Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Thread Like Summary - help understanding wppsi scores

My son did not test in the gifted range but this board seems to be most knowledgeable about testing so if anyone wants to weigh in, I would appreciate it. My son (4 y 10m) took the WPPSI-IV for kindergarten admittance. I only have the summary, I do not have access to the other scores. I may be able to get them but not for 4 months and I can ask for a recommendation from the pediatrician at an appointment next month so for now I just want to research as much as I can. He had low WMI and VSI scores in relation to the others, particularly the WMI. I'm trying to figure out what that means and if he needs additional testing. From what I have read, it could be an attention issue.

A little about him if that offers any clues. My son was conversational an early age and has a very advanced vocabulary. Ironically, I would say memory is one of his strengths. He remembers little details and events. He's also my grocery and errand list. I tell him what we need and when we go to the store he reminds me. He has always seemed to do well following multiple commands. If I drop him off at school and ask him to bring something home from his locker, he usually remembers to do it and if he forgets he'll tell me as soon as he gets in the car that he forgot to go to his locker. He is socially adept. He gets along well with his peers, younger kids and older ones as well. His teacher tells me he is very well liked and from the number of play date requests, that seems true. He is high energy and never stops until he gets into bed. To me, he seems to pay too much attention to what everyone else is doing and not to what he is doing. I have asked his teacher if that is the case in the classroom and she says he's just very social and doesn't want to miss out on anything but does focus when he is doing his work. But I think he does a lot of watching others. He is impulsive. His handwriting is not great and coloring still needs a lot of work. The school teaches cursive first and he seems to struggle with that.

So, my real questions are 1. possible reasons for low WMI and VCI and 2. can those two low scores bring down the FSIQ? I'm very unfamiliar with the scoring on the WPPSI so I do not know how the various subtests factor into the whole.

Scores below, any input is welcome and appreciated.

VCI 125
VSI 107
FRI 124
WMI 102
PSI 128
FSIQ 128

Nice to hear from you again.

It's unfortunate that the school chose to re-test only 12 months later on the WPPSI, as that is well shy of the best practice 24 months between administrations. Fortunately, he doesn't appear to have huge practice effects in his scores, as they are very consistent with last year's testing. Nearly identical, actually, and well within the standard error ranges.

I will reiterate that none of his scores are low. His visual spatial and working memory skills are comfortably average, and are only lower than his verbal and abstract reasoning strengths in comparison. The relative weakness in VSI has potential to affect his performance in traditionally academic programs mainly if it turns out that handwriting becomes an obstacle to meeting output demands (and possibly in geometry--but with his strong fluid reasoning, that's less likely). There are cases where it affects written expression, because of impacts on writing mechanics and fluency, but it's far too early to be making that call.

At preK/K age, a fair number of essentially neurotypical children have yet to establish clear handedness. Most OTs I have worked with recommend that ambidextrous individuals pick a hand (probably right, for general convenience), and just work on developing it for writing, as your OT appears to have done. He won't need handwriting at the same level as his verbal cognition to demonstrate skills at that level. Just average handwriting will do. In the meantime, while his handwriting develops, you can scribe his stories, or audiorecord them, if he has interesting thoughts to express that his hands can't yet keep up with.

And with regard to schooling decisions: despite what you may hear from the community around you, there is no need to feel that a placement decision made now locks him into his entire future educational and career trajectory. His needs and your family's needs will change from year to year. Give yourself some freedom to adapt.