Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment 99 %ile vs. 20 %ile

Hello! I just found this site while trying to make sense of some testing my daughter had. The testing was for our town's magnet school program. They gave all the Kindergarten students one set of tests before school let out (I am trying to get her scores from that now, but I know one was in the 90s and one was 88 %ile). They classified her as gifted but referred her for more testing. Apparently there is a lot of information (race, gender, location, socioeconomic status) that goes into getting into the magnet school.

Anyhow, they told me she would take either a reading or math test 2 weeks after school let out. I told them reading, since she has been reading chapter books (Junie B. Jones, etc.) since she was 4. She is 5 now, will be 6 next month.

They gave her the RAIS (at least that's what I deciphered it to be). I called them back because it wasn't reading, and they said they changed how they test. Anyhow, I have seen a few parents on here asking about discrepancies when the percentiles have been only a few points apart, so I am a little concerned about my daughter's scores:

Verbal - 144 (99th %ile)
Non-verbal - 88 (21st %ile)

Question 1: How unusual is this? And how concerned should I be? I know my daughter still has trouble with the little 24 piece puzzles (forget hundreds of pieces like whatapuzzler's child!) and the psychometrist said she was trying during the test.

She goes back July 7th (right after her 6th birthday) to take another test. I asked the psychometrist if it was the WISC-IV since she had mentioned it, but she said no, it would be a different test.

Question 2: Regardless of the testing, is there something I can work on my daughter with to improve whatever these skills are that she is lacking? I don't even know what the non-verbal part of the test covers (or the verbal part, for that matter, but I guess she doesn't need help there).

Sorry my first post was so long, and thanks for any help or reassurance anyone can give. I look forward to learning a lot on this site!

Beth

You would have a better idea of what her specific areas of weakness are if you could find out what her scores were on the different subtests.

You should be able to request that information from the school, and a copy of the report that interprets the results.

There may not be a cause for concern. She may be very talented in certain areas, leading to a discrepancy. Or the score gap could be an indication of asynchronous development. Sometimes kids develop skills unevenly, especially if they have strong interests in one area. Still, if you have noticed a marked weakness in another area (you mentioned puzzles) it may be worth looking into.

RIAS is a full scale IQ test comparable to the WISC with a shorter test length.
The non-verbal test are
Picture Completion - which the student has to pick out what is missing from a picture
Odd Item out - Which has patterns and shapes and the student must show which one is different.

As for improving spacial abilities. Puzzles, shapes, and pattern games/activities might help. It may also improve in time, some kids take longer to fully develop in certain areas.
If she is doing fine in school I would not be concerned yet.
She may just need a little more time to flower:)

Thanks. I really want her in the magnet school (only way for her to be in the IB programme) but more importantly, I want to help her if she is that far behind in an area. We went to the bookstore today and I found a couple of puzzle books, but mostly just 'can you spot the differences' type.

Can anyone recommend any type of 'odd item out' books or things that I can order online? Or picture completion ones? We got out some puzzles today and she finished a 24 piece puzzle by herself for the first time.

My husband pointed out that I tend to be strong in things like puzzles and Lincoln Logs, etc. and that I 'help' her too much instead of letting her do it herself. She sometimes cons me into helping her when she doesn't need it. Today I told her she needed to finish the puzzle before we went to the bookstore and she was so proud when she did it by herself. I should have been encouraging her to do it herself ages ago.

Anyone have puzzle book recommendations? I think I have a tangram set somewhere, but it is probably too hard for her.

Thank you for the comments.

tangrams are great. there are easier Tangram puzzle books out there. there is also MightyMinds which my kids enjoy.

A good way to start with tanagrams is just to let them have fun with them to make "pictures" or let them look at the answer and then do the puzzle. My 5 year old daughter was just doing that today and was having a lot of fun.

Have you had a developmental vision exam? This is done by a developmental optometrist and looks at things beyond acuity like tracking. My son had low non verbal scores on various tests before vision therapy and afterwards it was his strongest area.

We were lucky and got into our local magnet school, no testing was required though. We love it.

I haven't had a developmental vision exam - we are just starting all of this. Thanks for all the info, though. She gets tested next Tuesday again and I will post what I find out. We have played a little with some tangrams, and she is getting better at the puzzles.