Question on Test Results

These are very nice scores- His math is in the average range and his language is definitely right up there. The difference is measured between the IQ score and the achievement. You math score- and actually your language score as hig as it is- are pretty consistant with what should be expected given his IQ- there is no discrepency there. Can’t help you with the gifted question Vermont doesn’t do gifted with any formal regularity- however I cannot imagine any circumstances where he would be eligible for special education based on these scores.

Robin

My concern is that a 17pt difference is AWFULLY close to that 20pt difference. Yet, between Math and English there IS a 20 pt difference.

Here’s the rest of the scores:

Okay, here we go.

WISC-III VIQ - 117 PIQ - 100 FSIQ - 109

Woodcock-Johnson III
Total Achiev 113; Broad Reading 120; Broad Math 99; Broad Written
Lang 109; Math Calc Skills 100; Written Expression 106; Academic
Skills 113; Academic Fluency 114; Academic Apps 103

SubSets
L-word Ident. SS 117; ReadFlue SS 120; PassComp SS 112; Calc SS 100;
ApplProb SS 97; Writing Samples SS 100; Spell SS 110; MathFlue 100;
WritingFlue 108.

OT Testing

Visual Perceptual Skills
Vis Discrimination 99.6
Vis Memory 63%
Vis Spatial Relationship 99.6
Vis Form Constancy 50%
Vis Sequential Memory 98%
Vis Figure-Ground 91%
Vis Closure 91%

Bruininks-Osertsky Test of Motor Proficiency
BilateralCoord Age Equiv 10-5
Strength ” ” 11-11
Upper-LimbCoord ” ” 12-8
Response Speed ” ” 15-11+
Visual Motor Control ” ” 15-8
Upper-Limb Speed and Dexterity ” ” 15-11

The area of upper-limb coord is approx two yrs below due to his
visual skills versus his motor performance. James has mixed hand
dominace, affecting his bilateral coord. He is also below in the
area of strength due to weakness in his abdominals and upper
extremity weakness.

He is having difficulty with convergence of his eyes affecting missed
detail when copying and motor performance. Also have difficult with
cursive writing and word spacing, however his signature is within
functional limits.

Sally

You mention difficulty with eye convergence. Does that mean you have had a developmental vision evaluation? If not, that is definitely what I would recommend. Good websites for information are http://www.children-special-needs.org and http://www.covd.org.’

My 11yo daughter sounds similar in some ways to your son. She is left-handed, right-eyed, some difficulties with bilateral coordination, difficulty writing (we are teaching her keyboarding this year), weak abdominals. She is bright but would have been in sped had we not pulled her out of school in 3rd grade for therapies. We did eight months of vision therapy, PACE (http://www.learninginfo.com), and Phono-Graphix. She is now in the advanced reading class at school, and catching up in math via homeschooling.

Mary

The 20 point difference is really a 22.5 point difference in most places. It is based on a statistical phenomenon called “standard deviation.” The standard deviation for most of the tests we are using is 15 points. A significant discrepancy in most states is defined as 1.5 standard deviations. When this is the case, 17 points is not as close as it appears. Perhaps the 20 points to which you referred comes from a habit of rounding the 22.5 down to 20.

To be eligible for gifted (which few districts offer) the IQ cutoff is 130.

Despite the fact that the 17 points looks to be close and looks huge. sadly we have to have criteria. Then if we don’t adhere to the criteria the overwhelming majority of the time, then we have no criteria. When we have no criteria then we are open to all manner of criticism and worse for having an apparently random method for selecting students for special education. To parents selecting a child with a 17 point discrepancy over another child with a 17 point discrepancy would look like preferential treatment, favoritism, etc. When we hold to an objective measure then it is the measure that separates children. In a small few cases where there is a massive processing problem our testing pinpointed, we have been able to make a case and defend our placement. When we are audited, our state is looking at who and how we make special education placements. They do not want to see every child we test placed, that was not the intent of IDEA. The intent was to place only the children who have SEVERE discrepancies.

It may seem unfair from where a parent “sits.” However, it is not expected nor is it the norm that all children will have minimal difficulties in school. Plenty of children have to work very hard, need extra support, however that alone is not special education.

Has he had an occupational therapy consult? With the upper body weaknesses you mention, it sounds as though he could benefit from an OT program.

His math is certainly not as strong as his written language and reading but it is still within average limits and not inconsistant with the rest of his profile- and it surely does not look like a learning disability- or NLD for that matter.

Did the OT who did the visual motor part of his assessment recommend services? He might benefit from those- or a consult to provide some direction for accommodation and modification that he could do for himself. But even then, his fluency scores- which are only speed and accuracy- are also average to high average, so he isn’t demonstrating any appreciable adverse effect.

What prompted the evaluation? My sense from your first post is that this wasn’t a re-evaluation but a new one?

Robin

He had an OT evaluation through the school.

Yes, it was a new evaluation and not a review. It was prompted due to the cognitive affects from different medical issues he has…Lyme Disease, Asthma, Allergies, Hypoglycemia, Long-term Depression, OCD, etc. He has trouble maintaining attention, memory issues, etc. States he “thinks too fast” when writing…can’t get the thoughts down on paper before his mind is way too far ahead and then gets confused.

things and re-emphasizes the need for the “Comprehensive” in every eval…Whew!

My position stands then- I don’t think this is NLD. I think you have a kiddo with an awful lot of baggage that needs to be dealt with above and beyond his cognitive/academic stuff. And- I am not sure whether it is even possible to tease out whether the effects you describe are distinguishable from the medical stuff- or whether it really matter in the long run. Personallly, I think his academics could be described as stellar given all those other issues- please tell him how impressed I am.

Having the eval done was a good thing because you really needed the information in order to make plans.It looks as if the first job would be to get systems in place for managing the medical stuff- asthma and allergies can become a nonissue with proper treatment systems- Lyme disease is a bit tricker I understand- and therapeutic interventions for the other areas. Once those systems are in place and he is comfortable with them, then the academic/learning pieces may begin to settle down on their own. As you go through that process he may need a resource sort of person to talk to when he brain gets knotted- that would be reasonable- to help him work through where he is stuck and get past it. Sometimes that is all it takes to keep anxiety levels down. Good luck!

Robin