Test Scores

[jayali]

We live in New Jersey and are applying to private schools for our 4 yr ds. One of the schools has requires "testing". DH and I were on the fence about doing this, but the more we visited the school the more we liked it and thought it a good fit for our son. So we went ahead with the application process and had ds tested. The test was performed by the Educational Review Board (ERB) in NYC. We got the scores yesterday and even though I told dh I didn't want to see them he ended up showing them to me. I am so against labeling kids, so why the heck did I look at the scores? Anyway, ds did well (I think) and scored an 87 overall. However, there is one section that we are concerned about. He scored really, really low on block design. Now of course dh was on the internet all night and comes into bed at 3:30am to tell me he what a low score on this section may mean. Anyway, I am not sure I believe all of the bookmarked pages DH left for me, so I was wondering if any of you very smart and level headed mommas have had any experience with these "standardized tests" for a 4 year old and could tell us how to interpret them. The narrative was extremely positive. DS is very verbal and scored well on the verbal part of the test, but dh has me so freaked out I want to beat him.

Here I am turning into the momma I said I never would become. Please help me put these senseless fears at ease.

TIA

[jd11365]

It means when he becomes President someday you can laugh that you were even concerned about his block design deficiencies at 4. ;)

[vludmilla]

I am a psychologist and I work with children. I use cognitive tests regularly. I cannot, however, interpret your son's test results since I didn't actually test him. It is very difficult to accurately interpret cognitive test results in isolation. One needs all the test data as well as all the behavioral observations that the tester made during the testing. I strongly encourage you to meet with the psychologist who did the testing and ask these questions. If you can't meet with him/her, perhaps you can talk to the person on the phone.

Having said all of this, I can tell you a few general things about interpreting cognitive tests. First, no one single subtest of a cognitive test should ever be interpreted as meaning anything at all. So, please, don't try to figure out what the low block design score means. It may mean nothing much at all. Single subtests, which the block design is, have no predictive value on their own. The composite scores (verbal, performance, processing speed, etcetera) are more meaningful for interpretation and the full scale score or the "overall" score is the most meaningful for interpretation. Also, the verbal subtests are generally considered the most predictive of school success. The block design subtest is a performance or some say "nonverbal" subtest. It is also a very foreign task to many little kids. If it bothers you a lot, and you don't already have toys like this, get some pattern puzzles and other toys that require visual abstraction and construction of designs. Also, please know that cognitive test results at this age are highly unstable. Cognitive scores don't start being stable until about the age of 7 or 8. We find that children tested when they are very young as very high or low, often test completely differently when they are in early elementary school. Also, know that there is a statistical concept of confidence intervals (CI). The idea with CI's is that the score obtained would not necessarily be the same if the child was tested at a later date because cognitive tests are just not that precise. So, a range of scores, called the confidence interval, are established to decide in what range of scores a child is performing. Your test most likely includes confidence intervals and those are often a better guide when interpreting very low or very high, outlier scores.

Well, I hope this helps you a little bit. Please feel free to ask me follow up questions or PM me. I can't interpret your son's particular scores, but I can give you kind of general advice about testing. I hope that no one will try to interpret your son's scores because it would be unethical for them to do so unless they have personally met your son and evaluated him.

[lizajane]

i don't know what your scores mean, but i can tell you what my son's scores mean. he took an IQ test and scored dramatically differently on the verbal/cognitive than he did on the "pen and paper" portion. (sorry, don't know the terms!) for him, that proved that he had "interference" that made it hard for him to focus on the "quiet" part of the test. talking, easy. being still and writing, hard. schuyler has OCD and the obsessive thoughts make it hard for him to concentrate. he also, i am pretty darn sure, has ADHD. so he can learn a LOT from talking, seeing, doing... but being still and reading/writing is VERY hard for him. so it takes a lot longer for him to learn in these areas.

my kid needs more time to learn the written part because he is constantly moving. still smart, still learning it, but just needs more time on the non-active portions of learning.

[ThreeofUs]

It means just about zip. As vludmilla says, subtests are generally used together to get any meaning at all from them AND who knows with a 4 yo, anyway. If you got a good composite, celebrate!

What it MAY mean is that your DS isn't into blocks, or that you as a family don't play with blocks at home. If this concerns you - go play blocks! :)

[pinkmomagain]

Don't even worry about it. My dd2 has been tested since she was 3-4 yo due to developmental delays. She also has ADHD and anxiety. When she was that age, she scored below avg in some areas and I distinctly remember those block designs. She is the kind of kid who, if you present her with a task she has NEVER seen before, she immediately gets frustrated and overwhelmed. I remember the tester then going a few pages back in the block design book to easier designs (I guess appropriate for a younger age) and when she went through those, she was then able to do the ones appropriate for her age. In the past, she has tested avg on IQ tests. Flash foward to 9yo, and she is completely excelling in school. She is consistently getting above 85 on all her tests this year, even 100 or above on many.

Please don't worry!!!!!

[jayali]

So I feel much better now having read all of your posts. I am so angry at myself for even looking at the scores. I HATE it when people label kids, for the sake of labeling. I just wish we lived in a better school district so he could go to public school and we wouldn't even have to do this crazy admissions process.

Anyway thank you all - I am off to buy blocks! Which, by the way, he never liked. Always found it "boring" and he still does.

Thanks again.

[Corie]

She is the kind of kid who, if you present her with a task she has NEVER seen before, she immediately gets frustrated and overwhelmed.



This is exactly what I was thinking. I can see my son getting
frustrated with a new task.

I would totally not worry about it at all!!

[ellies mom]

My DD didn't do so well on the "block design" test either because she decided she didn't want to build what they wanted. They would ask her to build X, and she would respond "My Mom doesn't do it that way, she does it like this" and would build Y.

Luckily, the person giving the test took it in context and eventually Ellie did play along but it just goes to show that kids are going to do what kids do.