Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Looking for a little input on these scores

My DD (age 5y5m) is currently under going Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Selective Mutism and Social Anxiety Disorder. Her Psych carried out the WPPSI recently primarily to see if there were any major discrepancies between her verbal and non-verbal performance. She wanted to see if there were any underlying factors as to why DD doesn't talk.

DD performed better than I thought she would on the tests. We've known she is very bright, but whether she would perform or even speak was another matter. At 23 months she was reading at a 1st grade level, she was completing 48pc jigsaws by 18months, adding/subtracting at 24mths etc. Right now she has just finished The Hobbit, her school has assessed her reading comprehension to be a minimum of 14yrs old. She is just about to start an online 5th grade maths programme.

These were her overall scores
FSIQ 140 (99.6%)
Verbal IQ 139 (99.5%)
Performance IQ 135 (99%)
Processing Speed 122 (93%)

Breakdown (subtest scaled- Raw score- age equiv)
PIQ
Block Design 13 - 28 - 6:10
Matrix Reasoning 17- 32- >7:2
Picture Concepts 16 - 21- >7:2

VIQ
Information 17- 32- >7:2
Vocab 15 - 30- >7:2
Word Reasoning 17 - 26- >7:2

PSQ
Coding 14- 44- =7:2
Symbol Search 14 - 27- 6:10

Extra
Object Assembly 10 - 29 - 6:2

Does the >7.2yrs mean that she hit the top of the scoring? How do we know what her real scores might be, >7.2 seems a bit vague!
Can the GAI be calculated from these scores or does this not apply to the WPPSI?

Her PSQ scores are lower than we'd have expected but I imagine that this is due to the pressure of the tests, the high anxiety she has and the fact that someone she didn't really know was watching her.

Many thanks for any input you may have. We may think about re-testing once the anxiety levels are reduced. Would she be better with the WISC or SBV going by her anxiety issues?

Someone who's expert on scores will be along in a minute, but I wanted to say welcome. I think GAI isn't applicable to WPPSI and that yes, > 7:2 means she ceilinged the test, and there's no sure way to know what she'd have scored with more challenging questions (that was wrong, corrected by Dottie below, sorry!). To my untrained eye her subtest scores look relatively even compared to most we see here; but with achievements as you list, some degree of social anxiety sadly doesn't seem too surprising. I assume you've been thinking about whether she's encountered people who have disapproved of her abilities or made her feel confused about them? There is another thread around here on (general) anxiety in HG+ children, which you might like to check out.

I'm not up on the differences between WISC and SBV, I'm afraid. Since you clearly know she's gifted and she has achievement to match, I suppose it's more that you'd want something likely to give her high scores for joining DYS or something, rather than that there's something in particular you'd want to find out from the test, or am I wrong?

I'm curious about the Selective Mutism. Do think it is 'gifted fitting in the ND world' related or just another part of her personality. I'm curious what the circumstances involved are that determine when she does or doesn't talk.

Please don't feel pressured to answer this part of it if it is too personal or painful - full discolsure: I'm always trying to explain to parents of very young highly gifted kids that it takes a real toll on the children to be expected to interact 'normally' with agemates, and I'm wondering if your DD is part of this picture.

Love and more Love,
Grinity

Both my kids had something like the GAI calculated in their WPPSI scores. One of the testers called it "pro-rated score without processing speed" and the other GAI. Unfortunately, you can't calculate it on your own (like you can do the GAI with the technical report available online) BUT the tester can calculate it.

In my kids' case they did start with Block Design in WPPSI.

That is very impressive achievement!

Thank you for the replies.
We don't really have a need to get her tested again, I was just pondering options if the need arises. We aren't in the US so DYS is not on offer. I've looked into her testing with the WIAT but the availability of this is hard to find here.
We are looking for a grade skip at some point, this is mainly because of the way her school is set up- different sites splitting grades...it's all a bit complicated!

With regard to the SM; she spoke very early and was conversational with us by 18mths of age, but she spoke rarely to other people. This continued, we put the non speaking down to a family history of shyness, though it has come to light that my Grandma was a SM. The issue wasn't helped by several comments made by a teacher within earshot of DD at age 3. This is when she stopped talking, even to us when out in public. At home or in the car she was a different child and words just ran constantly. She's had Speech Therapy for phonological delays- in hindsight she was probably more aware of her pronunciation than everyone thought. She was very much into 'silent participation' when playing with her friends...desperate to talk yet something holding her back.
The therapy is helping; her class teacher has noticed an increase in confidence over the summer break which is just brilliant to hear. She has some good friends that she is now talking with so the small steps she makes are just huge ones for us to see.

Grinity- acting like her classmates is something she does very well albeit silently! I remember her coming home once and telling me she wanted to play Rainbow Fairies and no one understood her so she stopped asking them to play her games. She was 3y1m then and was into reading those Rainbow magic books- none of her friends had even had them read to them by then. Right now her passions involves dinosaurs, rocks, periodic table, Hobbit, Narnia etc, she has learnt not to discuss her interests with her friends. Luckily she is still at the stage of playing races, skipping, jump rope etc with her friends at recess.

I'm so glad to hear that she is making progress. Sounds like a perfect storm of nature and nurture. Plus maybe perfectionism thrown into the mix about speaking outside the home got kicked up by the speach therapy itself? These kids can be such a mystery!

It's great that she enjoys some activities with agemates. The scores you have are more than enough to justify a gradeskip. Even with the SM I would encourage you to seriously consider it now. Perhaps try a few practice playdates with older girls (of various ages) to see how they go?

It sounds like you are saying that the older kids are in a whole different build. That's too bad. Some really far out there kids to much better socially when they are with older kids, sometimes it takes being with kids up to 3 years older for the child to really feel at home and come into her own.

I don't know if there are 'gifted weekend events' where you live, but if it's at all possible for your family to attend BIQ in Boston this spring I think you'd learn quite a bit by seeing her in a group of real peers.
Keep an eye on this page for updates on 2011:
http://giftedconferenceplanners.org/

Love and More Love,
Grinity