Hi, my son is 6 1/2. We had an assessment done about a month ago. Below are the results:

Here are the test results:
IQ tests (normal is 90 - 109), p = percentile (WISC-IV):
Verbal Comprehension: 128, p=97
Perceptual Reasoning: 123, p=94
Working Memory Index: 138, p=99
Processing Speed Index: 109, p=73
Full Scale IQ: 131 (very superior), p =98

Achievement (standard scores of 90 - 109 indicate average compared to age mates), GE= grade equivalent (WIAT-III):
Word Reading: 142, p=99.7, GE: 4:2
Reading Comprehension: 128, p=97, GE: 7:5
Pseudoword Decoding: 123, GE: 3:1 p=94
Reading Composite: 144, p=99.8

Numerical Operations: 135, GE: 3:0, p=99
Math Reasoning: 143, GE: 9:4, p=99.8
Math Composite: 148, p=99.9
Listening Comprehension: 130, p = 98, GE: 4:8

His WIAT scores were higher than expected based on his WISC scores. He is weak in social judgment, application of that and practical knowledge in social situations, ability to evaluate past experiences, and knowledge of conventional standards of behavior. She is working on him with these.

Does the gap between Processing Speed and the other scores indicate anything to any of you about a disability or area of concern? His teacher says he is not writing like she expects him to. He does not like to write but I don't know if he has physical difficulties with it. I only thought of it after reading the threads about dysgraphia and fine motor skills. When do I know if I should see an OT? He also has a very curved back and poorly developed abdominals. His doctor said it is because he has grown so fast his body can't keep up with it. He was given toe touches and ab exercises but I can't get him to do them.

I've also read on this forum about a GAI but his doctor has no clue what it is or how to calculate it. Is it important?

Any ideas on schooling? We don't want to skip 2nd grade as he is a very young 6 (July) and a little emotionally immature and skipping to 3rd would dump him right into TAKS (the Texas testing). We've thought about homeschooling but he and I butt head quite a bit.

His behavior is different when he hasn't been in school (like during Spring Break, he was helpul, amiable, did his chores, and we enjoyed our time together). Is he bored at school? I have a hard time getting him to get ready to go in the morning. He says "I want to go to school but I don't want to get ready". He also has said, in response to my question "Are you happy at school?", "well, I'm not very sad".

I can post his subtest scores if anyone is interested. He is in the Gifted program at school (but just "barely" and "with much discussion"); it is only 1 1/2 hours a week (when the GT teacher hasn't been pulled off to help the special ed teacher or something else.

I hope I didn't post in the wrong place and I guess I ended up venting my frustations more than asking questions. I apologize for that. I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Hi Squirt! (I've always wanted to call someone that!)

The GAI is 129, based on the VCI/PRI (GAI excludes the contributions of WMI/PSI). This is in-line with his FSIQ. For your son, the higher WMI sort of balances out the lower PSI.

Although his FSIQ is "just barely" gifted, his achievement scores suggest he is much more solidly so. The WISC-IV can be finicky in the upper tails. I wouldn't be concerned about him fitting in with other GT kids at all, based on the achievement, which is very solidly GT, even highly so.

The processing speed, at 109 is not really a concern on its own. If you notice a slower processing in other areas, it could hold him back, but many, many GT kids have comparable scores there.

6.5 year old boys don't often like to write. It's a little early to identify true problems here, unless he really seems to have physical problems in the act of writing. His hands probably can't keep up with his brain at this point, creating a (perfectly normal for GT) mismatch in his own mind.

I'm not sure what you are asking for about his school situation. In our schools, he would fit in quite well with our top kids, but not be terribly "out of place". Answering the grade skip question though often depends heavily on local demographics and individual personality. Lots of us here have experience with that though, if you have specific questions. The IOWA scale for acceleration (you can google it, and there is a manual you can buy) gives great advice for considering things that might be relevent to your situation.

Oh, and the math reasoning GE seems to be a typo? Is that perhaps the AE? Or maybe my report has a typo, but the two don't match.

One final comment...


Did this affect his Comprehension score on the WISC (which tests these very areas*!)? If that's considerably lower than the other two VCI inputs (Vocab and Similarities), his VCI could be an underestimate.

* Perhaps a lower score here is what generated that comment?

Thanks, Dottie, I'm on my way out so I'll read your post more carefully later. On the math reasoning, I thought it was a typo as well, but the doctor said it is not. Is AE "age equivalent"? What makes you think they don't match, so that I can ask the doctor again? I'm a little disappointed in her knowledge.

By the way, my dog's name is Squirt. Well, was. We were very sad to have her put down in December. Ironically, it was the day my son brought home as a reader "The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy".

My son had a higher math reasoning score at 7:0, and his GE was considerably lower than 9:4, so the two can't both be right. As an AE (age equivalent) it's more inline with what I'd expect, given your scaled score.

Don't get me wrong, the 99.8th percentile is quite impressive in and of itself, but the GE just seems high compared to other reports I've seen (and of course impossible to equate with ours). Did you get a raw score? The scaled scores and percentiles (just two different ways of saying the same thing) are WAY more telling than GE's anyway, that really don't reflect what we try to read into them.

I'm so sorry to hear about Squirt!

Wow, Dottie, spot on! His Vocab score is 16 and Similarities is 19. Comprehension is only 9.

I'll check with her about the math thing, althought it isn't really all that important. It's not like I'm going to send him to high school based on that number. I don't have a raw score, just a standard score and percentile and GE. I did think it interesting that his reading comprehension GE was 7:5 but the percentile was only 97. She said it was something about statistics that she didn't understand.

About school, they are not willing to do subject level acceleration and they have refused in the past to do pretesting, curriculum compacting, or any of the other things that would give him above grade level work. We meet with them tomorrow to discuss next year (we've given up on this year) and to show them his results and ask how they are going to meet his needs. I don't really know what to ask them to do for him. He obviously needs to do something other than 2nd grade reading or math (given that he has grasped the fundamentals). When he finishes his work early now, he is allowed to do a "2nd grade brain teaser" or write in his journal.

Other than the 1 1/2 hours a week he is in the GT class, he is in class with 21 other kids, ranging from not reading at all to him. He doesn't get much attention. The teacher has even said "I don't meet with Jared's reading group as often as I do the others because he doesn't need me as much". Which is why is reading has regressed over the school year. Much of their "language arts" this year has been Saxon Phonics, coding letters. They'll continue to do phonics in 2nd grade. I am just afraid (and maybe even convinced) that they are stifling the love of learning out of him and pushing him into their nice round hole. Maybe I'm wrong and he's not bored.

Thanks for the reassurance.

Wow, that alone could explain the "mismatch" between IQ and achievement. Most feel VCI is the best "stand alone" index, and using just the 16 and 19, his VCI would be closer to the 145 range, maybe even higher depending on how far about the 19 ceiling the similarities score is! That 9 really brought it down overall.

I agree, the GE on the math is a moot point. I'd love for MINE to be a typo though, as it would raise DS's, LOL! My theory on the reading is that it's less unusual for a kid to be more advanced in reading, and that there are greater ranges in that subject than in math.

And I say, "bored" or not, your son deserves to learn. Keep up the good fight!

Oh, another question....did the rest of his WISC subtest data have any such scatter? Any time you have a spread like that in one index (19 to 9 is quite large!!!!), it tends to make the results less precise. Ideally scores within one index should be closer together. There are specific cuts for the scatter to be "statistically significant", but a standard deviation is 3 points, and scores of 19 and 9 are over 3 SD's apart!

I don't think so. Here they are:

Vocab: 16
Similarities: 19
Digit Span: 17
Letter-Number: 16
Coding: 11
Block Design: 15
Picture Concepts: 10
Symbol Search: 12
Matrix Reasoning: 16
Comprehension: 9
Information: 15

My husband thinks his low score on Comprehension reflects that by that time in the process he was bored or wanted to get on with more interesting stuff.

Do you have any idea why Psuedoword Decoding is relevant? From what I understand, which is limited, it is the ability to read nonsense words.

I'm skimming "A Nation Deceived" again to see if I can glean something from it. I'll take a look at the Iowa Acceleration Scale and see what it gets me. I'm not hopeful of convincing them to do much for him.

Numbers are interesting, as are the way they are used. The GT teacher told me that the GT program is for kids at 131 and up and the regular classroom is for kids 109 or below. I guess those in the middle just poke along!