Woodcock Johnson test results

Reading 43%
letter/ word identification 26%
passage comprehension 70%

43% is average range overall. It looks as though your son is REALLY good at using context clues to understand his reading- his basic reading skills (word attack) are quite weak.

math not considered a reliable estimate of the childs functioning in this domain
calculation 19 %
applied problems 97%

I am going to guess that this is because of the split in scores between applied problems and calculation. Again- good application and problem solving and very weak basic skills.

written language 31%
dictation 34%
writing samples 37%

These are pretty level and not unexpected given the above. They are avg to low average and do not flag big problems in and of themselves. But then again- your son is only eight.

memory for names 90%
memory for sentences 70%

He has excellent rote and contextual auditry memory skills.

visual matching 33%
Processing speed- his ability to rapidly deal with abstract visual detail- letters and numbers is a good way to think of it- is not great- not awful but not super.

incomplete words no score given
How come?

visual closure 10%
He has some significant trouble with processing visual part to whole stuff- what do his spelling and his handwriting look like?

picture vocabulary 99%
Excellent vocabulary for his age.

analysis /synthesis 57%

Average range abstract reasoning skills.

Overall you have a child with very weak basic skills who is hauling himself along with his good vocabulary, excellent memory and solid reasoning skills. He must be working very hard- it doesn’t look like much is automatic for him. There are indications of a significant deficit in visual processing skills that is likely impacting his acquisition of basic skills in a big way. My first suggestion would be further testing- someone needs to complete the WJR- they only did the standard battery- and he should probably be assessed by an Occupational Therapist about the Visual stuff. I want to know about why they didn’t report incomplete words- it is the auditory processing measure in the standard battery and critical to understanding what is going on with his reading skills. They need the sound blending test also. This looks like a screening? rather than a full eval. Hte full eval needs to happen. Does this help?

Robin

I was under ther impression this was a full evaluation it was done by the school psychologist.
His spelling is really bad and his handwriting is also very bad.He just turned 9 the test was given when he was 8 last June turned 9 in Sept.He still reverses letters in both print and cursive.He still has to be shown how to form letters often .
The school OT started a assesment 2 weeks ago .This was soppose to be done last year again the school psychologist did not have it done.It only got done due to the fact we moved him into a Sp.Ed classroom for Phonics,Spelling,and English and the teacher in their could not believe it was never done yet.Still waiting on to see if he qualifies for OT.He was classified as SLD .He has been in speech since he was 4 1/2.He has been dx with ADHD,and Tourettes also.Maybe you could tell mehow could the school psy tell me his IQ is over 130 with theses tests he did.
Oral and Written Language Scale test was preformed by speech therapist here are the scores
Listening Comprhension Stand. Score 126 test age equivant 13 yr 3 mo
Oral Expression Stand. Score 110 test age equivalent 9 yr 6 mo.
Since this was done in June could the school psy due the full testing again or since he is getting some help should we wait and see?
The school psy did write and say he hasgotten by so far by his intelligence.My son hates school and really hates going to the sp.ed classroom but he could not even keep up with modifications in the reg. room in these subjects.He is in 3rd grade now and and the only way he is passing reading is he listens to the stories on CD rom and I read them to him everynight and he passes the comphrension part of the test .He can not read a sentence without several mistakes.

he really has no sound blending skills and their are times we still have to rell him sounds of letters.I dont know why they did not report the incomplete words part of the test.He guesses alot when he reads and this is really starting to become a problem..The phonics he is doing now in the resource room are Saxon Phonics should this help him ?

He can’t tell you his IQ is any particular number because he did’nt do the whole standard battery- much less the extended battery which would give more detailed information. I haven’t a clue why he would say you child’s IQ is 130. perhapps from testing done 3 years ago? Your child is quite bright- no doubt about that- but there isn’t enough info here to make a statement about his current IQ. If you want him tested again you can certainly do that- but they would need to use another IQ test- like the WISC. My personal feeling is that unless there is a bunch of stuff that hasn’t been reported, this is an inadequate evaluation at best and I would want the rest of the data.

I don’t know much about Saxon phonics. My personal preference would be Orton Gillingham tutoring because it is individualized to the child. I am afraid that kids with very strong language skills and reasoning skills get bored with programmed phonics because the words are too low level. they need their brains challenged while their skills are remediated.

Robin

Find out what happened to incomplete words. You only have to ask…

Robin

I asked him today when i saw him and he said my son could not do this section he guessed and the score had something to do with the visual perception issues.He is going to set up another meeting soon with us .He said he would re do what ever test we think needs to be done.I am glad to hear this.But he also knows we are working witha psychartrist with our son now too and he goes to weekly therapy sessions too.I found a learning center that does the phonics you mentionedScottish rite 30 mins from here but they to said we need the school to do more testing.My son goes to the therapy for behavior issues but he does not show these issues at school but his anxiety.I have to walk him to his classroom every morning he wont let go of my hand till we get to his room.He states he will do this till we get him out of the special ed classroom he goes to for 90 mins a day.He has to go he had lots of modifications and was still failing spelling and english.(knows rules of grammer but doest apply them when writing)

The only rest they did before was speech tests that I know of.He has taken several standardize tests each year and state profeincy tests too.Last year on the Iowa Basic Skills tests he scored 99 % in Science,78% Social Studies,10%vocabulary,17% eading comp.,92% listening,36% language,46% math concepts,81% math problems,12% word analysis,72% math computation onthe
The Cognitive Abilities Test part
verbal sas=112 as=7
quantative sas=107 as=6
nonverbal 102 as=6

This test was given when he was 8 too.

(with the exception of ADHD and Tourettes) sound like my daughter at age 8. It turned out she had severe developmental vision delays along with severe phonological awareness delays. Vision therapy and PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement, http://www.learninginfo.com) fully remediated her vision problems, and Phono-Graphix (http://www.readamerica.net) fully remediated her reading.

In my opinion, it would be a good idea to get a developmental vision evaluation. At the very least you would rule out basic visual efficiency problems. You can find qualified developmental optometrists at http://www.covd.org. For more information about vision problems and typical symptoms, try http://www.visiontherapy.org, http://www.vision3d.com, and http://www.children-special-needs.org.

Phono-Graphix has a home tutoring program in the book “Reading Reflex”, available in most bookstores for $16. Even if you decide not to use this approach, the book has a lot of excellent information in it about reading and the subskills necessary to learn it.

Mary

“I don’t know much about Saxon phonics. My personal preference would be Orton Gillingham tutoring because it is individualized to the child. I am afraid that kids with very strong language skills and reasoning skills get bored with programmed phonics because the words are too low level. they need their brains challenged while their skills are remediated.”

Saxon phonics is wonderful for most kids (those with no learning problems or mild issues). The words are definitely not low level. As a matter of fact, they are very difficult.(Spelling words for this week: state, boost, sweeping, rule, room, etc., 12 in all ) I would say this is a fairly advanced curriculum (my child is in first grade). However, for a child with significant dyslexia, it cannot take the place of the O-G type program. My child has auditory processing disorder and we are barely hanging on with a lot of support at home (I am a hearing impaired and LD teacher). At the end of this year, if my child is behind in reading, I will be requesting a switch to an O-G based program.

Janis C.

Benita,

What else are they doing in the resource room? I do want to add a comment to my previous post. Saxon does have a remediation phonics program and that might be what they are using in the resource room.

I will go out on a limb and say that it does not seem that whatever they have been doing in the resource room has been effective for your son if he is almost nine, has a 130 IQ and is still struggling. An ineffective resource program is worthless especially if the child KNOWS it is ineffective and is still struggling. My advice to anyone with a child with these problems is to get outside testing by specialists in dyslexia/LD/processing disorders/speech-language. Then, get outside therapy like Orton Gillingham, if appropriate, (and Scottish Rite is one source), and take the child out of the ineffective resource room. I will not have my child ever pulled for resource unless they are doing a worthwhile program like O-G, Lindamood Bell, etc. The research shows what works, it’s just that it is expensive at the outset and many school systems choose the cheaper and ineffective route (and hope that most parents don’t know any better!).

Now you can choose to fight for appropriate service, but that may waste valuable time. It sounds like your son needs further evaluation and a new therapy program immediately. Homeschooling (like Mary does) so that the therapy is easily accessed is a good option for some people, too. It just grieves me to think your son is having to go to a psychiatrist because of anxiety over the resource program. That is a big red flag to me that something is wrong.

You may want to check out the Wright’s Law site. Some parents have been successful with legal action in getting the private therapy paid for when the schools have been proven not to have remediated the child’s problems.

Janis

He does the saxon phonics,writing(english),and spelling in the resource room.He has fine motor skills and he gets his OT now in the resource room too.He knows what he wants to write but to get it down correctly on paper or by typing he gets it all mixed up.He even reverses cursive letters and cant remeber how to form letters quite often.
He sees the psychartrist for some of his other problems he has Tourette syndrome and a mood disorder and he really likes the way this psychartrist talks to him .She asks him the questions and talks directly to him.He told her the other day he knows he needs to go to this classroom but he just dont like how the other students act they miss behave more and he says school is not for that.No hemisbehaves at home.
He also goes to the resource room so his tests arent timed and that his teacher can help with the reading material.He is on grade level in Reading,Math ,Science ,Social Studies but has modifications and reduced writing since his speed is very slow.He could not keep up with the writing in the reg class.The Sp.Ed teacher gives him his own different writing assignments and lets him help decide what he is writing on or what bookreport he wants to do.His is a more one on one in the class he skips one recess a day to help pick out assignments and get it organized.This was his suggestion not the teachers or mine.He wants to learn but gets very aggitated by others.I do think the Saxon phonics is the remdial phonics.It has seemed to help some in the 2 months since he started them he is finally starting to remember some sounds.He had been in title 1 reading 2 years and it did nothing.He does wear glasses and went though vision therapy for 6 months with no change.He reives Speech therapy and has since he was 4 and has come a long way down to only the sounds of /g/,/k/,/th/,/f/,/l/,and /r/.

He does the saxon phonics,writing(english),and spelling in the resource room.He has fine motor skills and he gets his OT now in the resource room too.He knows what he wants to write but to get it down correctly on paper or by typing he gets it all mixed up.He even reverses cursive letters and cant remeber how to form letters quite often.
He sees the psychartrist for some of his other problems he has Tourette syndrome and a mood disorder and he really likes the way this psychartrist talks to him .She asks him the questions and talks directly to him.He told her the other day he knows he needs to go to this classroom but he just dont like how the other students act they miss behave more and he says school is not for that.No hemisbehaves at home.
He also goes to the resource room so his tests arent timed and that his teacher can help with the reading material.He is on grade level in Reading,Math ,Science ,Social Studies but has modifications and reduced writing since his speed is very slow.He could not keep up with the writing in the reg class.The Sp.Ed teacher gives him his own different writing assignments and lets him help decide what he is writing on or what bookreport he wants to do.His is a more one on one in the class he skips one recess a day to help pick out assignments and get it organized.This was his suggestion not the teachers or mine.He wants to learn but gets very aggitated by others.I do think the Saxon phonics is the remdial phonics.It has seemed to help some in the 2 months since he started them he is finally starting to remember some sounds.He had been in title 1 reading 2 years and it did nothing.He does wear glasses and went though vision therapy for 6 months with no change.He reives Speech therapy and has since he was 4 and has come a long way down to only the sounds of /g/,/k/,/th/,/f/,/l/,and /r/.

Benita, I still think the resource room is not providing your son the right therapy for his needs. I’d try to get an outside evaluation if it was me. Is the spelling ties into the Saxon phonics or is it a separate program? If so, which one?

Has anyone tried to teach him to type? That’s what helps many kids who have difficulty writing.

Janis

the spelling goes along with the Saxon phonics.We are trying to find someone around here to do a full evaluation but so far no luck his dr. says the school has to do it.We are still giving the resource room time to work even if he is kinda of misplaced for` now till we find sometrhing around here.We live in a small area.I contacted our state department last week and they are going to get back to me soon.When he was doing english ,writing and Spelling with his LD tutor at school with modifications he still was only making low Cs to Fs mainly Fs he would only get 1 or 2 spelling words right out 5 he rest were doing 18 words.Now he is getting around 80% every week with Saxon spelling words and this is helping his confidence.He is now starting to be able to write a sentence on his own with the right punctuation too.He still has missspelled words but is looking for his own mistakes .Yes we are in the process with the school on getting him taught spelling but as he still has trouble recoginizeing letters .Do you know of any good books that give ideas on things to do with a Visual Perception Disability?

Benita,

The problem with so many school evaluations is that they are not complete. They do not go far enough. I had to send my own child for Auditory Processing Disorder testing when no one else recognized her problem. Had I not done so, that kind of testing would have never happened. Within areas of auditory and visual processing, there are so many sub areas, and without proper diagnosis, you are really guessing on the therapy methods and materials.

Do you have a state university within reasonable driving distance? If they have a graduate program in learning disabilities and speech pathology, you should be able to get a very good educational and language evaluation for a reasonable price. The one I had done at the U of FL was MUCH more detailed and thorough than the one the school did.

I am sorry, but my knowledge is more in the auditory area, but I do know that EPS (I think www.eps.com ?) has many good materials for LD children. I have a few of their things including handwriting and spelling remedial programs. If that is the wrong web-site, go to the International Dyslexia Association site (www.interdys.org) and I am sure there is a link. They also have a bulletin board where you can post questions.

Janis