Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WPPSI-III hit ceiling, retest? Help, please

Hi everybody.
I am very new to this forum, and have been reading all the post for past two weeks. This forum is so informative, my thanks to all members.
Anyway my DS4 (almost five), has been tested by a local psychologist with the WPPSI- III, if we would qualify for the gifted program in a public school (so far we have been homeschooling, so I had no comparison to other children). These
are the results:
Verbal subtest: information-19
Vocabulary-15
Word reasoning- 17
Performance: Block design- 19
Matrix reasoning- 17
Picture concepts- 17
Procesing: Symbol search-14
Coding-13
The composite scores: Verbal 143
Performance 148
Processing speed 119
Full 146
After a little period of quiet panic, I did a lot of research.
I see that we are missing the Young scholar cut of by 2 points.
I research the test numbers, and was wondering if DS have hit the test ceiling. I called the psychologist, and she said no, the test ceiling is 160. However, I think that in the 2 subtest he scored 19, and that is the highest number he could get.
So my question is this: has he hit the ceiling? Would these numbers in fact qualify him for Davidson program? Or should we retest? What test to use then ( I understand that the same test cannot be administered again for a certain period of time)? I am very new to all this, and thank you all for any type of guidance.

Hi there!

My ds6's scores were very, very similar when he took the WPPSI last year. I had about 2 months of quiet panic.

Your ds *did* hit ceilings on those 19s. Though he didn't ceiling the whole test, he did ceiling portions of it -- and his end score could have been higher with higher ceilings.

From my experience, no, these scores *won't* get your ds into DYS; we applied with very similar WPPSI scores (his FS was 148), and his WIAT achievement scores that *were* considerably over the line in two areas. I was hoping the ceilings would be taken into consideration -- he could have tested higher on a test with a higher ceiling. But he was turned down; they asked for more test results and/or work samples. We haven't had any more testing done at this point.

So yes, you'd probably need to retest if you're interested in Davidson's. At your ds's age, you could have him take the Stanford-Binet 5. Or you could wait until he turns 6 and have him take the WISC -- though the professionals I've spoken to suggest waiting until 6.5 or 7 to take the WISC.

If I were you, I'd go ahead and send in the scores anyway. You never know. Did you have achievement testing done at the same time? If not, you'd need to have that done as well.

I know how frustrating it is to have those *almost there* scores! OTOH, you've already learned quite a bit about your ds, and if you're able to provide work that will challenge him at home, DYS isn't the end-all, be-all of the world. There are a lot of kids who *almost* make the cut, and I certainly don't envy the selection committee their jobs!

And, this board is a fabulous source of support and advice; stick around. You'll learn a lot. Welcome!

Curious... We were planning on waiting until 6 (next summer) to do WISC. He'd be a "young" 6. What was the reason for waiting? Kriston if you're reading, when did you guys do it?

Thanks.

JB

Oh, Niki, we decided to not take the WPPSI just in case we ran into test ceilings too. I am not sure if there is overlap between the WPPSI and WISC so we just opted to just wait.

JB

Not sure. I think it's a maturity thing, whatever that really means. We actually *did* try a WISC right after ds turned 6 -- the tester was reluctant to test such a young 6 but agreed to give it a go. And she was right! She ended up stopping after two subtests, saying it wasn't his day--he kept asking if she was trying to trick him! And this was a kid who had obviously cooperated beautifully with the WPPSI 8 months earlier. Maybe it really just wasn't his day -- or maybe there was a reason she'd been reluctant!

A different tester I spoke with said that between the WPPSI and the WISC for a 6yo, she tends to give the WPPSI because of what she referred to as "maturity level."

Of course, take all this with a grain of salt--ask your own people, use your own judgement with your own child. But both the testers I spoke with recommended waiting until at least 6.5 on the WISC.

ETA: Both these testers are highly experienced with gifted kids.

A bad day could still happen to us. He had one during the WIAT test and basically that test was ended early for us. We'll keep it in mind.

Thanks.

JB

I'm just here for a second, JBD.

If memory serves, DS7 was 6y8mo when he took the WISC. He was totally into the testing. Had great fun with it and with the tester.

But then again, he was also tested by the school on a group IQ and the WJ-III achievement at 5.5-ish yo, and he was highly cooperative then, too, from all indications. <shrug>

I suspect this has more to do with personality than age. If DS7 is into what he's doing and being challenged, he's a laser (assuming he's had enough sleep and enough to eat). He always has been, even as an infant. So I'll bet we could have given him the WISC younger than 6 and had good results if we'd been so inclined. That's not the norm for most kids though! So I don't know how helpful our situation really is to the discussion...

Thanks everybody,
I was suspecting the ceiling issue was right. Oh well. It is a little frustrating.
So as I understand it right, it would be best to wait until he is 6-7 years of age. Or use the SB-5. I will have to research how it is available where we live.
I don't really know, how much would we be able to benefit from the Young scholar service. I am really just looking for guidance.
I am really not challenging him in any way, he does that plenty for him self. He has these urges "to know", so we go to the library and borrow around 40 books each week and I just read to him.
I will have to decide if we will continue next year, or send him to Public gifted kinder garden. Although he had testing with his knowledge into the 2nd grade as of now. We will see, where we end up at the end of the year. I am afraid, that he will be too bored at the school.

Hi, Niki!

My DS also took the WPPSI at 4.5 and scored FSIQ=149. We applied to DYS but he did not get in. We decided to request a grade skip for him and he is now doing very well in second grade. He will be 6 at the end of November.

We may retest on the WISC when he turns 6 to try again for DYS.

You may want to look into your options for early entrance to first grade.

Hi, I was told by DS7's tester that although he got 19's in several sections, he did not ceiling since there were still questions that he did not get to... So, even though a child receives 19's, it is my understanding that it doesn't necessarily equate to "hitting the ceiling" for that section. We took the WPPSI at 4y9m. Apparently, SB5 is a better test for the younger set and as others have mentioned, between 7y-8y is an ideal age for testing.