Hi Friends,
Okay I know that most of us are pretty leary of the accuracy of IQ tests. But I do have some concerns as I try to peice together my son’s issues. He was recently tested and scored a 70 on his IQ and 68 on adaptive skills. When I’ve looked up mental retardation this is the criteria that meets the mildest form. Ever since I discovered my son’s speech and language delay and then subsequent delays in all areas, I began to see the similarities with him and my first cousin who is mentally retarded.
The LSSP who did the evaluation wrote that his score should be “viewed with caution” because he has some high and low scores. Does this matter? Isn’t an IQ the “average” of the 14 subtests? What differentiates LD from MR? He was labeled with a cognitive disorder, and ADD which I started relunctantly treating with medication, and according to the teacer he’s doing much better.
He is going to kindergarten next year (he’s was held back one yearin special ed. preK) and I am trying to get him some individualized services and want to know if he qualifies for a Life Skills program for part of the day with inclusion. I was told that the criteria for that service was a diagnosis of MR which meantIQ of 70 or lower. But like I said, they didn’t give him the MR label. It may not be the best placement for him anyway, but I know that LABELS get you services! I’m just considering everything. And he desperately needs the one on one individualized teaching methods that LS could provide. If anyone else out there has a child with scores similar to my guys, I would love to hear from you. What kind of services did you get? What’s been going on with your child as of late. Or if you have some insight as to the details of low IQ LD verses MR please shed some light on this for me.
Thanks!
Re: IQ and adaptive skills have me worried
I betting that the reason the IQ score should be viewed with caution is that its the average of wildly different scores.
If all the scores are in generally in the same range then the average can be viewed as accurate. But if one or two subtests score dramatically low then those low test scores can be viewed as skewed by an LD or some other factor and are not truly representative of IQ. The average in that case would be greatly affected by 1 or 2 very low scores and would not accurately indicate the IQ.
For instance, someone with a language LD may have to be tested with a test that is not language-dependent to get an accurate measure of IQ.
Since the tester has indicated that the results should be viewed with caution, I would ask immediately for further testing with tests appropriate to the child’s needs. It is toooooo easy for others to view his file and say ’ oh well, he’s retarded.’ and not read he fine print of the reuslts not being valid. I would not want that left in my child’s file without some answers.
Re: IQ and adaptive skills have me worried
Very interesting. That’s exactly what hapened. On two tests, he didn’t perform at all or was completely wrong in aswering them. Those two along with 8 others in te low 70s, and then the rest (7 more) from 82 -up to 108. So yes, I can see why those would have a serious impact.
Thanks for the advise on retesting. Though I probably will wait two more years when he will be retested. We all believe he has a Learning Disorder which apparently is a technical term they can not give him until he’s old enough to take more specific tests. Meanwhile his diagnosis is S&L disorder, “cognitive disorder”, ADD/ADHD, and Oppositional defiance.
Thanks for your insight and advice.
I’m goint to post a new subject on voice quality for you SLPs.
Re: IQ and adaptive skills have me worried
They need not redo all the tests but they need to find substitute tests that will handle the specific problem while measuring performance. Keep asking, there are some knowledge folks here who can point you to the tests to ask for.
Just be really, really careful on how people use the results you have. Unfortunately, many of the service decisions are based on those scores. Be very certain they do not preclude your son from certain services because he does not have the ‘right’ discrepancy between performance and IQ.
It sounds like you have a complex child and getting the ‘mix’ of services and medical attention won’t be easy. Good luck.
Accurate Evaluation is the key
One-on-One teaching is great if it is the right kind of teaching but if it isn’t the correct teaching it might be a waste of time. An accurate evaluation is what you need. I have a friend whose child has a speech disorder called apraxia. Every three years the shool district would retest using a verbal based IQ test and the results would come out low. The district would use the low IQ results as the reason why he was not progressing in reading. Parent got an outside evaluation when child was in 7th grade that showed he had an average verbal IQ with a language based disability. With the correct method of teaching Lindamood-Bell he has progressed in his reading but so many years of wasted time.
Is he labeled speech and language impaired? My daughter had a 70 verbal IQ when she was in kindergarten but she had an above average non verbal IQ with a huge split. Now her IQ is in the normal range.
I work with SLI kids in special day classes who are similar to your son. It really depends on the teacher you can get for the SDC as to how well they will be able to make up for lost time until they hit a plateau. Some teachers are definitely better than others, some are more open to collaboration with SLP’s and others aren’t. You should ask to observe the classrooms and talk with the prospective teachers to see where would be the best place for him to grow and develop. I was reading today in the newspaper about a convict who had a lower IQ and over time it has risen out of the mentally retarded range because of his exposure to higher forms of language through his lawyers…so IQ isn’t everything… it just measures what you don’t know….