test scores

It would be interesting to see the subtest scores for the WISC. A big spread between VIQ(141) and PIQ(90) sometimes can indicate NLD (non-verbal learning disorder). Go to LD In Depth to read more.

Also if your son scored highest on the picture completion then on the other performance test this can indicate a visual-motor disorder since it is the only subtest in the performance part that requires no motor response. I have read in one source that the three subtests that are most indicative of IQ are similarities, vocabulary and picture completion.

A 126 -90 is still a 36 point difference in written expression which is a 2.4 standard deviation discrepancy. In LD In Depth go Assessment (I think)
and read Pete Wrights “Understanding Tests and Measurments”.

Helen

There are some good websites for, among other things, NLVD or non verbal learning disorders. NLVD children often display the kind of spread you’re speaking of and their sites are very clear as to how it makes life and learning hard for kids with big spreads between performance and verbal.

But this spread isn’t well understood. Most of the teachers I work with have no idea of its significance or even that it’s of concern. We have a long way to go.

I like a book called Educational Care by Mel Levine. You might see what it says about big spreads in IQ. But always know that your son has a great one despite the interesting difference between his verbal and performance.

Using Test Reports to Support Clinical Judgment -
Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D.,

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Articles/Using%20Test%20Results%20to%20Support%20Clinical%20Judgment.html)

Second, discrepancies among subtest scores are much greater among the gifted than among any other group. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), which establishes the criteria used by mental health professionals for various diagnoses, provides clear admonition against averaging subtest scores when they are highly discrepant.

When there is significant scatter in the subtest scores, the profile of strengths and weaknesses, rather than the mathematically derived full-scale IQ, will more accurately reflect the person’s learning abilities. When there is a marked discrepancy across verbal and performance scores, averaging to obtain a full-scale IQ score can be misleading. (p. 40)

This advice appears in the DSM-IV under the section on mental retardation. We recommend that the same caveat be used with the gifted. When discrepancies among subtest scores exceed 9 points, or when Verbal IQ and Performance IQ scores vary 15 or more points, the child’s strengths and weaknesses should be discussed separately rather than averaged. The strengths should be used as the best indication of the child’s giftedness.

A different problem occurs when discrepancies which are typical in the gifted population are interpreted as signs of abnormal brain functioning. Gifted children typically have higher Verbal (V) scores than Performance (P) scores because the verbal tests are better measures of mental age (cognitive ability) and performance tests are more dependent on the child’s physical coordination and speed. The increased emphasis on bonus points for speed in modern tests depresses IQ scores for reflective children or children with slow processing speed or poor motor coordination (Kaufman, 1992). It is the gifted whose scores suffer the most because they have more competence while they may not have more speed (Reams, Chamrad & Robinson, 1990). On the WISC-III and the WPPSI-R, the bonus points for speed have increased sufficiently that large discrepancies between Verbal and Performance IQ are quite common in the gifted. However, numerous gifted children are currently being misdiagnosed as having a “right hemispheric disorder” (a very serious malady) based on these discrepancies. We recommend that children be allowed to continue after the time limits, and that both timed and untimed performance be reported. If the child is able to complete the items correctly if given sufficient time, then the possibility of right hemispheric disorders is eliminated. We also routinely send children with large V-P discrepancies to a behavioral optometrist to see if slight visual perceptual weaknesses may be responsible for the disparity in scores. We have found that 6 months of vision training, faithfully practiced every day, has increased Performance scores one or two standard deviations in a number of gifted children.

Many gifted children have dual exceptionalities. They are both gifted and learning disabled. Hidden learning disabilities can be covered