Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Scores are in...and they mean???

Hi! I am new to this website, so please forgive all of my ignorant questions. I suspect there will be a few!

We just recently had our 4 yr, 10 month old son tested for giftedness. He took the WPPSI III first, but just the verbal section because then he lost interest. His composite score was 133 which is in the 99th percentile.

The following week we took him to a different child psychologist (because the first one was a little off her rocker, but that's a whole other story!)and he was administered the Stanford-Binet IV, but just the abstract/visual and the quantitative sections since we already had valid verbal scores from the WPPSI. On the abstract section his domain score was 134 (99th percentile) and his quantitative domain score was 144 (also 99th percentile).

Even though all of his test scores are in the 99th percentile and our local gifted ed chair has already approved him for the district's self-contained gifted program, I'm confused as to how he is in the 99th across the board, yet if domain scores are the same as IQ scores they don't seem that high, considering his percentile.

If anyone can please give me an idea as to really where he is on the gifted spectrum, I promise never to submit a question this long again! THANK YOU!!

Hi ohboy and welcome. I am not a test guru so I will leave that to others. I just wanted to say I do not see an ignorant post above. Glad you found the forum....

If the domain scores are high across the board, you would expect the full scale IQ score (which takes all those areas into account) to be higher still. This is because it is unusual for someone to be globally strong in all areas.

It's a little hard to know what his full scale IQ would be since you are cobbling together the results from two different tests. The SB-IV has a standard deviation of 16, while the WPPSI-III has a standard deviation of 15, so the scores are not quite comparable. Also, the processing speed and working memory subtests were not administered.

You may want to wait until he's six and have him restested using the full WISC-IV or SB-V

My guesstimate would be that he is highly gifted. You could take a look at Dr. Ruf's book 5 Levels of Giftedness to get a qualitative description of the gifted spectrum. Here's an excerpt: http://www.educationaloptions.com/resources/resources_levels_giftedness.php

Here's another resource: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm

Thank you all so much for the quick responses!

Cathy, I will take a peak at those links right now.

Dottie, since word on the street is that you're the test scores guru, here's what the exact test score sheet for the SB-IV actually reads:

Abstract/Visual Reasoning

Pattern Analysis: domain 140, percentile 99.2
Copying: domain 120, percentile (91)
Total: domain 134, percentile 99
I have no idea how 99.2 and 91 come out to the 99th percentile, but the computer print-out she gave me says just that!

Quantitative Reasoning

Quantitative: domain 144, percentile 99.6

Just "for fun" the psychologist gave him the "Number Series" section as well, but that is normed for 4 yrs, 11 months, 16 days to 5 years, 11 months, 15 days, and he is 4.10 so this didn't factor into his scores; she was just curious. His domain on that was 132 and his percentile 98th.

Am I understanding correct that domain scores and IQ scores aren't exactly the same thing?

Thank you!

Maybe somebody looked up the percentiles in the wrong table.

I just copied and pasted from the results they e-mailed me. Definitely the SB-IV. Weird, huh? Anyway, you have both been immensely helpful. Thank you

ASSESSMENT RESULTS
On this administration of the SB-IV, Cade�s effort applied to tasks yielded the following scores:
STANFORD-BINET IV
Abstract/ Visual Reasoning
Pattern Analysis 140 (99.2)
Copying 120 (91)
DOMAIN SCORE: 134 (99)
Quantitative Reasoning
Quantitative 144 (99.6)
Number Series (BASED ON 4-11-16 to 5-11-15 NORMS) 132 (98)
DOMAIN SCORE: 144 (99.6)

Thanks, but I actually noticed that and changed it to his middle name! So thoughtful of you to point it out, though!