Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment understanding test scores...

We are going to meet with the tester next week to review the scores... if anyone can help me interpret or give me some ideas of questions to ask that would be great. I must admit, I did think the scores might be higher since she is such an amazing (completely self taught) little reader at only 3.5.

WPPSI
Verbal Index 141 (99.7%)
Receptive vocab 17
Information 18
Performance Index 123 (94%)
Block Design 12
Object Assembly 16
Supplemental Subtest
Picture naming 14
Full-Scale IQ 137 (98%)

WJIII
Oral Language 141 (99.7)
Story Recall 134 (99)
Unerstanding Driections 140 (99.6)
Oral Expression 122 (93%)
Story Recall 134 (99)
Picture Vocab 114 (82)
Basic Reading Skills ***
Letter-Word Identification 201 (>99.9)
Word Attack ***
Academic Knowledge 133 (99)
Other
Spelling 152 (>99.9)
Passage Comprehension ***
Applied Problems 140 (99.6)

*** "no scores availiable for a child this age"

It does not look like she hit any ceilings -- I don't think??

Any insights?

Hi Mom123,
Those are great scores and you certainly have a GT DS. I'm not sure how old she is but scores can and do fluctuate slightly based upon age and test given.
There are folks on the Board that will tell you that anything above 16 is high and could be hitting the ceiling. That said, your DD did extremely well in Receptive Vocab, Information, and Block Assembly. Her WJIII achievement test scores were excellent too. If anything, it seems as if she's a bit more of an auditory/non-visual spatial learner (I'm basing this on block design scores versus some of the verbal subtests). I hope your psych gave you a detailed report and can offer some additional areas for you keep your DD engaged.
Good luck and those are certainly GT scores!!! Congrats!

She is only 3.5 - I guess it seems that the things she would do best on in terms of the WJIII (reading skills)they would not be able to score... I wonder at what age she could be scored on those things?

I like the point about the auditory learning - yes, that is true now that I think about it. They did not comment on that in the report.

I wonder what "oral expression" is?

Thanks Dottie... the grade equivalent for the reading score was only 1.5... which, strangely, is one of her lower grade equivalents despite it being her highest standard score.

The main reason we had her tested was to determine if she would be ready to start kindergarten in the fall (she would be 4.5) -- but now that I have the numbers I am interested in the details... strange the way that can happen when you write a check for that much money : )

In the end it was recommended that she stay in preschool for another year because, "she is somewhat shy and reticent to join social groups and her gross motor skills are somewhat weak" -- poor kid.

**Note to self: next time have the social stuff evaluated first to determine if it is even necessary to move ahead with cognitive testing....

Yes, actually, if I waited not to be shy and reticent to join social groups, I think I might *still* be waiting to start kindergarten : )

She is certainly shy - and I can see how a kid who was more outgoing would have less difficulty with a grade skip. She is considered to have "normal" gross motor skills for a 3.5 year old as far as the developmental charts go... so would therefore be behind the other older kids if she skipped. But she really is no athlete - I have to admit... and I love my daughter to death... but she runs like a duck and dances like Elaine from Seinfeld. She kicks butt at reading though : )

My understanding of the literature is that kids that are moderately gifted (as my daughter seems to be) can do well when kept with their same age peers... and that it is the kids that are HG or PG that really *need* to be skipped. It does still irk me a bit when I see that all of her grade equiv. fall solidly within the first grade year -- I start to think that she really will learn *only* social skills for the next several years... I know social skills are very important, but it certainly would be nice for her to learn *something* academic at school.

I don't think you know yet what level of GTness she's at yet. Her scores indicate some LOG, certainly, but at 3.5yo, things are still too uncertain. If she got tired or bored, her scores might not show as well as they could. If she tested at her best and the norming sample didn't, then her scores might drop. You just can't tell yet. She may be an HG+ kid, too.

I completely agree that learning something besides social stuff at school is important for a kid. In fact, I think it ought to be mandatory! Otherwise you're teaching a child bad, lazy habits. That can have some serious ramifications later!

There are other ways to get learning in without grade skipping. Afterschooling is a possibility. Homeschooling for a year instead of early entry might let you see what she's capable of and would still give her plenty of time to play. We could probably come up with other ways, too...

Hi mom123 - You sound like you went the same path we did. We were worried when our DS was 3 that he already knew the kindy curricula, so we had him tested (at 4y1m) to see if early entry to k would be a good option. DS is a january birthday, so he would have been 4y8m if he started kindergarten early. He more than qualified for early entry based on score, but the psychologist recommended waiting, since there would be a lot of accommodations needed later on, and he may as well play another year. It's not like he hasn't learned anything!

Our guy is also pretty small and not quite as coordinated as many other kids (he didn't jump until 3.5!) We started him in gymnastics at 3, and his coordination is very much improved. He's still small, and I think that makes more difference with boys than girls. His social/emotional is age appropriate, though he is not shy in the least.

Since you mentioned the shyness, I want to make an argument for doing exactly the opposite of what we did. I would suggest thinking about starting your DD early. I would think that a grade skip later on would be harder for a very shy kid once she has become comfortable with her friends in kindy. It seems an early start will get you closer to her learning level in a gentler way. Just a thought!

Good luck with your school decisions (the first of many it seems!)

(Oh - forgot to say we are happy that we waited a year, because we do not have a quietly mature kid -- we have a kid who wants to talk and interrupt constantly, which probably wouldn't have gone over too well. And he hates writing and pretty much refuses to do it and I think the extra time may help him ease into it better. And he is a kid who never wants to go to school - ever! (His latest plan includes going to school just long enough to build a robot that looks like him and then send the robot.)