Where do I buy a copy of the WPPSI-III?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was not suggesting that retaking the WPSSI was unhealthy for the child being tested ... rather, I was suggesting that doing so might suggest an unhealthy obsession on the part of the parent in being so interested in seeing if such a score was "improving" or not. As others have noted, there are other and more effective ways to determine whether one's child is making good progress (however you choose to define that) in relation to his/her potential.

Thank you for your warning on the presence of posters with medical backgrounds ... I was almost too frightened to clarify my opinion. <snort>

You nailed it here! The parent can deny, rationalize, make excuses, and use all kinds of lingo to try to justify; however, it doesn't change the reality of the obsessive preoccupation with determining an IQ score on a yearly basis.

[Anonymous]

ITA. Very strange, achievement-obsessed behavior. The children will certainly pick up on it as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Not nearly as obsessed as our sports crazed environment in my humble opinion. Achievement in arts, humanities and science is a good thing. I'll take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not nearly as obsessed as our sports crazed environment in my humble opinion. Achievement in arts, humanities and science is a good thing. I'll take it.

None of which -- achievement in humanities, the sciences, or even sports -- will be furthered by testing your kid's IQ annually.

So send your kid to the best school you can find, public or private. And stop badgering everybody with your deeply flawed analogies between sports and IQ tests.

[Anonymous]

I do not think just anyone can buy a copy of the WPSSI? You probably have to be a certified and licensed psychologist or the like. But, you can get materials to improve spatial reasoning, fine motor skills, analogies and any other domains tested on this test. In fact, many area pre-K schools work on many of these mental skills and tasks in their classrooms. As with the SAT, SSAT or any other test, you don't not need the actual copy of the test. Don't waste you time in this pursuit. Simple practice and training in the skills and tasks you will encounter is more than sufficient. This is true for music, sport or any test.

[Anonymous]

None of which -- achievement in humanities, the sciences, or even sports -- will be furthered by testing your kid's IQ annually.

So send your kid to the best school you can find, public or private. And stop badgering everybody with your deeply flawed analogies between sports and IQ tests.

In the real world, most children do not have access to the best public and private schools or best public and private school teachers and they consequently miss out on an early good educational foundation. Zip code and SES is an impediment. Under those circumstances, parents can make up the deficit by exposing their children to the educational skills and tasks provided by the best area private and public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

None of which -- achievement in humanities, the sciences, or even sports -- will be furthered by testing your kid's IQ annually.

So send your kid to the best school you can find, public or private. And stop badgering everybody with your deeply flawed analogies between sports and IQ tests.

In the real world, most children do not have access to the best public and private schools or best public and private school teachers and they consequently miss out on an early good educational foundation. Zip code and SES is an impediment. Under those circumstances, parents can make up the deficit by exposing their children to the educational skills and tasks provided by the best area private and public schools.

Because exposing your kid to the WPPSI on a yearly basis reproduces what your kid would be exposed to in the form of the "educational skills and tasks provided by the best area private and public schools"?

[Anonymous]

The investigative domains on the WPPSI test should not be off limits to families and children not fortunate to attend schools with teachers who expose, teach and train their pupils in these specific tasks and skills just because someone here worships the WPPSI as the holy grail of IQ measurement. Families and children not exposed to education opportunities accessible to the poster should educate themselves on the content of the WPPSI or any other "holy grail" test (e.g., SAT, ERB, ACT, SSAT, Terra Nova, Explore, SCAT). This does not mean trying to obtain the test itself. Today, it's much easier to get material on content, domain, skills and task of any examination. Fortunately, zip code and SES is no longer limiting. The Internet has done wonders in eliminating some barriers to accessing knowledge and information. Since the immature and growing brain is quite plastic (like muscle) early exposure of your children to some of these skills and tasks is not harmful; in fact, it may be very beneficial in the long haul, even if your child never takes the WPPSI test. Because a poster worships the WPPSI as the holy grail of intelligence and IQ does not mean the type of skills and tasks it tests are off limits to your children...but somehow ok for their children in schools (pre-Ks) with teachers readily drilling these children on the same skills and tasks. There's no need to wait until your child is in middle or high school. By then, a child's educational opportunities and options may be restricted and limited by factors seemingly beyond the child's control. Of course, some would prefer that this happens. The question is not where do I buy a copy of the WPPSI-III, rather what is the WPPSI-III test, what does it test, and if my child decides to take this test will it be like a foreign language to the child or a simple casual walk in the park? There are some parents with growing children who know exactly what it tests and got very informed. There are many others who have no clue.

[Anonymous]

19:20, could you repost that in English?

It sounds like you're saying the best private and public schools "teach to the WPSSI test," but you can't be saying that because it makes no sense. A good education, one that challenges kids to think and expands their little minds, is about the opposite of learning the WPSSI test by rote.

[Anonymous]

Others get my drift. Translation unnecessary. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we get the drift. It's a rather OCDish, Asperger's sort of drift.

[Anonymous]

Awesome, just awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Having your child retake the WPSIII strikes me as very odd for someone who went to the trouble to have child attend a private school given that avoiding public school emphasis on standardized testing is often one important reason people give for going private in the first place!!

I certainly understand being curious about how child would do a year or so later, but I agree with those posters who say there are far better ways to judge how your child is progressing. Feedback from your child's teachers, for example, would be a much better indicator of what your child's potential may be compared with other bright children and whether your child appears to be working up to that potential.

The WPPSI and other standardized tests given to young children are indeed a necessary evil of the private school entrance process ... I cannot imagine seeking to revisit such a yardstick voluntarily. I mean this respectfully when I say that you might want to very seriously reconsider your true inner motivations for wishing to analyze your child's "progress" ... it really does seem unhealthy.

Doctor,

Please tell me what's unhealthy about taking WPSSI over again, or any other examination or test? I have probably taking well over 1000 examinations (standardized and non standardized) from elementary school through graduate school. For some I even stayed up all night to study for with caffeine support. At the end of the day, I'm not sure what was unhealthy about this. I also played tons of sports, matches, competitions and finals and I would not say that was unhealthy either. I don't know many 3 to 6 year olds spending their nights drinking coffee and studying for the WPSSI so I am unclear what ill health effects they would get because they took a WPSSI test several times?

Help me out, what's unique about the WPSSI as a standardised test/exercise or game that makes taking it more than once or 20 times unhealthy? Children and young adults repeat many standardized and unstandardized mental, academic, intellectual tests, exercises or games. What's unhealthy about this? How do you measure or define this? Is this the same as watching our kids play the same video game over and over and over for hours and every day? The latter activity may come with long term adverse effects on children. Let me warn you there are private school parents with medical backgrounds reading this board.

Because a child having to take the WIPPSI for the private school application process is 3 or 4 years old, that's why.A four or 5 year olds desperately wants to please and to repeatedly put them in a room with a stranger for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours up to the point of repeated failure to yield a score is a lot of pressure. It has also been proven not to be accurate under age 7. I would also add that cramming while supported by caffeine or ritalin is not very scholarly either.

[Anonymous]

My DC scored at 98th% as a 4 year old and 99th% ile as an 8 year old. Both tests were required for school application process. DD did well, but I hated every minute of it. When DC was 4 she was too young to remember it. By the time she was 8 all her classmates were talking about it ahead of time. ( 2nd graders) " whne are you going to take "THE TEST". Stuff like that " The test that decides if you can go to X school or not. Heck, why not test them every year. Great idea !!!

[Anonymous]

If this test you worship decides whether your child will go to X school or not (as you claim) and you really want your child to go to X school it may be a good idea to take the test again...or you may have to settle for Y school and you and your child do not want to go there.