Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Scoring profile for ADHD?

Hi, some earlier posts today got me thinking.

Forgive me if this question's been answered elsewhere or is just really obvious.

Does anyone have the sense that there's a definitive scoring profile for kids with ADHD? I know, the WMI and PSI tend to be lower, but from what I read and what my examiner told me-- this is not always the case--

Will a kid with ADHD always or almost always underperform on achievement tests vs. IQ tests?

Honestly, you will never be able to say *always* b/c every kid is an individual. I also think ADHD is probably like cancer...there are several causes. I read that for some kids, they outgrow the ADHD and others do not. I also saw a reference to some research that indicates drugs inhibit those that would outgrow it, from outgrowing it but it was only blurb, I didn't see an original reference for that statement. All that to say, I think different ADHD kids will present differently. Some might have lower coding scores and others might not.

I was interested in this subject last night and someone gave me a link to the GAI info for the WISC.

See my un-elegant link: http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/Special%20Education%20Services/gifted/WISCIVTechReport4.pdf

If you look on pp. 7-9, there are charts that show how often arrangements of GAI/FSIQ scores occurred in sample groups with various issues. AD/HD is one of the sample groups they used. It's probably not that helpful if you don't have scores to work with, but once you get them (or maybe you do have some, I don't know), you'll be able to compare your child's GAI/FSIQ spread with other groups.

So, in our case, we have an 11 point spread. That particular rate occurs at a comparatively significant rate (I made that up) in autism, asperger's, and ad/hd PLUS ld. It occurs more often in ad/hd PLUS ld than it does in just plain ad/hd. Since autism spectrum has been ruled out for my DS6, maybe he has ad/hd PLUS capd instead of one or the other, like I'd been thinking. It's just statistical data and correlation does not equal causation but it's interesting. HTH!

My gifted gifted adhd daughter is 13. She has taken the WISC IV (IQ) and the ACT (college aptitude exam) this year. Her ADHD depressed her working memory and processing speed scores on the IQ test which then affected her composit scores. Her full scale score was therefore a misleading indicator of her ability level. To provide a better indicator of her ability, the psychologist calculated her GAI score (General Ability Index.) The GAI compensates for the depressing effect of low processing speed scores. Thus her full scale score of 126 became a GAI score of 135, moving her from the 96th to the 99th percentile.

She took the ACT exam as part of the CTY talent search. She scored very well in her strength areas (93%tile as compared with college bound high school seniors) and in the top 10% overall score when compared with other talent search participants.

I think her scores on the IQ test and the achievement test were very compatible. So it really depends on the child and the type of ADHD he or she exhibits.

Interesting... is there a scale with ADD/ADHD like there is with GT? Moderately, Highly, Profoundly???

I have always done extremely well on achievement tests until high school. And even then, I did "ok" on the SAT and did fantastic on the ACT. But the ACT suits my ADD. It's not long winded and "boring". The SAT on the other hand is the most boring test I've ever had to take.

During my TCT (teacher's certification test way back in the day), I was the first to finish (with ADD/ADHD kids, going back and checking their work is not a priority) the test, hours before the last person who finished taking it... and I had the second highest score from that test day.

I've always been the first one done with a test, unless it's really long and drawn out and boring (repetitive, etc).

Hmmm... now y'all gave me more food for thought (I've only recently been working on my OWN issues with my ADD vs GT vs JUST PLAIN CRAZY... haha, not just working on dealing with and working with DS5's GT). Very eeeeenteresting.

The evaluation that they used with our son was called the Connor scale. It involves teachers, parents and others well aqainted with the child to fill out surveys about the child's bwehavior. The answers are then tabulated and charted. The chart does show designations between low/moderate/high ADHD levels and probability.

The biggest problem with it is that it is done independent of an IQ test or achievment testing. For the gifted population I'm not sure it is a reliable indicator. We had both testing done and with his IQ scores and the Connor scale they came back saying yes he shows alot of ADHD behaviors but stopped just short of saying he was ADHD. This was despite scores on the Connor Scale that put him almost across the board as a high level of ADHD. Instead he is officially listed as LD-undefined....not overly useful.

Yeah, that Conner scale doesn't sound very useful. I mean, there are a lot of look-alike conditions: immaturity, sensory problems, gifted-ness, even high functioning asperger's.