The Written Report

We received the written report from the University this weekend. 

"Psychological Evaluation for Learning Disability:  WISC-IV & WIAT-II Interpretation"

"The current psychological evaluation will provide diagnostic clarification and recommendations based on M's performance."

"Relevant Background Information:"  This could also be titled "Mom says ..." and "Dr. Psychiatrist says" and "Mr. Behavior Guy says."

"Methods of Evaluation:  Clinical Interview, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV), Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Second Edition (WIAT-II)."

"Behavioral Observations:  ... remained silent and smiled when spoken to.  ... obtained information from Psychiatrist and CBA due to concerns about selective mutism demonstrated throughout the clinical interview ... As voluntary mutism would preclude psychological testing ...

On the first day of testing M was pleasant and cooperative with the examiner.  Furthermore, rapport was easily established with M.  The examiner noted periods in which M seemed to tune out and disengage from the task at hand."  She discusses how she handled that, pretty straight forward stuff.

"The examiner noted a pronounced tendency for M to be hasty in her decision making, arriving at answers impulsively without fully considering the sequential problem solving steps needed to deduce an answer logically.  These behavioral observations were consistent across testing sessions and M demonstrated similar observable deficits in sequential problem solving strategy and impulsivity in giving answers on the second day of testing."

"Test Results and Interpretation:  WISC-IV
general cognitive ability is with in Low Average range of intellectual functioning, as measured by the Full Scale IQ score.  Her overall thinking and reasoning abilities exceed those of approximately 21% of children her age.  ...  verbal reasoning abilities as measured by the Verbal Comprehension Index are in the low average range and above 16% of her peers.  The Verbal Comprehension Index is designed to measure verbal reasoning and concept formation.

... nonverbal reasoning abilities are in the Average range and above those of approximately 39% of her peers.  ... designed to measure fluid reasoning in the perceptual domain with task that access nonverbal concept formation, visual perception and organization, simultaneous processing, visual-motor coordination, learning, and the ability to separate figure and ground in visual stimuli.  M presents a diverse set of nonverbal abilities, performing much better on some nonverbal skills than others.  The degree of variability is unusual for a child her and age and may be noticeable to adults who know her well.

... M's ability to sustain attention, concentrate and exert mental control is in the low average range.  She preformed better than approximately 9% of her age-mates in this area.

... M's ability in processing simple or routine visual material without making errors is in the Average range when compared to her peers.  She performed better than approximately 66% of her peers on the processing speed tasks.  Processing visual material quickly is an ability that M performs well as compared to her verbal reasoning ability.

... M's speed of visual information processing us significantly better developed than her attention, concentration, and mental control.  The direction and magnitude of this difference is rare, found only in 6.3% of the population".   The terms "rare" and "uncommon" are further used to describe "visual information processing which is significantly better than her verbal reasoning concept formation ... 11 % of the population."   ... "nonverbal reasoning and concept formation is significantly better developed than her attention concentration and mental control.  The direction and magnitude of this difference is uncommon, occuring in only 15.1 % of the population." 

When asked verbally the clinician indicated this was consistent with "her psychiatric diagnosis' ."

"Analysis of broader patterns across composite scores reveals insufficiently developed attention and concentration.  Her working memory, auditory short-term memory, and long-term memory retrieval abilities are inadequately developed.  M's auditory acuity, discrimination, and vocal processing abilities show insufficient development.  Furthermore, insufficient language development and lexical knowledge contribute to her inadequately developed vocabulary and verbal comprehension abilities.  It is possible that the scores were negatively influenced by insufficient use of encoding and rehearsal strategies.  The extent of outside reading could have also impacted the scores.  Additionally, the scores may have been negatively impacted by insufficient  interest and reading patterns."

The report goes on to talk about the different levels of testing.  Good information.

... "... no learning disabilities ... Her difficulties in school and the inconsistencies observed by M's family may be attributable to impulsiveness, low frustration and boredom tolerance and poor interpersonal coping."  ... suggestions are giving for helping her in the classroom "would address her weakness in auditory learning."

... "Persistence is an area of difficulty for M.  While she has the basic capacities of reading, she does not apply problem solving skills consistently and demonstrates deficient frustration tolerance.  She has a proclivity for jumping to conclusion rather than working through the problem in a step by step sequential manner.  ...  rather than work through the steps she jumps to a conclusive answer that also seems to be arbitrarily assigned.  Furthermore, M does not exhibit the ability to delay her responses and does not engage in retrieval of information from long-term memory in answering factual questions." 

She's got it but doesn't choose to use it.  hmmmmmm

This is my favorite part and for a parent that has been beaten up was parental validation.  ...  "The inconsistency seen across M's test scores at school are further evidence that her difficulties arise from an inconsistent application of her abilities.  While her teachers may consistently state that M is persistent and effortful in her work, the test findings are more consistent with the parents conceptualization of the issue of M not consistently applying herself." 

"While she may appear to be attending in class due to her consistent ability to maintain eye contact, this is misleading.  M appears to to tune out and it is  noticeable when she is no longer listening and comprehending what is being said to her."  ...

The clinician encourages "a system of contingency management" at home and at school.  And organized sport activity like soccer is also recommend.

It is a 10 page report so I have tried to hit the highlights here.  Hope this is useful.