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What does ITBS mean? (And another AL type question)


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My youngest daughter is 10 years old and finishing 4th grade. She has had significant issues in the past including extreme anxiety (which led to a complete regression of all academic skills in 2nd grade), foot surgery (twice) with long recovery, and struggles in learning. We pulled her out of school in 1st grade to homeschool. We didn't test much as her therapy and anxiety took priority. This year we started testing due to troubles in math. She was diagnosed with ADHD and it was suggested that she go to Lindamood Bell for tutoring in the area of math. Between the two of those, she literally exploded academically. I've always considered her to be a struggling learner (other than reading) but our psychiatrist looked at her test scores and told me that I should challenge her further as she isn't performing as well as she should be even though her scores looked good to me. 

 

I have a good friend who has been with me through all of DD's trials. I can discuss anything with her other than the fact that DD might be gifted. When I asked her to help me interpret the test scores from Lindamood Bell, she said that they had a financial interest to skew the results. When I administered the ITBS and again asked for help interpreting the scores, she told me that the Iowa Test was just for "basic skills" (due to the name) and a higher score only meant that she was doing well in basic skills of that area, not a high scorer.

 

I'm struggling over whether to push her a bit more or be grateful that she's doing as well as she is. For the most part, I've let her lead the way. Her anxiety is much better and her therapy has ended. She takes medication for anxiety and ADHD (more ADD than ADHD) and it's very helpful. I've requested a full academic evaluation from a psychologist who tests my oldest daughter (she has autism) but now I'm second-guessing myself. 

 

Can anyone clarify about ITBS (with CogAT) and whether a high score in any of those areas would indicate an accelerated learner? (And if anyone has any experience in interpreting test scores, I'd love to pm you - I'd rather not post scores publicly).

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I have no experience with the Iowa test other than taking it as a student myself.  

 

As far as your friend goes, the term "gifted" turns some people off - my mother is one of them, so I do understand how you feel.  Based on all of my research into giftedness, autism is very closely linked, because of the way they process information.  Parents who believe their children are gifted are usually correct, but many gifted children are also underachievers and giftedness presents in so many different ways, that kids who aren't the typical "posterchild" for giftedness (i.e. good academic students)

 

I have 2 children, my 10 year old son is in the PG range and my daughter is 4, so I would be guessing on her part, but I'm betting she is even higher than he is.  My daughter is beginning to show increasing signs of anxiety.  She has multiple overexciteabilities and generally could care less about anything academic.  

 

To me (and I'm by no means an expert, just a mom), it sounds like she might be one of those gifted kids who most people wouldn't recognize as gifted.  She may be struggling as she finds the material repetitive.  If we don't work on enough new or challenging material, my son will miss every answer because he is disengaged with topics that he has mastered.

 

FWIW, I would push her a bit more just to see.  If she doesn't respond well, then go back to what you were doing.  Have you tried identifying your daughters learning style to see if perhaps a different approach would be less of a struggle?

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I haven't tried to look at her learning style as I'd been so worried about everything else. She presented as average and before she left the school system, she tested as average (low average at that). I did recently stop and ask her what she would like to change about our homeschool. She told me that I was too easy and that I didn't spend enough time with her and her academics. (Yes, that's true I'm ashamed to admit, but I'm changing that). I'm hoping that the educational psychologist would have some suggestions for me. Her academics are actually quite good at this point and the ones that aren't, I know how to fix it and what caused it. 

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ITBS = Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  My understanding is that the ITBS is an ordinary, decent achievement test.  It only tests by grade level, that is, it doesn't test for performance above grade level, though I don't necessarily interpret "basic" to mean the same as your friend.  Percentiles compare the student to grade-level peers.  A high percentile score means that the student scored higher than that percentage of students nationally at that grade level.  The ITBS does not measure ability.

 

The CogAT is a group-screening ability test.  It is not an IQ test.  It is often used by school districts as an inexpensive way to identify students for gifted programming.  In my personal experience, the CogAT misses as many gifted kids as it catches and is a poor testing choice for a potentially twice-exceptional student (such as a student with struggles of any type, including adhd).  A high score is probably indicative of high ability, but an average or even low score might not be indicative of anything whatsoever.  I wouldn't necessarily object if the school is offering to administer it, but in the wrong hands it can function as misinformation, if a teacher gives too much credence to average or low scores as accurate indicators of ability.

 

If performance scores are not as high as ability scores, there are a number of possible causes.  I think it is very wise to go for the private psych eval, though quality seems to vary a bit when it comes to interpreting scores for 2e (twice-exceptional) students, depending on the extent of the psych's expertise with this sort of population.

 

 

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Thanks. I had administered the CogAT and ITBS last month. The school had tested a couple of years ago. I was at the end of my rope dealing with math and I thought about putting her in homebound services to help in that area. They agreed to homebound but said that she didn't qualify as needing any help in math. (At the time, she couldn't move past simple addition and subtraction). I decided to just continue to homeschool and went to private testing (which indicated ADHD). We went from there to Lindamood Bell. Between that and surgeries, it was a hectic year. I decided to test to get a baseline going into next year. It was her first long standardized test so we weren't sure what to expect. Frankly, I'm just glad the anxiety is better, the math is on the right path and her surgeries are finished. 

 

Her ITBS had both high and low scores (range of 60 - 99). Her CogAT was high. 

 

I believe the psych will do a good job. I've used her with my oldest daughter. She tends to specialize in children with autism/adhd. I do not know what her experience is with 2e kids, but I do believe that if she doubts her ability to do it, she will refer me to someone else. 

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