Slipper Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 This question is about my daughter who isn't testing as gifted, but I thought you all would know the answer. My youngest daughter is going through testing for various reasons. (Long story). Our psychiatrist looked at the scores and felt the IQ test was not correct because the achievement scores were higher (for most areas, not all). I had never heard this before and after googling, it seems that there are two schools of thought. I would love to hear your opinions. (Just as a note - it's possible for the IQ to be off due to the conditions of her being tested as well as her anxiety - she was more comfortable with the lady who did her achievement testing). Her IQ (if I'm reading this correctly) for WISC-IV was a 92 (Verbal Comprehension - 93, Perceptual Reasoning 98, Working Memory 94, Processing Speed 91). Her Achievement: Total Achievement - 108 Broad Reading - 120 Broad Math - 91 Broad Written Lang - 100 Academic Skills - 110 Academic Fluency - 109 Academic Apps - 102 My daughter is 8 years old and will be starting 3rd grade. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Well I'll just say this happened to my 6th grader recently. He was diagnosed with ADHD so I don't know if it's that or the homeschooling that led to the discrepancy. After all, this is all based on statistics, so the typical kid scores 100 on IQ and on achievement normed the same way, BUT the average kid doesn't have a teacher who tailors school to their needs. IF IQ is accurately a predictor of innate intelligence (which I don't put a lot of stock in), then this seems totally possible. Take it as confirmation you are doing a great job :) Brownie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Absolutely! The IQ test score can be significantly lower than the actual IQ, if the student is anxious, overthinks the questions, is not comfortable with the testing conditions, is not motivated or taking the test seriously, does not feel well, is tired, has not eaten enough, has eaten too much... I would expect this being even more pronounced for young students - factors I can keep somewhat under control as an adult will affect an 8 year old much more. A perfectionist student may score low on processing speed because she can't bring herself to race through that part of the test and feels the need to carefully think about everything (ask me how I know). Every test is just a snapshot at one specific time. I believe it is not possible to "fake" a high result, so there should be no "false positives", but it is entirely possible for a student to perform below her actual abilities, i.e. "false negatives". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 It is absolutely possible, particularly if the IQ results seem off to you. Do the achievement results also seem off? (Keep in mind that *mastery* of grade level material will usually put a kid at the 90th percentile or above--the 120 for reading is at the 90th percentile.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 My oldest does much better on tests of math achievement than she does on tests of math aptitude or math contests. Using solid math curricula (mostly Singapore plus a bit of Math Mammoth, Horizons, MEP, and Right Start) has allowed her to master the material even if she's not as naturally "mathy" as some kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 This has happened with a couple of my kids, with the difference ranging from one to two standard deviations. The psychs have not had good answers for me beyond the fact that various issues can interfere with the IQ testing, e.g. anxiety, processing issues, processing speed, and attention. It has been irritating to have inaccurate scores though for one of my late bloomers the scores have come up over time. Were the IQ scores even or was there a lot of scatter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Yes. This happened to my daughter as well. I was expecting the IQ to be a little higher than the achievement, but it came out the other way around. I think it's incorrect in her case, because she has learning challenges and has to work her butt off to "achieve" despite being generally bright. FWIW, she was given both tests by the same person, but it was over a course of an unknown # of days. The tester noted that she could not tell how my daughter was feeling because she did not show any emotions. If she was emotionally repressed, chances are her brain wasn't shooting on all its cylinders either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachsr Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 We had the same experience with DS2 who just turned 7. His WISC IV FSIQ was 117 ( VCI 114, PRI 119, WM 116, PSI 97). His WJ III achievement scores were Broad Reading 130 , Reading Comprehension 124, Broad math 155 and Math reasoning 146. The psych who did the testing said she rarely sees such high Math scores for such a young child. She didn't explain the discrepancy but suggested doing the Stanford Binet IQ test which we refused. She was confident he would score much higher on that because it wasn't timed. So I am not sure if the same reason would apply to your DC - perhaps the timed sections hampered her scoring ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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