The most common IQ test given to children in a psychoeducational evaluation is the WISC-III, from the Wechsler series of intelligence scales for children. The WISC-III measures a set of abilities to arrive at a level of global intellectual functioning. Scores in each subtest help educators and parents understand a child's individual strengths and weaknesses. The WISC-III is a valuable tool for understanding both your child's overall level of intelligence and his individual intelligence patterns, except in children with very high or very low intelligence . . .

David Wechsler never intended the Wechsler Intelligence Scales to measure extremes of intelligence, according to the quote in this article at GTWorld. Highly gifted children "top out" on the WISC-III scales. You can't identify the child's specific strengths and weaknesses or distinguish the upper levels of giftedness; and, therefore, can't use the WISC-III as a tool to help him achieve the most satisfaction and accomplishment in learning.

So what IQ test should be given to a highly gifted child? Hoagie's Gifted Education page has a good list of articles that recommend the Stanford-Binet tests. In this helpful Q&A on assessment of gifted children, McGuinness also recommends that the gifted child be tested at age five, and again around age ten.

The WISC-III is useful for identifying intelligence patterns in the LD/Gifted child, as well as an LD child with average intelligence. Check back this week to learn how to use the WISC-III scores to identify the LD child's learning strengths and weaknesses in a parent's guide to understanding the LD assessment report.