and he was doing well so neither were addressed. This past school year, DS decided he wanted to try medication for the ADHD. It helped a great deal in his ability to get work done and helped him to stay focused through the very long standardized testing that was required for ms applications. He had to do a new evaluation to have an IEP in case he needs accommodations. I was shocked that his WMI scores were now at 99%. Could medication make that much difference? Or is it the development over the last 4 years since last testing? His digit span went from 11 to 19. His current testing on WISC-V as follows:

VCI 96%

VSI 87%

FRI 97%

WMI 99%

PSI 88%

FSIQ 99%

He also had achievement testing done but it was unmedicated so I don't understand how you diagnose ADHD when you're looking at results from different tests, some medicated some not. But then, I'm not an educational psychologist. He scored 10% on Beery VMI motor coordination so dysgraphia diagnosis was probably accurate.

Glad you're back with an update, lulu!

Several factors can affect how his test scores have unfolded over time, not least of which is overall development and increased testability. On the whole, however, his current resutls are quite consistent with his past resutls, with strong verbal and fluid reasoning, and working memory (the major change), and high average visual spatial reasoning and visual-motor processing speed. The increase in his working memory scores could have something to do with medication, since that's mostly a test of short-term auditory memory, but it could also have to do with development and strategy use. I notice that his visual working memory must have increased as well, with performance probably somewhat impacted by development in motor skills to grossly within normal limits. (No fine motor is involved; it's purely pointing. I'm also curious if he was tested using an iPad on any round of WISC or WPPSI testing, as there are some differences in PSI performance depending on whether the examiner used paper or tablet for those measures.) Visual spatial thinking measures probably benefited from one of the tasks being motor-free (in contrast to the WPPSI). There is an option for a motor-free VSI, if the examiner has access to the WISC-V Integrated, which might have been an interesting comparison, given the huge gap between VS reasoning and motor coordination. (I.e., it is possible that his actual visual spatial reasoning is on par with his verbal reasoning, but is underestimated on formal testing because of interference from his weaknesses in motor coordination.)

In keeping with cautions emerging from his early testing, I see that dysgraphia did eventually warrant a diagnosis.

ADHD is typically diagnosed based on multiple instruments, and having some medicated and some unmedicated isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as you know which ones are which, and depending a bit on which ones are unmedicated. The achievement testing is not usually a critical component of the ADHD diagnosis. That was probably more relevant for dysgraphia.

Thank you aeh for your always helpful insights. I asked my son if any of the tests this time were on the iPad and he said he was shown pictures at one point on the iPad but he did not interact with it. And there were so many tests, he didn't know which ones he was doing. The psychologist did show me a few pages of his WISC test (how he couldn't stay in lines or copy correctly) and it was in a bound notebook. I will ask her about the motor free VSI. It won't make a difference but I am curious.

I had one other question about the WJ-IV results. He was unmedicated for this test but he did very well in math but I don't quite understand the "grade equivalent" scores. He had some >17.9 scores but that doesn't make sense to me. He has only been exposed to a grade level ahead in math so what does it really mean? It seems to me a weird way ti report scores. Thanks for teaching me a little about this as well.