IQ percentages

There’s a chart in this article that has exactly what you want— ad it’s a great article for understanding more about testing:
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/assessment/tests_measurements.html

On the link Rover posted click on standard score in the index and scroll down to the chart. Look for 18% the Full-scale IQ your reported would correspond to the Standard score of 86. So the full-scale IQ is 86.

thanks for your help.

has anyone had their childs IQ drop as they get older. His went from a 97 to 86.

charlene

because it is based on langauge and on what the child has learned, how he applies what he knows. Your son has gone down a few points. But this WISC test is probably the newer version of the WISC and from what the psyche at my school was telling me some of the IQ scores she is getting on the new WISC are coming out lower because they are combined together somewhat differently to get the composite scores. Therefore you don’t get the same scores you would have received on the older WISC with a definite VIQ and PIQ.

When a kid tests out low in language with the new WISC, I have been called in to do a speech and langauge evaluation and the pscyhe I work with is pretty much on the money. If a kid scores low on the language end on the WISC he usually has a language issue.

However, it appears that your son is testing out with stronger verbal skills than non verbal skills.

Yes I have heard of it and know of some cases. It is a pretty well known phenomena called the Matthew Effect (from the Bible basically the rich getting richer and the poor poorer). I don’t think you should think that is implying that somehow your child is losing raw intellectual capacity. What you should think of is that the tests generally test what kids read to an increasing degree as the kid gets older. So a child with poor reading skills , will not be exposed to stuff that is on IQ tests that kids who read well will be exposed to.

You can find more on this by looking up the Matthew Effect. But basically I wouldn’t worry about it.

—des

On the other hand, a ten-point difference is generally considered to be significant, so this gives you some ammunition to go in and try to get better help for him.

I agree with everyone one else.

The drop is probably due to a combination of the Matthew effect and the new test. I’ve heard that there is a drop of 3 - 5 point from the old test to the new but haven’t found support for that. I’m sure its out there someplace though, if it becomes important to you.

If the school claims the whole drop is do to the test change they are being lazy.

I’d use the drop to ask for more services.

Barb

I can’t believe they were such cowards as to obsure the scores, so you wouldn’t be able to know the extent his scores declined!!! Gosh! I’d never tell the child, but I’d be very sure the school knew that I know it’s THEIR fault his scores declined.

Anyway, here is a great article on the Matthew Effect:

http://wrightslaw.com/info/test.matthew.effect.htm

Janis

IQ tests are snapshots in time and no one would tell you an IQ test in 2nd grade would be predictive of a certain score in 8th, 6 years later. How has your child done on report cards, on state standardized testing, and classroom achievement testing??? If the latest IQ is NOT in line with the student’s performance on these measures, that is a reason to meet with everyone involved and ask why?

Sometimes it could be from various elements, ESL issues, a reading deficit, auditory processing, Not treating Attention Deficit Disorder, not being raised in a literate environment, etc.

The change is less than one standard deviation ( on this test, a standard deviation equals 15) so it probably is not a significant change. The new WISC is testing lower, so that may be the issue. Also, in kids with language based LD, IQ often “drops” as the child gets older. The child is not losing intelligence, but often scores lower because he or she does not get bonus points for a quick response. Speed is not as important to scoring for younger children.

I don’t think you need a full standard deviation for a difference in scores to be considered significant. Ten points is usually considered to be meaningful, unlikely to be random.
You may need a full standard deviation from average to qualify for services under certain laws and policies, but that’s a different issue.

thanks again for the info.

He was classed before as communication, learning disability.

Now becasue his IQ is lower the doctor says he does not have a learning disabliitly.

He has poor short term memory, reading comprehension, word decoding, and ADHD.

Will not having the diagnosis of LD effect his help at school.

His grades levels are anywhere from, 2.8 in story recall to 9.2 in writing fluency, most being in the grade 6 level.

With your doctor’s help he could qualify as Other Health Impaired (OHI) With his diagnosis of ADHD he can qualify under that label. The ADHD is the root of the communcation/LD issues. People who have ADHD are into varied stimulating activities and they don’t realize what they are missing in regards to learning in the classroom and at home.

They truly don’t know what it feels like to focus because their brain is like a ping pong ball that bounces from stimulating activity to activity and they are usually not concentrating on one subject for very long. SOmetimes they can hyperfocus on a favorite activity but they let everything else go by the wayside…This behavior interferes with their ability to communicate and learn like kids without ADHD.

IT is also worth arguing that the older, higher IQ should be used for decisions about whether he has an LD or not. LEt’s face it, it’s a whole lot easier to get a lower score than your true abilities than it is to get a higher score than you “really” can do.

Schools are often highly releived when a student can be slotted as a “low average” learner — that awful gap between ability and achievement is gone, and we don’t have to expect them to achieve anything! IT’s the best of all possible worlds.

A learning disability doesn’t go away because a few numbers change. If he had a specific LD then, then just because he has been poorly enough educated to test lower now doesn’t mean that his whole mental framework has changed. (As others have said, it’s probably a combination of the Mathew Effect, the change in testing, and the way that as you get older, the test has more speed & environmental factors involved… and also, the kiddo may have gotten ‘smart’ enough in his old age to bring his feelings that he’s not really smart to the test, and to assume that he won’t do well… it’s an ignored but important factor.)

The other question is, though, whether or not such services as they have would be helpful to him anyway. WHat are his skills? What knowledge does he want and need? Given the resources you have at home & school, how can he get them?

Oh, and any valid reason why they waited 6 years between evals?

Intelligence is assumed to be stable and unchanging. However, IQ is not synonymous with intelligence and it not stable until, I think, about 12. In other words, it is totally normal for it to change over time.

As others have notes, the verbal IQ score is dependent upon learning. Learning is dependent upon opportunity and motivation (to name two big influences that are not specifically part of intelligence). Either of these can be compromised in LD students. Students who read avidly usually achieve higher verbal IQ scores because they develop greater vocabularies and a larger store of information.

I have seen LD youngsters who love the Discovery Channel receive above average verbal scores. That provides the exposure and the motivation was what got them sitting, watching that particular channel in the first place.

Finally, there is a new version of the WISC. The first eval. was done with a WISC III, now we have a revamped WISC with some subtests dropped and others added, going more toward a processing model of intelligence measurement, called the WISC IV. Time will tell whether it tends to yield higher or lower scores, for what population. etc. So the two tests are not really comparing apples with apples.

You guys are a great source of info.

We actually payed for this eval.

my son will be going into grade 9 next year and we have a tech high school that will give you apprentiship certificates. Even your welding lisence.

To get in they needed an updated eval to see if he quilifies for this school.

They have a great math and language program with about 10 differernt levels so he can go into the right class. Also a maxium of 18 kids in the class. Its a great school if I can get him in. I go in Janurary with my reports and hope he gets in.

The school could not do his eval in time for registration as they fill up by feburary.

One recomendation on the psych. report was to have a speech and language eval done as well. I am going to ask his resource teacher to look into that. Hope they will do that as I just spent $1600 for his last eval. I will if i have to but have to save some more money.

I would contact the SLP at the school and make a request for a Speech and Language Evaluation in WRITING, Date it and start the 15 day clock because they will have to respond to you within 15 days with an assessment plan. This way you can get the ball rolling there without having to spend the money. Also you can go through your medical insurance to get a speech and language eval by getting a referral from your primary care provider. The speech and Language eval shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg like the psyche eval either. I would think $350-$500 depending on the area of the country you live.