the subtests? My son, 12, recently was tested with WJ. Overall, he came out average on the clusters. However, he came in with 11%ile on Visual-Auditory Learning, 10%ile in Visual Matching, and 8%ile in Incomplete Words. We know he has APD, but I am suspicious that he also has visual processing difficulties and I think that these subtests are showing that I may be right. He also did the achievement portion and did fairly well. His math scores are artificially low because he multiplied rather than added (6 times in a row - don’t know what that’s all about). The psych allowed him to proceed to see if he could do a higher-level math, which he could. His oral language was at 20%ile, which corresponds with his language evaluation recently done (receptive and expressive language were both standard score 88). I feel like all these pieces must fit together somehow but I’m not sure how. I’m hoping to find details about the specific tests done in Visual-Auditory Learning, Visual Matching, and Incomplete Words. Also, who tests for visual processing problems? He reads fluently but yet he can’t copy words or sentences without leaving something out. He can’t keep his math problems lined up. He also can’t catch a ball very well. His fine motor skills aren’t very good either. It seems like visual perception has got to be one of his problems. Thanks.
Paula
Re: Woodcock-Johnson - where can I find detailed info about
Doing the wrong operation in math is also related to bad teaching, rote memorization, hurrying, and sloppy use of language — if every single operation is “and” as in “six ‘and’ three — nine? eighteen? two?” then you have trouble. Make sure he knows what the operations actually *mean* — if you haven’t taught him yourself you may be unpleasantly surprised when you ask. And insist that he uses correct vocabulary: plus, times, minus, divided *by*, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division (please, please not “timesing” and get away from “take-away”)
Thank you.
He has been homeschooled since the beginning so I know that he’s been taught the proper math language and concept. We’ve never used “and” and “is”; it’s always been “plus”, “minus”, “times”, “divided by”, and “equals”. Today he only made the wrong sign mistake once, but his copying was pretty bad. I suppose it could be carelessness, but when put together with other things I don’t think it’s all carelessness. The usual error is multiplying instead of adding. Maybe I’m way off but + and x are only a quarter turn different from each other.
It’s funny how in researching on my daughter (finally diagnosed as high functioning autism) that my son’s issues started to stand out. They share many of the same issues, but I don’t see where he could be considered on the autism spectrum. It would be so nice if someone could just put all the pieces together for me; there has to be a connection somewhere. Oh well.
I’d like for him to see a developmental optometrist, but I don’t know where there is one. I’ll have to give my regular optometrist a call next week to see if he knows anyone.
Thanks again.
Re: Woodcock-Johnson - where can I find detailed info about
[quote=”victoria”]Doing the wrong operation in math is also related to bad teaching, rote memorization, hurrying, and sloppy use of language — if every single operation is “and” as in “six ‘and’ three — nine? eighteen? two?” then you have trouble.
Oh I definitely agree with Victoria on the math operations issue. It can also be the result of lack of self-monitoring. Teach your child strategies for self-monitoring. Do the problem. Go back and check, recheck the sign. Did you do the right problem? That sort of thing.
It isn’t necessarily visual.
>sk. And insist that he uses correct vocabulary: plus, times, minus, divided *by*, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division (please, please not “timesing” and get away from “take-away”)[/quote]
Timesing, please no! :-)
—des
Re: Woodcock-Johnson - where can I find detailed info about
Link to developmental optometrists:
www.covd.org
Janis
Thank you for the link. I also had forgotten that he has
these tic-like eye movements. There was one day a few weeks ago that it was happening almost constantly. He happened to have an appointment for a physical that day and the doctor picked up on it right away. I don’t know if they’re related or not. Unfortunately, we have to wait on doctor appointments until we get health insurance issues straightened out. Thanks again for your help.
Paula
A developmental optometrist would test for visual issues. The not being able line things up suggests deficits to me. My son was like that prior to doing vision therapy. The not being able to copy suggests a visual-motor integration deficit. A really good developmental optometrist would involve motor activities. The one we went to did not—all “flat” work which helped but didn’t resolve all the issues. Otherwise, occupational therapists are typically the professionals who work with visual-motor integration difficulties.
My son did the same thing with doing the wrong operation correctly with math testing. It is also probably related to visual issues.
Beth