My 6yr old first grader went through testing this summer. He was tested over 3 weeks on 3 different day. He was recommended for testing by his kindergarten teacher last spring because of difficulties staying on task and finishing work without constant reminding, redirection and teacher approval.
He has been in speech therapy for 2 1/2 years. His speech IEP is next week, and I still need to get a meeting with the psychologist (all I have is this from a mailing from last week!) I was referred to this site by a wonderful lady on another bulletin board that I frequent.
Here are some highlights on strengths and weaknesses. (it is a 6 page report, so I tried to only include the facts).
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cooperative and interested in various tasks
very talkative child whose speech is at times unclear
easily distracted.. quite fidgety.. excellent visual perceptual analysis was demonstrated along with a flexible, trial and error approach
cognitive development falls at superior level
auditory verbal intelligence falls at the high average level
visual perceptual intelligence falls at the superior level
verbal IQ 113
performance IQ of 126
full scale IQ 121
processing information ..superior range with a perceptual organization index score of 133
freedom from distraction index of 112(high average)
verbal comprehension index score of 108
weakest processing area is fine motor speed … lower end of average..processing speed index score of 91
WISC-III subtest scaled scores ranged from a scaled score of 19 to a scaled score of 7, which covers very superior to low average range. ( most falling in the high average
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strongest in perceptual abstracting ability
superior… simple assemble when working with part-whole relationships, and in sequencing of visual information and comprehension of social material.
ability to solve arithmetic word problems mentally is also exceptional for a six yr old.
very good simple visual recognition well developed fund of general knowledge
average.. oral vocabulary development, practical knowledge as related to every day problem situations.
visual scanning speed and auditory short-term sequential memory are borderline average.
weakest ability is in psychomotor speed on tasks that are routine and clerical-like. (falls at the low average level)
administered a set of test from the WJ-III test of achievement…average in basic reading skills and in math reasoning skills. It is noted that his basic reading skills are borderline average and fall at the kindergarten level. In individual skill areas, child is strongest in math calculation skill which are superior for his age level, quantities concepts which fall at the high average level and in spelling skills which are at the average level. He is weakest in writing skills which are at the below average level. In addition. Childs work attack that is his understanding and use of phonetic skills are also a relative weakness for him. These skill fall at the borderline average level.
superior level of intellectual development.. reading skills are emerging while his math skills are strong for his age level.. VMI revealed normal development in the area of visual motor integration..
would benefit from additional support from the exceptional children’s program. He presents the characteristics o f learning disabled children and the chacteristics of children with an attention deficit disorder. His IEP team should review these findings in order to determine how best to address his academic needs.
would benefit from a specialized instruction designed to bring academic skills (especially reading and written language skills) to be more in line with his strong cognitive development. Additionally he will continue to benefit from a behavioral management plan that will address problems in attention and other behaviors which may hinder progress in school.
and
verbal IQ score 113 81 percentile
performance IQ score 126 96 percentile
full scale IQ 121 92 percentile
verbal comprehension average 108 70%
perceptual organization very superior 133 99%
freedom from distraction high average 112 79%
processing speed average 91 27%
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If I read the results correctly he is very very bright in some area, but his phonics and fine motor skills are holding him back (in addition to the attention problem, which I have witnessed in and out of the classroom). If he finds something that he like (like a puzzle or taking something apart and putting it back together) then he will work hours on it. However give him a blank piece of paper and asks him to draw a picture then write something about it. Then “it is too hard”.
I feel better after the testing to know that parts of him are really accelerated. I was aware of some of his problems, however I was unaware of how strong his math and reasoning skills are
Thanks for anything that anyone that can add some insight to what my course of action as a parent should be.
Re: 6 yrs old.. evaluation
I could never add anything useful after a post like Victoria’s :-), but I will just say…I agree! Your child would definitely NOT qualify LD in my state. He is just beginning first grade and he scores at K level in reading??? I hardly see how they get a discrepancy!
While you await Victoria’s tips, I’d recommend two inexpensive resources: “Reading Reflex” and “Handwriting without Tears”.
Janis
thank you..
Thank you victoria and janis. If you can dig up your detailed post on writing, I would love a copy. ( I will also e-mail you!) I have his IEP for speech this week, and still no meeting with the psychologist or any more information from her. I was in his classroom yesterday and observed him
1 fidgeting and not listening to directions
2 sitting on his head while waiting for directions
3 elbowing another child while waiting in line. He has issues with this boy, I believe he child called him dumb last year! The boy is almost 3x his size however my child doesn’t care. I warned the teacher that there were problems between them.
He lost his green sticker again yesterday due to not listening and following directions. The psychologist said they would look at his report and “match” him to a teacher, however is the teacher first teaching experience.
Thanks again, I will update when I know more.
Re: 6 yrs old.. evaluation
your son is almost like my son was 3 years ago.
My son VIQ-112 PIQ-129, FIQ-123 at the age of 7 in first grade. From WJ-R reading, writing and math average performance (SS near 100).
I agree with Victoria- forget about school helping him- I am talking from ience.
to Janis- my son was classified as LD , got IEP (starting in Spring of 1st grade)… All did not help him enough… Last year finally he got 1:1 daily with Wilson (not well done, but still the best he had gotten) and it was all too late. He made progress, but he cannot read what his intellect would enjoy. He cannot learn from reading because he did not learn how to read. This would still be the not the worst - the greatest loss is imprinting in his brain that reading is hard and he cannot learn this task…
Good luck.
Re: 6 yrs old.. evaluation
Ewa, I agree that the school helps too little, too late. I know as I teach in the public school system. So with my own child, I am seeking outside resources and/or having the school staff trained in the methods I want! However, her school is a charter school and they are more open to innovation. Youa re very rigth about the importance of early intervention with the right methods!
Janis
You have a very bright kid who is not terribly coordinated and is bored to death by repetitive tasks and is frustrated by his inability to make his hands do what his brain wants. Welcome to my world!
First, resist firmly the tendency to focus on his problems; focus on his strengths. He should be in the gifted/talented program if there is any, NOT in special ed where they are working so hard to help slower kids that he will just fall through the cracks. Keep talking to the school about how bright he is and how they should stretch his abilities.
He has a problem-solving logical mind and likes puzzles. He is more than ready for a good solid phonics-based reading program, Given a little boost, he should excel. Teaching by “whole-language” or by a chaotic mixed method will frustrate him (may account for his present minor frustrations with reading, and will get a lot worse if it continues.)
Skip fighting with the school about this — it’s a lost cause and even if you win the kid loses because he needs to learn right now, not in two years after the court case. Get a good tutor who teaches with a strong phonics-based method, or get materials and teach him yourself. Start right away. If you start right now, before the Grade 1 class gets him into habits of guessing and failure, with his abilities he should pick up on reading within a few months. No, of course not totally fluent, but able to decode and to take over his own learning. There’s detailed advice on the Teaching Reading board. I can also email you about my programs. Approach reading as a logical puzzle, a challenge to figure out, and a wonderful source of information about math and science, and he will get into it. But please don’t wait until the school fails him and he’s another kid to try to unteach.
As far as the writing, he needs to be *taught*. All kids benefit from being helped to avoid counterproductive writing approaches, and especially kids whose physical development lags behind their minds need lots of help. The recent fad in schools has been to let kids work out whatever writing they can with no direction, and this is about as useful as letting then try to swim or skate or play baseball without a coach. I have posted elsewhere a detailed guide on writing; email me and I’ll try to dig it up.