Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment how much stock would you place on an IQ test at 3

what do you think we can glean from a WPPSI III given to a 3.4 year old? She actually did very well on it (it was given as a part of an overall assessment, not because we were seeking an IQ this early). How would one typically expect those scores to change over time? Is there any common pattern? I ask because the psychologist said he expected them to go up if anything and I wondered why he said that. Thanks in advance to anyone who knows about these things.

i heard also that they tend to go up due to the fact that its hard to get optimal testing conditions at a young age. So low scores can be explained by external factors. however high scores are not really possible to get "by chance" since its not multiple choice, so these scores might have more validity.. However i've also heard that WPPSI scores are a bit inflated compared to WISC.. and Dr. Ruf chimed in on our board a while back when i asked if a 147 on the WPPSi was really comparable to a 147 on the WISC and she basically said it was not. Though percentile-wise they are the same so that is confusing to me. I'll try to find her post and re-read , but that was the feeling i got from it.
irene

IMHO I think that the results potentially may not reflect her abilities. I know my ds did not co-operate with testing 2 years ago since I could hear his responses since I was in the other room. This time he did co-operate and I cannot wait for the results:)

To oversimplify just to make the point:

My understanding is that some of a high score comes for being 'more smart' and some comes from happening to have developed in academic ways a bit earlier than another 3 year old. Plenty of PG kids aren't reading at age 3 due to their little eyeballs just not being ready for reading. Once age 6 comes, then a much higher percentage of the high score comes from being 'more smart.' - Those 'late reading' PG kids come into their high scores and make some of the other kids with super high scores less unusual.

Remember that scoring on the IQ tests doesn't measure degree of smartness, only unusuallness of smartness level. Is there really a difference? ((shrug))

Child my score higher simply because she was able to concentrate on the test and complain with the directions. There could be an equally smart child who just couldn't care less at that age and simple did what she wanted and therefore didn't answer some of the question even though she knew the answers. This is much more of an issue among 3 year olds than let's say 6 year olds.

The testing sample at that age had its own share of kids who didn't answer all the questions they could have because they didn't pay enough attention to the test. The norms are based on the sample so it may say that an average kid can answer 15 questions from such and such subtest when in reality an average kid is capable of much more if only she paid enough attention.

This will bring down the norms across the entire range. If your child scores in let's say 99% at the age of 3 chances are that there a few other kids who have the same knowledge/abilities but tested lower because they weren't interested enough in the test.

Of course, chances are pretty good that your daughter too didn't answer some of the questions for the very same reason.

I hope that makes sense.

My dd took the WPPSI III at 3 years and 4 months old. She scored "superior" in the full scale and "gifted" in one of the sub tests.

I know these scores probably do not reflect her full capability. First, it was a student tester and the test was conducted in our home...so distractions were all over the place! She was pushing a box around and sliced her mouth open right when our friend was pulling into the driveway - blood everywhere. I didn't even think she was going to attempt the test! Then she just plain fizzled out and didn't even finish all that she could do (and answering things wrong that she definitely knows). Her excuse "I just didn't want to have to tell him anything anymore!"

So, I am pleased with her results but my gut says she could go higher. I don't think she's PG or anything...MG seems about right.

It will be interesting for you to see the change. I bet it is hard to wait!

yes, that makes perfect sense. She actually has wonderful attention and was very focused, but my sense is that she was hiding more than she presented even though to them it seemed noteworthy. I am sure that it true of most three year olds and that plent of them were "hiding" skills because of lack of focus. She was focused intently and so some of her wrong answers are a mystery to me since they are things she clearly knows. I get a sense there would be less of that in a few years for all children.