Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment SB5 useful?

hi mmme and all,
my DS7 had a 15 point scatter (from 4 to 19) on the WISC IV.. and we've looked into doing the SB5 also.. For DS the weakness came in the processing speed subtests, which isn't that unusual for GT kids.. though not usually to the extreme of my DS..So it would be interesting to know which subtests were low.

also, does anyone know if a child can be re-tested on a single subtest just to see if there was some other factor that contributed to the low score? and then the score adjusted? or would that be invalid because they would have done it twice??

my son's 4 on coding just bothers me so much because he "recreationally" decodes things really well- like the code in the back of the Graham Baese book "Enigma" which he did very quickly..

irene

Without giving too much detail, Coding on the WISC and WPPSI is not really the same as decoding a code. There is no meaningful content.

I know San Diego has a multi-tiered approach as well. The highest go to self-contained classes. The level below that is pulled-out for subject acceleration. The level below that is enrichment/grouping w/ in the classroom.

This makes me happy : ) I am hopeful that DS's scores were slightly inflated. It will be interesting to see if they go down in time.

That stinks. My DH told me that growing up there was a girl whose parents wanted her in the TAG (talented and gifted) program. She was tested like 3 times until finally they got sick of the parents bothering them about it and just let her in even though she didn't meet the criteria. Maybe she was close, you never know....but DH says he really didn't think so at all. It's just sad to see some parents that are kinda crazy like that. I just don't get it.

Like mentioned above, coding is not decoding things. It has more to do with the ability to visually scan things quickly. While my dds were avg in terms of processing speed which was much lower than their scores on the VCI and PRI (and WMI for dd#1), they were right around avg. If his processing speed score was well below avg with the other scores falling well above, I'd take a look at anxiety or vision issues (eyes working together, overall vision, etc.).

Oh MON! I'm so sorry to hear that. The watering down would have to be eliminated, in my pretend perfect world. And the parents who have IQ scores would be welcomed to make placement decisions for the kids who are quieter, or slow to warm up.

I'm glad to hear that this sort of thing works in some districts!

Grimity

Found this interview with Gale Roid, one of the authors of SB-V:
Interview with Gale Roid

The interview does not focus on GT, but does provide an interesting "insider" perspective to the SB-V in particular and IQ testing in general.

Thanks for the link. What I found most interesting was his quote:

I think that important issues of character, common sense, wisdom, artistic talents, and other abilities get put aside.

What I am thinking with my plan of horizontal diversificaton on the education. Clearly DD4 (almost 5) did the her K curriculum two years ago in her Montessori. I am hoping with piano and Mandarin, she is being challenged in her knowledge bank. And I think about all the other things she is absorbing. So is the pace of math and reading as relevant, if she is learning social skills, religion and the role it plays in society (she is with the Jesuits) and also what is going on economically. We do talk about it. As she sees more homeless people living on the streets and her teacher mentions their blazers cost $65 and they need to take care of them. We talk about money, work and the ability to get things.

It is nice the that they can absorb knowledge. But what is the balance with general life, street smarts and common sense type of skills?

Ren

This interesting as the tester who we used, who I think fairly recognizable and well known testing circles, told me that she had seen only less than a handful of children score at 150 + on SB5 and only one five year old.