The state of NJ has 90 days in which to complete assessments, evaluations, etc. to determine if a student is eligible for special services. Today is day 90 for my son.
My son, age 15 has just been diagnosed with ADHD - inattentive type. (Apparently there is a name for “marching to the beat of a different drummer”). He is now taking 36 mg of Concerta and we have seen an improvement in the 8 weeks that he has been on medication. He sees a psychologist twice a month for counseling . They are exploring a possible social anxiety disorder. .
We provided the school with an independent academic and IQ report and a psychiatrist’s diagnosis of ADHD. We also had his hearing evaluated and he had a CAPD test. His results were in the normal range.
Since he would be classified as “other health impaired” the school required a neurological exam (agreed with adhd – inattentive type) and a speech and language evaluation.
I just received the speech and hearing evaluation report and it appears that the speech pathologist has concluded on the basis of the scores listed below that although “the student experienced difficulty on the TAPS – Revised involving questions concerning social situations, the results of testing indicate average to above average range in language abilities. This has not adversely impacted his academic grades”. She says the following about the TOPS “the student states after hesitating 30 to 50 seconds before responding on at least 50% of the questions - His response is “I can’t think of anything” I don’t know” or I can’t really think of the words”. When questioned about this after testing the student said he often knew the answer but had trouble thinking of the words to express himself”.
She notes that “his functional performance which is based on teacher interviews shows that he does not orally participate in class unless called upon. It is then difficult to get him to answer but when he does he is usually correct.”
I have real problems with her conclusion. When I spoke to her this morning about the report I related that in some classes 25% of his grade depends on oral participation. (He’s expected to do 2 oral reports in English and 1 oral art critique in Drawing this semester.) I explained to her that last year he took two failing grades because he could not give an oral report. In my thinking there is an “educational impact” when the student can not meet the classroom standards.
Is my thinking off base? Do any of you know of other tests that zero in on this aspect of classroom communication skills? Thanks for all your help and your interest in helping the “newbies”. I look forward to your replies.
His scores in the Test of Auditory Perceptual skills (TAPS Revised - upper level) were as follows.
Total test: percentile rank 38
Auditory memory forward subtest: percentile rank 21
Auditory number memory reversed: percentile rank 27
Auditory sentence memory: percentile rank 55
Auditory word memory: percentile rank 2
Auditory Interpretation of Directions: percentile rank 45
Auditory Word discrimination: percentile rank 70
Auditory processing: percentile rank 39
Results of the Adolescent Test of Problem Solving
Raw score 25
Age equivelency: Below norm
Percentile rank: 4
Standard score: 74 based on a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15
Results of Expressive One-Word Picture vocabulary Test
Raw score: 148
Language Age Equivalent >19
Standard Score: 123
Percentile Rank: 94
Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test
Raw score: 159
Language Age >19.0
Standard Score: 132
Percentile Rank: 98
Re: Help with Speech and Language Test Results (long)
Sounds like there are two things affecting oral reports— is it a language problem that he can’t think of the words quickly enough, or is it the social anxiety or both? For a kid with social anxiety, oral reports are pure torture!
Re: Help with Speech and Language Test Results (long)
In response to K. here are some of his test scores
WISC-III - verbal score of 124 - 95th percentile
Performance - 107 - 68th percentile
Full scale - 117 - 87th percentile
High scores - Similarities 18, Information 18, Vocabulary 19
Low scores - Arithmetic 9,Comprehension 9,Picture completion 9
Woodcock Johnson III Tests of cognitive abilities a d tests of achievement norms based on age 8-14
Broad reading - high average/average
Reading vocabulary – high average range
Reading comprehension - high average range
Broad math skills - below average range
Broad written language - average range
Vocabulary in - high average range
Writing fluency skills - below average range
Writing samples in - average range
Listening Comprehension - average range
Oral language skills were - superior/high average range
Comprehension knowledge - superior range
Auditory processing and Long-term retrieval skills within low/average range
Processing Speed is within the below average range.
Phonemic awareness (average) working memory capacity (average), Attentional resources (low average) and Executive process (below average) may influence his cognitive performance
On the reading fluency subtest there is a 3-minute time limit in which the student answers as many questions as possible. It was noted that out off all of the 68 test items completed all were correct. He was unable to complete the entire test of items presented.
On the Math fluency subtest the student was unable to complete the subtest in the allotted time. Out of 160 items on the test no errors were noted out of the 82 items completed.
Processing speed subtest – he scored within the 4th percentile. The subtest has a 3 minute time limit. He completed 40 out of 60 items, all questions answered were correct.
Gray Oral Reading
Reading rate standard score 15 in 95th percentile
Reading accuracy standard score 20 in the > 99th percentile
Passage score standard score 18 in the >99th percentile
Comprehension skills in 99th percentile
Nelson Denny Reading
Vocabulary subtest scaled score of 224 - within the 94th percentile – superior range
Comprehension subtest - scaled score 204- placing him within the 67th percentile – average range
Total score placed within the 85th percentile - high average range with grade equivalence of 13.9.
Reading rate – scaled score of 188 places him in the 4th percentile when compared to peers – Indicating his reading rate has a negative impact on his abilities to perform well on timed tests of this nature.
Re: Help with Speech and Language Test Results (long)
If there is social anxiety disorder this must be taken care of first. You cannot fix an anxiety disorder educationally. Also, I have heard that Ritalin (Concerta),which is a stimulant, can sometimes be negative for a child with an anxiety diorder. I’d ask about that.
One other thing, since I have been down that same road, I originally thought my son had ADHD in high school, too. But there are many overlapping symptoms of ADHD and anxiety disorders, OCD, and depression. I think that ADHD has become so easily diagnosed that more serious underlying symptoms are being overlooked. Continue to work with the psychologist and try to get the anxiety under control. I doubt any school intervention will help his communication skills as long as the anxiety disorder goes untreated.
Janis
I am back for a full moon...here is a SLP
but I suppose I didn’t have to tell you that…:-) I am a speech intern and will soon have my MA…so I think I can shed a little bit of light on this for you..
The TAPS-R where he showed the weakest link was on Auditory Word memory which is where he has to remember verbatim a list of non related words that he hears auditorially. it starts out with 3 and then moves up to 6. This really taps into his attention and his ability to focus on what the SLP is saying auditorially. He doesn’t have to define words on this subtest just repeat them.
Considering his ADD-Inattentive issues he definitely has problems with executive functioning skills as were found by the TOPS. He could be taught the organizational skills he needs to focus and attend in the classroom and at home. An SLP could work on these areas and his problems with word retrieval. In the meantime you can do things at home with him to work on word recall, play games like blurt, password, categories—name as many presidents in 1 minute, fruit, cities, states, etc…
I have an inkling that his problems with word recall are all directly related to his ability to focus and attend to information becuase he is so verbal and gifted with language.. If it is important to him he will recall the information. but the sad thing is that he probably won’t qualify for speech services because he only has one low score and that is on an executive functioning issue which is not really an SLP’s domain, the psyche could work on this instead.
What did the IQ and academic testing show?
Also, have you read the article “Understanding tests and measurements” It might help understand the standard scores and percentile ranks?!?
K.