Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Gap in testing - what happened?

I would appreciate any guidance on how to interpret 2 vastly different WISC-IV results. My son was tested at 9yrs 5months and denied eligibility for services based on following scores:
VCI 102
PRI 115
GAI 110

We really questioned the results but did not at time pursue retesting (we were told 'scores don't significantly change.')

Due to new teacher initiatives last spring, my son was retested this month and we were again cautioned that he probably would still "not meet criteria". Results at 12 years 8 months:
VCI 130
PRI 135
GAI 139

We were told the discrepancy was 'highly unusual.' He now qualifies.

What happened??? Why would there be SUCH a discrepancy? We feel so badly that we didn't know enough, or push enough, to have him retested as soon as possible. We feel it is our fault, and that he missed out at a crucial time. But we are also angry at the district...I suspect that the pyschologist who administered the test was at fault to some degree (perhaps too inexperienced, for she was a new grad and new to the district?)I'd appreciate thoughts on how to digest these findings. I just don't understand.

Many thanks.

The 95% confidence interval for a GAI of 110 is 104 to 115. So if you took 20 kids who scored as your son did on the first administration, 19 of them would have a "true" score between 104 and 115, and the other one would be farther out in one direction or the other.

For the second administration, the 95% confidence interval is 132-143. So there's not even any overlap, such that you could say his "true" score would lie in the overlap and the test results were consistent with one another.

If there wasn't some change in your son (unresolved physical or mental health issues, lack of sleep, lack of cooperativeness, etc.) between the first and second administrations, I'd also suspect administration issues.

My dd9 was also tested twice on the WISC with scores that didn't have an overlap btwn confidence intervals. At 7.5, her GAI was 147, I believe, and at 8.5 it was 127. If I'm off, it's by a point on either one (scores aren't at hand).

In our instance, I'm not sure that she is really a 147 kid, but I think that she is more than a 127 kid. Her second testing came at the end of a year in which her 3rd grade teacher spent the entire year telling her that she was just a good guesser and really squashing her self image. She also had the pattern Dottie mentioned of missing easy questions early on that pulled down the totals. I'd guess that she falls somewhere in between the two, but time will tell.

If your son had anxiety issues, self image doubts, or any of the other stuff that was going on with my kiddo I could see those impacting him similarly to how it did her.

Dottie and Alexsmom, thanks for your quick replies. I apologize, I am a relatively new reader and don't understand the reference to 'what's with the FB thumbs up?" but didn't mean to offend.

I appreciate your insights and the point about lessening the guilt. We keep revisiting instances over the past 2 years...one that galls my DH the most is that our son placed first in 2 separate teams for a school mathletics contest, but the gifted teacher chose not to have him represent the school at district; she instead only chose from her gifted students. To think he would have been in that class. So yes, some parental emotion is at play.

Dottie, I think it's a forum-level setting.

I see both the Tweet and FB buttons at the moment, but the FB one appeared a long time after the rest of the page finished loading. They are on every thread.

I personally wouldn't "like" a conversation here, in large part because I don't want people who know me from elsewhere, and who aren't active participants here, to necessarily follow me to here. (Which is also why I use a completely different username here than the "standard" one I use pretty much everywhere online.) There's no anonymity on the internet, but that doesn't mean I have to make it easy.

Thanks for pointing that out, Dottie. I was wondering what you meant, too. I know this is a public forum, but it still feels kind of friendly and small... I feel safe talking about things here that I wouldn't talk about on Facebook. I don't really like the idea of linking it to Facebook, either.

I have never noticed the FB on this, not sur I want my posts going on my FB, Has anyone checked this out. I may try a new thread as a test

Test scores can and do change over time (which is why we retest), but that seems like quite a large jump. My vote is for administration issues in one or both (!) testing sessions. Impossible to guess which one was "right." Newbie testers are sometimes much too easy (they feel bad for the kid and try to coach them or give them the benefit of the doubt) and sometimes much too hard (they forget to query or don't pattern-match well on the judgment-call tests) and sometimes just plain weird (grin).

My son was tested at age 7 and again at age 12. His GAI showed a 35 point increase. He has some sensory issues and learning disabilities that had been addressed in the intervening years. Now, two years later, I'm guessing that if he were tested again, his GAI would probably be 10 points higher, as he is doing markedly better than he was the last time he was tested. (Of course, ceiling issues might prevent this.)

Kai, since the LDs were getting serious intervention over the course of 5 years, that's a great example of a reason for scores to change quite a lot.