Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Low "Comprehension" subtest score on WISC?

I am glad I could be of at least some help to those of you struggling for answers like myself. If you do think you may have a child with a similar situation as our son, you might want to click on this link for "The Mislabled Child": http://mislabeledchild.com/ .There are a number of informative links on that webpage - including a video interview the Eide's gave to a t.v. station: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6475234045666459537&hl=en and a very good power point slide presentation on Stealth Dyslexia: http://mislabeledchild.com/bostonstealthdyslexia.pdf . Maybe some of you will also find their site helpful.

I truly was impressed with the Eides for responding to my email message. I never really expected to hear back from them, but figured it was worth a shot. After our negative experience here with our local psychologist, I honestly didn't have a very good taste in my mouth about those in that profession. I am happy to say that the Eides have helped to reverse that opinion. It is so nice to know that there are actually selfless, giving people in professions like this who do really care about those who are floundering around for answers. The Eides did not have to respond to me, yet they took the time out of what I am sure must have been a busy day to to attempt to provide me with some helpful information - all at no benefit of themselves, I might add. In fact, they even attached a relevant article to my situation on their email. They apparently have just written it for a publication, so they asked that I not circulate it to anyone else due to publication issues. That selfless and helpful kind of attitude is exactly what I have been talking about and was greatly appreciated by our family.

Grinity - I've used several different homeschooling methods with Ds. Initially I started out with a somewhat classical eclectic approach using Ambleside Online and supplementing with various other math (Abeka)and spelling(Sequential Spelling) and Grammer (First Language Lessons and Easy Grammer". Ds seemed to do pretty well with that, although he did not like narrating the Ambleside selections - even though we were doing it orally. And he simply got bored with the spelling. When we began homeschooling dd last fall we decided that with our attention spread out we might benefit from a boxed curriculum of sorts. Because we travel alot we decided to do the Bob Jones dvds. Content-wise, they are great - but they are very time consuming and not always easy to operate because of technical difficulties. If we were to hs next year, I honestly have no idea what curriculum path we would choose! I am trying to find out more on things that would be helpful for ds. Just discovered "Kidspiration" graphic organizers today and that looks like something that will definitely help ds in his writing/organizing. Although typical ds, he is digging in his heals and balking over doing anything "new and different", despite whether it might actually be easier for him in the long run!

I also discovered a link to the CTY program and am trying to find out more about if that could be something we should pursue with ds. I saw their website mentioned disabilities, but I don't know if the writing /spelling issues ds seems to have would be included in that. Regardless, it is just one example of ways I am trying to "think out of the box" to help ds to fulfill his potential and not feel excluded because of his weak areas.

As far as "cranking up" ds' level a notch or two in his strong areas, I'm kind of trying to do that already a bit - but am having difficulty identifying just what kind of activities a highly verbal child like him will find challenging yet not too frustrating. It's definitely worth exploring, however!

Thanks for all the input, everyone!

Diane

I sometimes lurk but when I saw the title of this post I thought I would chime in. My son is 2E - gifted and autistic. He recently had the WISC and score exceptionally low on comprehension. The psychologist who did the testing is both and expert on autism and giftedness and told me that a low comprehension score is very common with kids on the autism spectrum because it is a test of social thinking. There are questions like, what would you do if you found a dollar on the ground? What would you do if you you saw smoke coming from a neighbor's house? Why do meat packing plants have inspectors? These questions take some social knowledge. They are like common sense questions. My kid scored a 7. Everything else was much much higher. She said that his answers in the comprehension sub test were similar to that of a younger child. This also fits with autism.

The psych wrote in her report that she felt that the IQ score was not a good indicator of his true ability because of the large difference between scores. He had a 21 point difference between performance and verbal.

After I got that score I went to the school to discuss social issues. Based on that specific subtest they started working on common sense type of thinking.

If you are concerned about Asperger's or another disability which effects socialization you may want to pay attention to this score and do some further research.

Hi Diane, I pm'd you.

His reported score is not valid.

If the difference between the highest and lowest subtest scaled score in an index (in this case VCI, verbal comprehension index) is 5 or more, then the index is not "unitary" and thus not "interpretable". See �Essentials of WISC-IV Assessment� by Dawn P. Flanagan, Alan S.Kaufman (the bible for how to interpret WISC-IV scores)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Zbe0rBxZPcEC&pg=PP2&lpg=PP1&ots=uzJXLbvpVP&dq=%E2%80%9CEssentials+of+WISC-IV+Assessment%E2%80%9D+interpretable#PRA1-PA34,M1

(or google '�Essentials of WISC-IV Assessment� interpretable' and see page 134)

So, neither the GAI nor the FSIQ (both of which include the VCI) should be reported. I'd say substituting the "information" score would give a better understanding, though I know they're only supposed to use that if it's decided before testing begins (I think an area of known weakness could justify this) or something interferes with the test session. So, it also may not be a reportable score, but will give better insight to his abilities than the invalid scores.

mz

I have been wondering myself about the validity of using that score - but one would *THINK* the edu. psych who administered the test (a local guy not affiliated with the school) would have had a clue as to whether that was an issue or not. I guess I need to explore further on my own...

As an update to us - out of curiosity, I decided to have ds take the SCAT test last week through CTY. He told me afterwards that he thought the verbal portion of it was fairly easy, however he found the math section more challenging. We just received his scores today and if I am reading things properly he will be invited to attend CTY for the verbal section but as he was 4 points off on the cutoff for math he cannot take any of the math/science related courses. He is bummed about that. He was much more interested in their science offerings. Regardless, it may be a moot point at this time anyway as there is no CTY facility near here (Florida) of which I am aware, and he is too young for a residential program. But is nice to know that that door should be open for him in the future, anyway. And it also gives me good "ammunition" for the public schools (if we end up going that route) if they balk at him being considered "2E".

Thanks for everyone's very helpful input in all of this! Had it not been for reading on this board I wouldn't have even known what CTY was!

Diane