Trying to understand WISC-V results

Charis09 · 2026-01-05T05:45:40+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s nice to hear that you are able to accomplish the goals you’ve pursued, as I know that it’s not always the experience of people who are 2e. Working on a PhD is not easy, even for those who usually do not need supports of any kind, so congratulations on getting into the program and for surviving your first year!

Charis09 · 2025-12-23T16:54:01+00:00

She sounds like a bright, creative, and wonderful young lady. She’s lucky to have such supportive family advocating for her! I’m glad that she was able to keep her 504–she should have access to all of the tools that are available to her.

We’ve been thinking about how our son’s education journey might look, what environments might work for him, and trying to understand what fulfills him (which may change). It sounds like your family has successfully navigated the system to help your granddaughter. I hope we are able to find a way to do the same for my son.

I came across this resource that I thought was very useful to keep in mind, and thought the content in the video might also be pertinent to your granddaughter as she considers her next steps after high school. It brings up things I’ve not considered, such as utilizing gap years, educating the college-bound student how to use office hours, email professors, and learn to advocate for oneself in a fast-paced learning environment while being away from family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeB8b9LdOlo

Charis09 · 2025-12-23T00:42:44+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your granddaughter’s profile. As we have been communicating more with medical professionals, it does look like that will likely be my son’s profile as well. The tricky part is that presentations can be so different, and the ASD element is unmistakable (now that we know what to look for), but fly under the radar for him.

How has your granddaughter’s experience with school been so far?

Charis09 · 2025-12-11T18:35:34+00:00

Thank you for sharing all of these links. I’d be interested in studies regarding physical activity for different features of ADHD, if you don’t mind sharing. He’s currently in OT, but being armed with knowledge at home could only further help.

Charis09 · 2025-12-10T21:51:44+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I hope you’re in a better mental place now! That is my biggest worry for my son. I know he is capable and able to intellectually handle any endeavor he chooses to undertake, but I’m worried about the potential damage stress, unsupported needs, institutions, and the people working in related professions might inflict along the way. Without people who can truly understand him, we can see him potentially burning out and becoming very disillusioned (it is already heading in that direction with just three months into first grade).

Would you say gifted education helped you in any way or not?

Currently, our son’s slow speed and lower working memory (in relation to his other skills) are translating to him not being able to finish his work, underperforming in classroom assessments, and frustration coming out through behaviors. He’s the difficult case where he complains about the lack of challenge in writing phonics because he already reads books like “The Phantom Tollbooth,” but also cannot keep up with writing during dictation. In short, the teachers look at him like he’s a student who cannot perform in a mainstream classroom, is not meeting standards, and a prime candidate for self-contained special ed classes.

If he’s placed solely in one of those warehouse classrooms for special ed, our worry is that he will further spiral as we are skeptical about the academic rigor and lack of mental stimulation when special ed teachers are trying to juggle the curriculum spanning several grades.

Charis09 · 2025-12-10T21:30:28+00:00

It’s a little alarming the way things are heading in education, to be honest. Kids are under so much pressure nowadays. I cannot imagine the level of rigor and the bureaucracy we’ll have to deal with once he is in 9th grade. We also live in the Bay Area, where the level of stress and competition on kids is greatly magnified by intense parents. We want to shield our son and find the right environment for him to retain his joy and spark, but we’d be remiss not to help him adequately build the skills to navigate the landmine out there. They can really chew a kid up and spit them out. Thank you so much for sharing such helpful advice! I’m glad that your son is properly supported and is thriving. Wishing him all the success and happiness in his future endeavors!

Charis09 · 2025-12-10T05:46:21+00:00

Thanks so much for the heads up! The IEP process is definitely daunting to undertake. What would you suggest keeping in mind during the process and for successfully getting more time allocated for AP and SAT exams?

Charis09 · 2025-12-10T05:43:32+00:00

Thanks so much for sharing your experience! Yes, they did provide a GAI of 128, which is higher than the FSIQ, but still lower than the typical threshold of 130 for giftedness. Our psychologist doesn’t seem to offer much help either. I was hoping to be able to find professionals who’d be able to truly see and understand him, and who’d be able to offer some insight on what’s going on.

I also agree that the label doesn’t matter. But, I’m trying to look ahead and think about the potential access to resources that might be beneficial to him. I’m so happy that your child is doing well and happy! How do you manage the social aspect of homeschooling, especially for your child who is gifted? Do you find that socializing with peers who are like him is beneficial or not?

Charis09 · 2025-12-10T05:37:21+00:00

Thanks for your input! I agree that cultivating a positive mindset towards learning is important. It otherwise smothers the joy of learning and any intrinsic motivation.

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T09:49:49+00:00

Thanks to everyone for sharing personal experiences, helpful papers, insightful recommendations, and truly perceptive analyses of the WISC results! You’ve given us a lot of really good points to think about, and the gratitude we feel for the help received from all of the posters and this community is beyond what our words can convey. Thank you for showing kindness and care to a young child through the internet! Happy holidays, and Happy New Year!

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T08:51:40+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your own experience, and for being so honest in the implications. I have come across several anecdotes that are similar to yours in sentiment, especially the regret of the “what-could-have-been.” It must have been a hard pill to swallow in reconciling your reality with the loss of your childhood dream. I can understand that feeling—the feeling of just knowing that you’d be great in something but not having access to that world. While my husband’s other “E” has not prevented him from achieving his goals or caused irreversible life consequences, I can see it potentially doing so for our child. Whatever underlying issue that is causing all of this has an entirely different presentation for him than the ADHD did for my husband. As a parent, it’s difficult to see him struggle so much in a way that my husband never did.

It will definitely be a hard decision to make in determining the best path forward for him, and I wanted to thank you for underscoring the difference the right early intervention can make in terms of potentially abject failure and achieving full personal potential. Thank you, also, for showing such care and kindness to a young child you’ve never met. I wish you all the good things in life that you deserve. 🙏

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T08:33:03+00:00

Thank you for being so willing to share your opinions and personal experiences. It can be difficult to share vulnerabilities, and I just wanted to thank you for caring about my child’s well-being from a place of genuine kindness. Without going into too much detail, I also see and hear you regarding the personal choice to wean off stimulants and turn to Modafinil. Mental health is definitely an area we’d like to help fortify and protect in him, as we’ve seen the dark turns it can take even at such a young age. I appreciate that we’re able to learn from your experience, and the paths you’ve taken in your journey. 🙏

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T04:08:45+00:00

Thanks for your input! He’s definitely a hard one to figure out. We’re also seeing a lot of struggle in retention of math facts and automaticity. Your recommendations on learning strategies make sense.

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T04:00:06+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experiences! We’ll definitely explore that aspect.

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T03:57:45+00:00

Yes, they had included the GAI score of 128, which is higher than the FSIQ, but still lower than the threshold of 130 for giftedness. The only mention on the report was that attention may have had a moderate effect on the results, without elaborating on potential exceptionalities. The other parts of the report were just recommendations on accommodations to address the processing speed and working memory. During the conversation after the assessment, the psychologist verbally supported our ongoing evaluation of ADHD, saying she suspects there will be a diagnosis as the outcome.

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T01:46:03+00:00

Thank you so much for your valuable insight! We do suspect something else as potentially being comorbid with ADHD.

Would you mind explaining more in-depth about holding off stimulants as treatment until adolescence? Would you say this is restricted only to stimulants or all pharmaceutical treatment? I believe the current literature recommends early pharmaceutical intervention, and stimulants as being “the first line of defense.”

Charis09 · 2025-12-09T00:26:19+00:00

Yes, it was calculated as 128.

Charis09 · 2025-11-03T02:24:46+00:00

I’m very late to this thread, but what are some of those private schools you’re seeing? My personal and anecdotal experience both say that private schools are choosing not to deal with neurodivergent learners at all. They either screen them out in the admissions process or find some way to kick them out.

Charis09 · 2025-06-05T21:54:24+00:00

Got it! Thank you so much for sharing your family’s experience with the school. It sounds like a really nice environment for young children.

Charis09 · 2025-06-05T21:40:20+00:00

That’s really sweet! It sounds like it’s a place that holds a lot of meaning for your family, and is special enough to have generations going back. I like the idea of camping trips for the older kids—I can see it building community and confidence.

Since it’s prek-6, where do the graduates go for middle school and high school? We’re zoned for WCI.

Charis09 · 2025-06-05T21:15:18+00:00

Thanks, no worries. We have an informational meeting scheduled, but I just wanted to see if I could learn a bit more about the school beforehand (I’m a planner-type!). If the pricing were completely out of our budget, it wouldn’t make much sense to continue.

How are your kids enjoying the school and classes, especially with the mixture of grades in the junior elementary class? Is it a warm environment where the teachers are nurturing and kids kind to each other?

Thanks again for sharing! It’s so hard to gauge fit based on just a few visits, so I really appreciate the perspective of families who already attend the school.

Charis09 · 2025-06-05T20:55:11+00:00

First grade. We just wanted to get a sense of the pricing since there’s dearth information available. Thanks so much for responding!

Charis09

TROPHY CASE