Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Large decrease in IQ scores over 3 years??

Hello,
My DS took the Stanford-Binet5 when he was 5yrs,3months. His FS IQ was 147 (141 non-ver, 149 verbal). After doing some research on the highly gifted and talking with a few professionals, we believed mainstream elementary school would not be a good fit (working 2-3 years ahead, etc.). We ended up at a well respected Montessori school. He was pretty happy the first couple years, but now his 3rd year in Lower El. has not been good. We decided to re-test to try for a special gifted school for next year. He just took the Stanford-Binet again (same psychol.), at 8ys, 2 months his FSIQ is 131 (122 non-ver, 138 verbal). Has anyone seen a drop like this? The psychologist said that the test does get much harder for 8-9 year old level. We're frustrated and confused. Any insight would be very much appreciated!
Thank you

This happened to us, but we used different testers.

After thinking about his reading level and comparing his abilities with his consistently 140+ scoring brother and other family members, we tested for a 3rd time using the SB-V (prior testing had been with the WISC). His score with that was the highest of the 3, but in the same neighborhood as his earlier high score. He does have somewhat uneven abilities but I don't have any doubt that his thinking skills relative to his peers are consistent with the higher scores.

I think one of your biggest clues would be the psychologist's attempts to reconcile the two scores. What did he/she say about this? With that kind of difference one of the test results is "wrong" and for what you probably paid each time you should have gotten some feedback on the discrepancy. I'm not saying it's anyone's fault, or that anything was done incorrectly, but the situation is a little sticky and I think it's reasonable to expect to be walked through it.

Hi NCmom,
It does seem that his current school situation might need a change. Does the Montessori school go up a few more grade levels? Might they be willing to put your son into the next classroom now? Even though the difference in scores is confusing, the main point is that 'gifted kids need special educational accomadations.' What specifically leads you to the conclusion that the current situation is bad, and how does the teacher, principal react when you talk about those observations?

Were the new scores high enough for the special gifted school? The school might be willing to look at both sets of scores to make their decision, maybe.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

We saw a similar drop with the WISC-IV over the course of one year. At 7.5 dd10 was around 148, if I recall correctly. At 8.5, she was around 128. We used different testers and the second one essentially told us that dd's abilities were "fluctuating." She also noted anxiety as a possible reason for the drop.

We had the WIAT-II achievement test done at the same time as the second test and a counselor dd is seeing now tells me that the WIAT scores are more in line with the first IQ than the second. The current counselor is leaning more toward, like Dottie said, the idea that the "truth" may be somewhere in between but she tends to think that dd is closer to the first score. I think that part of what is leading her that way is that, even with the big drop, dd had ceiling scores (18s, 19) on parts and she feels that moderately gifted kids usually score more in the 14-15 range.

In her instance, her scores qualify for a GT id at school either way b/c all they look at is the verbal index on the WISC for a reading/language arts id. She was at the 99th the second time and at the 99.7th the first on that index. Other tests are used for math and other ids and they won't consider full scale IQ or GAI for an id for some reason.

I just really feel that it is difficult to test the top of IQ. I never feel that these scores are as accurate as lower scores.

I believe that the test makers agree with you Ellipses
G

I think it might be more accurate to say, "Higher IQs don't mean as much as lower ones", since an IQ is actually just a score on a test and not a person's actual thinking ability.

If wishes were horses I'd beg them to let parents just chose which classes to put their kids in. If they earn a failing, oh well. They tried. And if they didn't try, oh well. That happens anyway. I don't think too many parents would keep their kid struggling where they don't belong. That's a better free education. It even reflects and aligns iself better with real life. But me sitting here complaining and criticizing ain't as useful as advice. The squeaky wheel gets oiled. Go down to that school and start talking to people there. Tell everyone who will listen about your circumstances. Tell them also what it is that you love about the school And exactly the reasons why you prefer your child to go there. Red tape and bureaucracies cuss cuss, it's always a real person making the decision in the end. Good thing too, because an algorythm or formula can't really judge a situation like this where the numbers are questionable and there's a unique human being's educational history to consider. Good luck finding a good place. Wishing you the best of luck. Ps and with test scores like that, you're not asking for a university teaching position, you're asking for a better elementary education. How advanced is this gifted program that you need a 150+ iq to be worthy of a chance to try. I doubt it. Scratch that, it was condescending, rude, and it's not like I'm trying harder than your local school is to provide your community with a gifted program. I'm just a keyboard commando putting 2+2 togeather that parents are saying the gifted programs aren't geared right for the 150 iq's and now you're telling me they're turning away 130 iq's, which is the perfect optimal gifted level and who would greatly benefit from their program.

I agree totally. Trying new classes and subjects is what makes a person a good employee and a great college student. In work, I have been thrown into places where I had to learn a new computer language or access method or application and we had to learn quickly. So many jobs are like this now. Give them a chance.

By the way, where are you from La Texican. I am originally from central and south Texas.

The problem with this is that, like you mention at the end of your post, the gifted programming winds up becoming something that doesn't even meet the needs of the "optimally" gifted in instances where it is essentially parental pressure that gets kids in. It seems that, rather than putting things together such that the standards in the accelerated classes remain high and kids who shouldn't be there fail, the standards change when they start getting filled with a different class of students. They are no longer gifted classes b/c the majority of the kids they are serving don't need that. They either become regular ed classes or they become faster/high achiever classes that move through the same curriculum more quickly but don't meet the divergent/different instruction needs of some of the gifted kids.

BTW, I just wanted to mention on a separate topic that I don't know what the "duplicate finder" link in the quote of mine above is in that I didn't put anything like that in my original post.