quick question - how long does WISC-IV testing take?

[Arcadia]

My 8 year old that I can't figure out is going for WISC testing. The psychologist says it is going to be an hour, followed by a break if needed than another 4 hrs. After that, hubby received a call that two sessions are required and our out of pocket payment stays the same.

Does WISC-IV take that long because goggling turns up shorter testing time.

 

ETA:

The 2nd session was in case an in depth observation for autism if needed. The psychologist ran the TOVA to rule out ADHD. He also ran other tests. So now ADHD is ruled out, strong overall on visual and normal on audio. Autism is ruled out too. What is verbally recommended is that my boy qualifies for speech and needs an evaluation to rule out SPD. Since he does not diagnose SPD, he suggest that we get both boys evaluated for SPD (because I asked about getting older evaluated and older might qualify for OT). We are getting a report later for the pediatrician and their school because this boy likely would get a 504. We still need to get his teachers to fill up the ADHD, GADS (autism) forms just in case there is anything we (parents) miss.

We'll be paying less too as we did not need the 2nd session.

[wapiti]

For our most recent experience for then-ds9, we had an appointment for 1.5 hrs; I think the test was around an hour or so.  Are you only getting a WISC done?  Often an appointment for a second session would be for achievement testing (e.g. WIAT).  We had a second appointment for that, also for 1.5 hrs.  Then the conference was a 1 hour appt.

[Arcadia]

 Are you only getting a WISC done?  

We specifically said WISC because our insurance is picking up the bulk of the fees so we have to be very clear what services we wanted. What we told the psychologist was that we think there might be LDs but we don't know for sure and we want to know what learning style would benefit him most instead of 2nd guessing everything. 

[wapiti]

Hmmm.... Typically, a psych will run a WISC alone when it's required for gifted admissions, etc.  For LDs, usually the psych will also run an achievement test in addition to the WISC.  Putting the scores together provides a more thorough analysis for LDs (often, for example, the achievement scores may be lower than the ability; naturally, my kids are the other way around, with achievement much higher than ability, which of course should be impossible LOL, though it's due to their specific glitches interfering with the testing).  Has the insurance said that they'll only pay for an IQ test but not also achievement?  (I would find that odd, if the insurance only paid for the IQ and not the achievement, but then I've never tried to get it covered, so I have no idea  :tongue_smilie:)

[OneStepAtATime]

Will only doing the WISC really found out all the LD possibilities?  I though other assessments were also necessary for that....

[Arcadia]

Hmmm.... Typically, a psych will run a WISC alone when it's required for gifted admissions, etc.  For LDs, usually the psych will also run an achievement test in addition to the WISC.  Putting the scores together provides a more thorough analysis for LDs.  Has the insurance said that they'll only pay for an IQ test but not also achievement?

 

For achievement testing, the psychologist office would need to call our insurance again to find out how much our out of pocket will be. We didn't ask as hubby has intended the WISC to be a starter test, see how the subtests scores are and go from there. We also want to see how testing goes and see if we want to do further testing with this psychologist.  This is our first time dealing with a psychologist.

ADD and autism testing/screening would be covered by our insurance, that my hubby has checked.

 

 

Will only doing the WISC really found out all the LD possibilities?  I though other assessments were also necessary for that....

 

I don't think so but we are taking it one step at a time since we are new to psychological testing.

 

[quark]

Arcadia, we were told 2+ hours at the uni where DS took it but it ended up being more like 3+, closer to 4. I think that might happen if the kiddo starts to hit ceilings across subtests? Kiddo had ceiling scores on all but one subtest.

 

As for LDs through WISC4, I think large disparity in subtest scores can point to possible LDs. Then again, when kids have very high scores a gap of about 20-30 points may also just point to quirks, not strong LDs. DS had a 20+ point gap between VCI and PRI but we haven't found reason to be concerned yet so we didn't explore the possibility of an LD.

 

If you need to calculate extended norms (if the psych doesn't automatically do it) you could request for raw as well as scaled scores so that you can compute extended norm scores yourself. Google WISC4 extended norms and you should find a pdf that helps you do it.

[wapiti]

The most important thing to know, for your situation, is whether the psych is experienced with testing gifted and 2e kids.  Usually the psych will recommend specific tests (the WISC being a common and excellent choice).  I don't know what your conversations were like, but based on what you've said, I wouldn't be surprised if he already scheduled the achievement testing and it was already covered by insurance.  It's just not as common to start with only an IQ test, AFAIK... Or, perhaps the additional time is for other types of assessments.  Good luck!  It'll be interesting to find out how it goes.

[Ummto4]

My son just finished his second day of testing. He just turned 12. I think his WISC takes 4-ish hr. Followed by WJ III for 3-3.5 hrs.

 

The NP said that it takes longer because she has to keep going till he has a couple of questions wrong. In fact at the end of the test, the NP showed me my son's answers and in almost all subtest, he almost gets to the end.  Plus, it also depends whether the psych uses all of the subtest or only the major one. I think there is a total of 15 subtests in WISC IV, 5 being supplemental. So some psychologist only use 10 instead of all 15.