Should I include WISC with large range in appeal?

[Anonymous]

My child was rejected from AAP with a 121 NNAT, 144 Cogat and strong GBRS (3C and 1F) with excellent teacher comments. He was in pool based on Cogat and I did not submit any work samples. School submitted ok work samples that was not my child’s best work. Packet I received included a math worksheet that had an error. Not sure if the AART just xeroxed extra worksheets for me or if this was actually included in the file for AAP consideration.

We had WISC done and my child scored 86th percentile overall. Some sections he was 95-98th percentile (Vocabulary, verbal, VCI) while he scored very poorly on fluid memory and processing speed (15-20th percentile). Psychologist comments were very positive. She wrote long commentary on his behavior and demeanor. I believe she thought we had WISC done for private school admission and not AAP.

Would you include this WISC for the appeal or do you think it would hurt my child?

I believe the WISC confirms the Cogat high score but also shows more of my child’s weaknesses. I was not present for the test but I suspect my child may not have understood the question or what psychologist was asking so he was slow to respond. This is just my guess.

[Anonymous]

I can’t believe he was rejected first round with those scores. This year is really unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

OP here. His Cogat had quant as his forte and verbal was second. WISC didn’t have a quant section I don’t think so his WISC shows high verbal. Comments said my child was highly articulate and able to use multiple words to describe something.

86th percentile seems low though for total score. I am not familiar with the WISC at all but I am surprised at low scores because my child has a great memory and is usually very quick to think.

[Anonymous]

3 C and 1 F and rejected. Wow. This has been a weird year. I would not submit these scores. I would rather write a letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3 C and 1 F and rejected. Wow. This has been a weird year. I would not submit these scores. I would rather write a letter.

I was on the fence about getting the WISC. I thought my child would get a high WISC score.

I just reread the report. His IQ was 116 (86th percentile) but his GEneral abilities index was 124 (95th percentile).

Does that mean he is not gifted but has high ability to learn?

[Anonymous]

Don’t include the WISC. Write a letter, submit better samples, and hope that the CogAT and GBRS will be enough.

[Anonymous]

If a kid is denied only a WISC showing an IQ over 130 really helps. I would not submit this score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t include the WISC. Write a letter, submit better samples, and hope that the CogAT and GBRS will be enough.

This. If FSIQ was where it is but GAI was over 130, I’d say submit. But even the GAI is not that high. Letter only. Should have been admitted with CogAT and GBRS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was rejected from AAP with a 121 NNAT, 144 Cogat and strong GBRS (3C and 1F) with excellent teacher comments. He was in pool based on Cogat and I did not submit any work samples. School submitted ok work samples that was not my child’s best work. Packet I received included a math worksheet that had an error. Not sure if the AART just xeroxed extra worksheets for me or if this was actually included in the file for AAP consideration.

We had WISC done and my child scored 86th percentile overall. Some sections he was 95-98th percentile (Vocabulary, verbal, VCI) while he scored very poorly on fluid memory and processing speed (15-20th percentile). Psychologist comments were very positive. She wrote long commentary on his behavior and demeanor. I believe she thought we had WISC done for private school admission and not AAP.

Would you include this WISC for the appeal or do you think it would hurt my child?

I believe the WISC confirms the Cogat high score but also shows more of my child’s weaknesses. I was not present for the test but I suspect my child may not have understood the question or what psychologist was asking so he was slow to respond. This is just my guess.

WISC is not confirming the CogAT scores (144). It would make it look like kid was prepped to score high on CogAT (not saying you prepped or not). I would not submit but just appeal with work samples and letter. But at least you know you know the kids strengths/weaknesses for other enrichment purpose.

[Anonymous]

Did you prep for the CogAT? Be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I believe the WISC confirms the Cogat high score but also shows more of my child’s weaknesses.

No. It absolutely does the opposite, and makes the CogAT high score seem like the result of either prepping or luck. To have such a high CogAT, some of the sections would have needed to be in the 140s, and almost no section would have been low. But, your son's highest WISC section was around a 128.

Realistically speaking, your child should get in on appeals with a letter and work samples. Does your child show any red flags for ADHD? Often, when the processing speed and working memory scores are low, that can be a sign of ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Did you do test prep? I am puzzled by the discrepancy between cogat and wisc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was rejected from AAP with a 121 NNAT, 144 Cogat and strong GBRS (3C and 1F) with excellent teacher comments. He was in pool based on Cogat and I did not submit any work samples. School submitted ok work samples that was not my child’s best work. Packet I received included a math worksheet that had an error. Not sure if the AART just xeroxed extra worksheets for me or if this was actually included in the file for AAP consideration.

We had WISC done and my child scored 86th percentile overall. Some sections he was 95-98th percentile (Vocabulary, verbal, VCI) while he scored very poorly on fluid memory and processing speed (15-20th percentile). Psychologist comments were very positive. She wrote long commentary on his behavior and demeanor. I believe she thought we had WISC done for private school admission and not AAP.

Would you include this WISC for the appeal or do you think it would hurt my child?

I believe the WISC confirms the Cogat high score but also shows more of my child’s weaknesses. I was not present for the test but I suspect my child may not have understood the question or what psychologist was asking so he was slow to respond. This is just my guess.

With such a discrepancy between tests, what other tests did the evaluator perform to figure out why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3 C and 1 F and rejected. Wow. This has been a weird year. I would not submit these scores. I would rather write a letter.

I was on the fence about getting the WISC. I thought my child would get a high WISC score.

I just reread the report. His IQ was 116 (86th percentile) but his GEneral abilities index was 124 (95th percentile).

Does that mean he is not gifted but has high ability to learn?

The General Ability Index (GAI) provides an estimate of general intelligence that is less reliant on working memory and processing speed ability, relative to the FSIQ. This is used when a kid has some learning disabilities. Your kid processing speed (15-20th percentile) may indicate that the child has some learning disabilities given he/she has much higher scores in other areas.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my kid was rejected with a 128 IQ on WISC. I was pretty surprised. He allso had really good teacher ratings.