IQ Testing

IQ tests provide typically three scores. This is also a measure of assumed potential - much arguement to its validity but we don’t have another tool. Anyway, you will derive a performance, verbal, and full scale score. They should be in what is called a standard score. I haven’t done recent research but the average score was from 90 - 100. Giftedness varies in districts but they used to be approximately around 125. Hope this information helps.

O.K…I have the results of the testing that was done in my dd’s kindergarten class. She scored 111 on the SAGES-II which was above average, but then was low or below the mean for both the Kingore Observation Inventory (classroom observation) and the Teacher’s assessment/portfolio/grades. Does this indicate she might not be living up to her potential and maybe possible LD? She is in ST, possible CAPD and who knows what else. I *really* want this figured out before 1st grade starts and I don’t think that is possible because it takes so long to get in. Ugghhh….Why does it take so long to get into testing. I can hardly wait for her testing to come up.

Suzi

Group IQ scores aren’t useful for diagnosis of LD, or anything like CAPD. Look at LD in Depth, click on assessment for articles that explain test scores; generally the WISC III full scale score of 90-110 is average, 110-120 is high average, 120-130 is superior, and 130 and above is gifted. Schools and states vary hugely in entrance requirements to gifted and talented programs.If you are at all concerned, have her tested privately.

I a surprized that you can get a CAPD done at 5 or 6 yrs. little kids are pretty fuzzy, in our neck of the (back) woods- no CAPD testing till the kid is 8- and that’s considered borderline too young.
cheerssuzi wrote:
>
> A little history here. We are awaiting further testing of my
> 6 yo DD for CAPD. We are also obtaining an appt w/ Scotish
> Rite for possible testing for LD. She didn’t do well on a
> screening test for CAPD given to her by her SLP. She is in
> the process of taking a phonogical awareness test for
> dyslexia. She is doing o.k. in school and the teacher expects
> her to be where she should be at the end of the school year.
> Report cards have been nearly perfect.
>
> She is in public kindergarten and the school just finished
> testing for entry into the “talent pool”. These children are
> i.d.’d based on 3 different criteria 1) Teacher input 2) IQ
> 3) some kind of creativity test with dots and lines and
> artwork. The children had to be above average on 2 out of 3
> scores. She did not make the talent pool…I don’t know why
> yet. I didn’t really expect her to.
>
> ANYWAY…I need the test scores for the application to
> Scotish Rite, so I called and talked with the lady who gives
> the tests. She said the IQ score is a partial score based
> only on the reasoning portion of the test. Also, it was a
> group IQ and not individual.
>
> So..finally…my questions. What, if anything, can be deduced
> by looking at only the IQ reasoning score? What kind of score
> am I going to see? I’m assuming it won’t be a full
> score…like 100 or 90 or something? How are the scores in a
> full IQ test done—Are the different sections added or
> averaged together?
>
> A few have said that group IQ scores tend to be lower than if
> we administered a individual one, true? This lady said she
> had no problems adding or subtracting 10 pts either way for
> an individuals score for group administered tests. So, what
> really does that mean? That seems like a very wide range. Is
> there not a difference between 100 and 110 or 100 and 90?
>
> Also, she offered to do a full, individual test for us. We
> know her personally and she said she would do this for just
> us. I’m not sure about having that done in the school
> district. Would I be better off waiting and having one done
> privately?
>
> Thanks for any info.
>
> Suzi

My son was first tested for CAPD at age 7 without any difficulty. The issue is the younger the kid, the wider is the normal range and thus more severe they have to be to considered CAPD. Of course, it is also difficult to test really little kids for other reasons.

My son has actually become relatively worse in some areas over time. He hasn’t changed much but the “norms” for his age have.

Beth

Beth, remember tht he is making progress at his own pace!! Yes, as kids get older the norms are harder to reach, esp. on the performance scale of the WISC, where you need to get bonus points for speed to get the same P score you may have gotten as a younger kid; that’s why I’m sceptical of IQ scores done once on a 7-8 yo and not repeated. You’ll get a better picture of any kid with more than one data point.

I was actually talking about CAPD testing—the norms narrow in as kids auditory systems mature. We’ve managed to normalize many of his deficits through therapy but, at last testing anyway, one area had virtually remained flat over time. It is integration—a core deficit for him.

My son is making progress but it is a bit like a rollar coaster. We had a very bad time a month back, at partly due to FCAT testing here. He seems to have recovered and today he read me Harry Potter. I was amazed. He uses his finger excessively so I think we still have some visual issues. Also endurance is an issue. But he sounded very normal for a fourth grader. This is a kid who read 35 words a minute two years ago.

We may get there yet!!

He is up for his three year review soon. Your comments made me wonder if I should request IQ testing again. He scored average—99 at age 7, after two scores at ages 3 and 5 of 84. What do you think?

Beth

Yes, if he hasn’t been tested for 2-3 yrs; my son’s V score went up quite a bit at age 11 when retested because of all the remediation he’d had; however, his P score did not, because he is a relatively slow processer…I am skeptical of those who hand their hats on just one set of any type of testing…it’s just a snapshot in time, not a guanantee of future performance.

Definitely have him retested. Even though I don’t hold alot of stake in IQ tests his teachers see the score and make assumptions. It is unavoidable. I would bet the odds are that his score went up rather than down.

It made a tremendous difference he scored 99 as opposed to the preschool 84. In Buffalo, where we had lived, everybody seemed to agree this was not an accurate measurement and treated him as though he was “average”. In FL, it became an excuse for them not adequately teaching him.

Beth

My son’s full scale score is 98 yet he just doesn’t seem average. (Yeah, I know parent in denial alert.) His scores just don’t make alot of sense. He scored gifted in vocabulary but severly deficient in information. The tester was very busy and stressed and she even called him the wrong name in a part of the report. She said he had a memory deficit yet this kid can remember anything. He couldn’t sequence so could not remember things like months and days of the week etc. I just don’t believe that test and should have had it repeated immediately. If I knew then what I know now I would have.

His performance IQ was 89 but he had such a severe visual motor defict which is now mostly remediated so that score should go up quite a bit. We shall see! In the meantime I do think some of my battles with the school has to do with misconceptions about his abilities because of what was a bad test. Right now I am just waiting until VT is finished and our summer remediation program and then will have him tested on the outside.

Can you tell me what your tutor is doing to remediate logic? This is something he needs some help with.

Thanks!

Well, 98 is average so by that he should have been an average student. So they really had no excuses. Information and vocabulary aren’t the same thing but you would think they would be related. My son sometimes functions much lower—seems like he is a slow learner. He complains that his teacher goes too fast in math, for example. But, on the other hand, with some repetition, he does get it now. That wasn’t a case a year ago.

The tutor is using exercises that require you to figure out what you know. I don’t know where they are from but I can ask. They are similar to some that I have used in Lollipop Logic—which is oriented towards K-2 but I used with my son last year. I also gave her the book that Janis recommended that I recall you said you ordered. There is lots of materials in Rainbow Resource Center. www.rainbowresourceroom.com (this is where I got Lollipop Logic). You might also like the Set game, Rush Hour, and Dale Seymour’s Visual Thinking cards. These all work on nonverbal-visual thinking and perception as opposed to verbal. Language Wise is good for verbal.

Beth

Your neck of the woods may be very uninformed and very behind the times in this field. I’m not into CAPD, but I’ve seen this in other areas.
For example,one course I took in the 80’s was talking about children with cystic fibrosis; I had known a friend whose cousin in the 70’s had passed age 20 with CF, and medical advances were in the news all the time; yet the course instructor contradicted me and said flatly that CF kids don’t live past age 10, which hasn’t been true since the 50’s (now living over age 30). This is just one blatant example, but I see this constantly in many fields; a fact gets into a textbook once and is treated as gospel truth ever after.
For phonemic awareness, there is the DIBELS screening tool for preschool and K, available online; also see the NIH report on Teaching Reading, in LD in Dpeth section of this board — again preschool testing ios advised.
Ask the other experts on this board where to go and what tests you need specifically for CAPD, take the info back to your district, and try to get a few facts pounded into a few heads (and meanwhile get the kid help on your own if at all possible — don’t waste time waiting for the dinosaurs.)