Testing for DD?

[RJH]

We had DS tested at almost 6 1/2(WISC-IV), and it made it very clear that HS was the only way to go. Now DD will be 5 in Jan, so K age next fall. I'm thinking about having her tested in the fall with the WPPSI-III. She is so different than DS, so I think she might do well in PS for at least K. But if she scores in the range DS is in, then I think I would keep her home. Is 5 1/2 a good age to test? Has anyone here used the WPPSI-III with their kids?

[Donna]

I had my dd tested last year with the WPSII at 5.5yo. It was a complete assessment with the IQ test and Woodcock Johnson for achievement. She tested in the gifted range with her IQ test but tested above the 99.9% in every area of the achievement test even though we hadn't started any formal schooling.

 

A number of problems with the IQ testing were mentioned by the examiner when discussing her scores. My dd is very mature for her age and can "seem" very cooperative even if she is not really "thinking" about what she is doing. In some sections of the test, she did not think on the easy questions and just answered whatever came first to her mind, whereas she did very well on the more challenging questions.

 

Another problem was that she is a very "out of the box" kind of kid so the examiner repported that on a few sections, dd would give an incorrect response which the examiner could not score because it was not the expected answer even though, when dd explained her answer, it made sense the way she explained it.

 

I don't think every child would have these types of issues but it did make me wish I had waited until she was a little older and possibly with a different testing instrument. Even with the issues, the examiner told me that school would not be a good option for dd and that I should consider homeschooling her for the long haul.

[East Coast Sue]

I had my dd test at 5 1/2 yrs old with the Woodcock Johnson III for achievement and the SB V for IQ test. It was difficult to find someone to administer the SB V and we had to travel more than 400 miles. I think that the fatigue from travel made it difficult to get a reliable score but she was still at 99.9% across the board. We have moved even further from where we went for testing so I don't anticipate going there for my other two...

 

I would recommend looking at the SB V and seeing if the results might offer you more information on your dd. I think testing at 5 1/2 is helpful if your child is ready to be tested... will she focus for an hour or two? will she require a break during the test? will she feel comfortable being alone with the person testing her? will she understand that it isn't a game- In my dd's case she got "creative" and started to play some games with the tester b/c she didn't understand the process required her to simply give an answer. In the report we received it stated - "This child should be tested again at age 8 or 9 when she will complete the test items as presented." Apparently, she did not want to do the numeric recall for 3 or 4 digit numbers but scored a perfect recall for 5 and 6 digit numbers. Of course, the results could not reflect correct answers for 5 and 6 digit recall b/c she had missed all the 3 and 4 digits, but the tester made a note of it b/c my dd had decided to recall all the 3 and 4 digit numbers by adding them together rather than recalling them.... Imagine my frustration after paying hundreds of dollars for my daughter to turn parts of the test into a game!

 

Susan

 

 

 

 

Susan