Seen lots of scores posted here lately on these tests. My boys have also had these their scores are not stellar….yet they are still learning.
Oldest sons scores:
WISC: subtests:
FSIQ: 95 Information: 8 Picture comp: 9
VIQ: 92 Similarities: 10 coding: 9
verbal comp: 93.0 Arithmetic: 8 Pict. Arran: 12
Perceptual Org: 102 Vocab: 7 Block des. 10
Freedom from distract: 84 Digit Span: 6 Object as. 10
Proces. sp. 104 symbol search 13
WRAML:
Verbal memory index 77 percentile rank 6
number letter memory subtest 5 no ss or percentile given
sentence memory subtest 6 no ss or percentile given
Story memory subtest 8 no ss or percentile given
Visual memory scale SS 72 percentile rank 3
Finger windows subtest 8 no ss or percentile rank given
Design memory subtest 4 no ss or percentile rank given
Picture memory subtest 6 no ss or percentile rank given
Learning scale SS 107 percentile rank 68
verbal learning scale 8 no ss or percentile rank given
visual learnng scale 11 no ss or percentile rank given
sound symbol subtest 14 no ss or percentile rank given
General memory index SS 82 percentile rank 12
He also received the WJ-R I will only give broad scores:
broad reading 90
broad math 88
broad written 80
broad knowledge 90
his subtests scores ranged from 78 to 100
He has also had language testing with some score at the 1st percentile rank. These are all 4th grade results, he is in 9th grade now. Even with these dismal scores he has made progress. I just want to let people now that just because a student scores poorly does not mean he is NOT capable of learning. No, my son has not had any of these tests repeated.
Re: Enjoyed reading your post
Thanks for the nice post Susan! My sons weak areas are basic skills. I find it very interesting that this is true for both my boys. They both have stronger comprehension then basic reading skills, they both understand math concepts better then calculation, they both see the big picture much better then the details. They get simple test questions wrong, but get the most complex ones correct. They both are poor spellers, are slow readers, but seem to be quick thinkers. My oldest son has beuatiful handwriting, he can draw in 3D, build things without instruction, play music by ear, and seems to be able to “read people.” I think this is why teachers find him such a mystery, he definitely has a very uneven profile. My youngest son writes horribly (more like a preschooler), can not draw to save his life, and has difficulty understanding others. He too can build things though, he has good visualization skills, easily understands math concepts, and has an excellent sense of direction. He too has a very uneven profile, his teachers also find him a mystery. Many programs have been tried with them, and what worked for one did not mean it would work for the other. That is what I was trying to convey in my post, that each child is a unique individual and needs to be looked at completely and a program made up for the individual. Thanks again for the kind words.
There are, as you know, many other factors that go into whether a child learns or not. ( I like to see what I can “estimate” from test scores.) From these scores, it looks like your son struggles most in math and written language, however reading may also be a problem. From the broad scores, we don’t know which aspect of math or reading (i.e. basic reading skills or reading comprehension and math calculation or applied problem solving) are most difficult.
I don’t use the WRAML and don’t have any write-ups on it. I am curious about it after reading these posts, though, and intend to check it out.
Test scores will never tell the whole story and it is impossible to really interpret assessments without knowing the person (child) involved. All we can really tell is if there is a strong or weak chance that the student/person meets eligibility requirements for the diagnosis—and not even that in all states. Then, we can often give a list of possible areas affected by a subtest. Rarely is only one task required on a subtest (which makes the problem easy to isolate).