My son took the WISC-IV and these are the scores VCI=140, PRI=143, WMI=107, and PSI=83. He is doing "ok" in his gifted class (5 day a week, all day, gifted public school class). He recently brought homw a 29 on a spelling test and a 52 on a math test. We have gone over the spelling words and he can recite them correctly due to memorization. His grades were generally A/B last year. His main issues are that he memorizes the spelling words but can not apply them during writing, he reverses some letters, and mixes his syllables sometimes. He still misspells very familiar words and spells the like they sound.

I had a conference today with his teacher and she said she will allow him extra time to finish tasks due to the slow processing speed on the IQ test and his work in class. The district (DUVAL) does not acknoledge dyslexia as a LD. I am not sure he has it but something is going on..... What do I do? The info I have says this discrepensie is HUGE! but nobody in the school wants to address it. They just say that they will offer more time. Should I push for further testing? My goal is for him to want to learn and he currently hates school......

I wanted to add. He is generally slow when finishing his work. He shows perfectionistic tendencies and either works extremely hard to produce legible work in all subjects or it is very messy with many mistakes. The math test score was not due to not understanding how to do the problem. I think it was because they wanted him to draw pictures of his answers, which was hard. He put so much effort into it he got the actual computation wrong in almost every instance. You can tell that he erased ALOT. They are working multiplication which is hard for him. Although, he understands the concept.

Hi, flowersfamily!

While lower than average, PSI=83 is still within the normal range. It could certainly be causing a processing bottleneck for him, though. My DD9 has similar problems with writing and spelling. Her oral spelling is much better than her functional spelling, too. She has been diagnosed with a LD which seems to be related to visual/motor integration.

You may want to get private testing and get some recommendations from the psychologist as to what may help him. More time is probably one thing, but there may be others.

One thing the psychologist recommended for DD is that she learn to type. Typing her writing homework has really helped her. You may also want to read about dysgraphia. There are a few threads here in the 2E section about that.

Thank you for your response. I have found on Hoagies Deborah Harris in Gainesville and she seems to be a fairly local expert on gifted kids. I think I will have him tested to see what comes about.

Also, does anyone else wonder where the scores come from. My son has always been quick to learn something but apparently slow to get it out, he has a fairly good vocabulary, shows talent in memorizing music and drama. But I would never have guessed his IQ be so high. FSIQ=129 but his GAI=151. I just don't see anything that is out of ordinary really. I really see more deficits in comparison with his peers then any special abilities, eventhough the scores say the opposite. I just don't see alot of what I see other posters post.....

Hi, totally new to this. Just got my dd wisc iv last week. Your post really caught my eye. These scores are virtually identical to my dds. I was told by the school she did not make it into the GT because they have a firm 130. In fact she hit the ceiling on three subtests in VCI and PRI. Also she scored off the charts in the arithmatic( this is where i see her as most gifted). However they told me they do not figure this score into her WMI (WMI was 104). Is she 2E? Do I need to test her on a different iq test? DD is 7yrs.

Oh man Klh, your school is hosing your child! Especially since Arithmetic is an alternate subtest for WMI, and that alone would probably boost her over the bar! Was it only the PSI that was really lower? Have you shown them the GAI technical report? I'm sure her GAI would be over the 130 limit.

http://harcourtassessment.com/hai/Images/pdf/wisciv/WISC-IV_4.1_Re1.pdf

Did they do achievement testing? Perhaps something like the WIAT or WJ? If so, how did she score there? If you happen to be in PA, I could give you some hope (PA can't just use a hard IQ cut for determinations).

Thanks for responding Dottie. I live In Wisconsin. VCI 142, PRI 140, WMI 106(arim. 18, but was told they do not substitute this score), PSI 84. The school psy. had never heard of GAI, he thought I was kinda nuts. So I had to figure this out on my own(GAI 151).Should I push this GAI tech. report under his nose! I did call the state DPI gifted and talented person told her the situation. She agreed that daughter should be in GT. She said our state would be "informining" the school districts about GAI for the 2009-10 school year. By the way, our school district has no GT till 4th grade.

I can hardly believe the similarities in scores! The GAI is the same. WOW! Definitely gat the info about it and make an appointment with the district. Do you notice any areas that are of concern? How does she write and spell? I am short on time but will be visiting here often. Thanks

What do the confidence intervals mean? Sorry, if this is off topic.

Confidence intervals are basically the possible error they are willing to 'fess up to right from the start. Some schools will factor those into their cuts. For example, if the cut is 130, but the 130 has a confidence interval of 127-132, they might accept scores as low as 127. Our school does not. There are typically two available bands, one they say is 95% accurate, and the other 90%.

There are of course no guarantees that the child's "true IQ" lands within either of those bands, .

Klh, you have your work cut out for you! I guess the bigger question is how does the lower PSI affect her. Would she thrive in the GT program? Those other scores seem to say yes! Are your numbers from memory? I ask because several of those scores aren't US numbers (?). Did she have achievement testing done as well (typically the WIAT or WJ)? If so, what did those scores show?

Same questions for Flowers, LOL (except the part about the scores...those line up with my charts.)