Hello! I went to my 8th grader’s Child Study Team meeting and I am confused about what some of the test scores mean. Please, help! The following are her scores.
WISC-III Verbal IQ 84 Performance IQ 116 Full Scale 99
Verbal Scale
Information ScS 8
Similarities 7
Arthmetic 5
Vocabulary 8
Comprehension 8
Digit Span 7
Performance
Pic Completion 18
Coding 9
Pic Arrang. 12
Block Design 12
Object Assem. 11
Symbol Search 13
Verbal Comprehension Index 88
Perceptual Organization 120
Freedom from Distractability 78
Processing Speed 106
WIAT
(All scores were average except the following)
Math Reasoning SS 75
Listening Comp. SS 67
The discrepancy between her verbal and performance scores are 32 points. We were told that is very rare and only occures in 1% of the population, but didn’t give us strategies on how she needs to learn to cope with that discrepancy or what strategies and accomodation would best help her in school. We are also concerned with her Math Reasoning and Listening Comp. scores. She qualified as a student with a learning disability in those areas. We have not had her IEP yet, but we wanted to go into it prepared. What kinds of strategies will help a child with these deficits and what do these scores mean?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Re: Please, help me understand Psych Report!
Well I have another one of those 1%’rs…My daughter had that same kind of split. Was any speech and language testing done? From my experience it seems that this type of split would indicate a language based disability becuase your daughter’s strengths are in the spatial or non-verbal areas. Perhaps her difficulties with language are interferring with her logic and reasoning abilities in math. Her processing speed is decent but her freedom from distractibility is low. Does she have any problem in sitting still and focusing at times? The low listening comprehension scores can also be a big key because if she has any trouble focusing, processing verbal information this would interfere with her acquisition of language. The other senario could be that your daughter could have a Central Auditory processing Deficit (CAPD). Has she had any testing for CAPD? Essentially a kid with CAPD can hear fine they just have problems processing auditory information.
I would request some further testing for language based LD’s Tests like the Test of Problem Solving, the Test of Language Competency and the Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills-Revised (TAPS-R) has a logic and reasoning component. The TAPS-R will also test her auditory memory abilities so if she has difficulty in this area it will show up.
Re: Please, help me understand Psych Report!
I would like to recommend a wonderful book for you that walks you through everything you need to know (in parent-talk). It is called “From Emotions to Advocacy” by Pete and Pamela Wright. You can order it and see a lot of the info on
www.fetaweb.com. It explains what all of the tests are what they mean, etc. It also has great advice on helping parents become active partners with the school. Knowing what all of this means is the most important part of the process of advocating for what you child needs. In my experience I have had to research it on my own. Not much help from school. Good Luck!
She needs a full language assessment. She appears to have a language disability and should have language services as well as some resource services at school. I have several students with this profile.