Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment New here and looking for some help regarding KTEA

Hi there,

I am very new to all this and am fairly overwhelmed.

My 9 year old did both the KTBIT 2 and the KTEA-II tests recently. I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas on what these tests could indicated? We are on the waiting list to see a Developmental Pead and it is an 8 month wait.

Neither composite score could be calculate due to the large discrepancies in the subtests.

His reading score falls within the bandwidth of 130 - 142 (Higher than 99% of children his age)

His writing score falls within the bandwidth 60- 78 (higher than 2%) of children his age

The person who did the tests said the reading score was misleading as he can't comprehend a lot of what he reads.

He is also spelling at a 14.5 year old level based on assessment and is in the 92% percentile for digit memory. If he sees a word, any word for a couple of seconds, he can spell it forever more. Even really advanced words that I can't spell.

He has been flagged as a VSL learner and she suspects he may be 2e.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Welcome!

From your description, it sounds like your DS decodes (reads) and encodes (spells) exceptionally well at the word level, but struggles significantly with higher level reading comprehension and written expression skills. He also tests with excellent rote memory. You don't report how he did on the subtests of the KBIT2, which would provide some more data on his cognition and reasoning skills, but it wouldn't be too strange if he could be classified as 2e based on what you report. On the other hand, there are some exceptionalities for which hyperlexia in the context of generally average cognition (or even below average cognition) is not that unusual, in which case this would not be the GT kind of dual exceptionality. And without knowing anything about his cognitive profile (in this case, the KBIT2), it's hard to say whether it's the basic reading and spelling skills that are the outlier splinter skills, or the reading comprehension and written expression that are the discrepant deficits.

Did you have him evaluated through the public schools, or privately? Is there any additional psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation in the offing? (Since the KBIT2 is a cognitive screener, and the KTEA-II is approaching two years out of date. Though maybe that was a typo, and should be the KTEA-III, which is new.) If there is not, I would consider a comprehensive psychoed/neuropsych evaluation, in addition to the developmental pedi.

Hi there,


Thanks so much for your reply!

His KBIT 2 scores were as follows
Verbal was in the 79 - 94 bandwidth
Non verbal was in the 98-114 bandwidth

The composite score was not calculated due to the discrepancy in scores

His KTEA II scores were
Reading - 130 - 142 bandwidth
Mathematics - 107 - 117
Writing - 60 - 78 bandwidth (so bottom 2%)

The composite was also not done due to the large difference in scores.

His digit memory was at the 92%

and his spelling age was 11.2 - 12.2 years in this test, although in the school test he is at 14 years and 6 months.

She flagged him for ADHD during the screening process.

Hyperlexia was mentioned, but he was never an early reader at all, nor an early writer or speller (this has all come about this year). He has been flagged as a VSL learner because he was obsessed with Lego at a young age, and taking apart toys and putting them back together again etc etc.

It's all over the place!

We had him assessed privately and she has referred us to a developmental Paed for full testing and brain scans?? It's interesting, he has this amazing memory where he can remember things we did when he was 18 months old, down to what he was wearing and eating and what we were talking about. He's always been quirky - obsessed with science, always asking deep and probing questions even when he was little. We've gone through years of struggle at school, even to the point where repeating kindergarten was suggested. He has started to do better at school this year, his teacher said that he has been writing some great stories etc? So I'm not sure why he has done so badly on some of these tests?

He certainly does have a diverse profile. The patterns I am seeing, based on limited data (I still think you should consider a comprehensive psychoed or neuropsych eval):

1. His nonverbal skills are generally within the average range on formal testing, with nonverbal cognition and mathematics achievement quite comparable to each other.

2. His language reasoning skills are a relative weakness, with verbal cognition, reading comprehension (scores not provided, but by report of the clinician), and writing all falling in grossly the same below average range.

3. Word-level decoding and encoding are the exceptions, tracking best with his strong rote memory skills, as assessed through the working memory measure.

The difference between the subjective teacher reports about writing, and the objective scores on writing, in addition to subjectivity/objectivity, is in the on-demand nature of writing assessments. If he failed to connect with the writing prompts, there was no latitude for the examiner to prime the pump with ideas, or do oral pre-writing activities with him, or switch to a different topic. Those are all supports that happen naturally in an effective elementary writing classroom. It might be informative to ask the teacher about how he produces these great stories, and what conscious or unconscious accommodations and scaffolding she might be providing.

It may or may not be that he is 2e, but the existing data could certainly be used to support at least one exceptionality (most likely a language-based learning disability, though not technically dyslexia, as he can decode/encode).

beebs, I'm only a parent (not a professional), so take my advice with a huge grain of salt That said, I have a 2e ds with widely divergent test scores who sounds in many ways much like your ds at the same age. I have a real "love-hate" relationship with the term "visual-spatial learner". There are absolutely different styles of learning information, but back when our ds was first struggling in school we heard/read a lot about "visual spatial learner" and just assumed that was a big part of what was going on with him - when really he had some very real challenges. He *is* a visual-spatial learner, but that strength masked a really big hole of a challenge when he was young.

aeh gave you excellent advice about what to look for and ask about re his teachers etc. I'd also suggest that you consider a private neuropsych eval. We found that was the most direct and useful thing we ever did for our ds. It's possible to get the same information and testing through schools (sometimes), but schools are looking at impact on academics, whereas a neurospych eval will look globally at functioning and be more likely to get additional testing to understand the *why* behind what's observed in the subtest discrepancies on ability and achievement tests (at least it was in our case - other schools might be much more responsive than ours). Our neuropsych was also able to give us guidance on what we could/couldn't expect our school to provide in terms of accommodations and services, and gave us advice on who good resources for private therapies. Perhaps most importantly, she gave us a roadmap of what the journey ahead might look like in *life* short term and looking long term. The school is going to give you a 3-year plan (if you get an IEP), the neuropsych helped us get an understanding of how our ds' challenges would play out as he matured and how to deal with that now while looking forward to the "when". I hope that makes sense!

The other piece of advice I have if you have a question about reading - take him for a thorough reading evaluation/assessment by a specialist who works with kids with dyslexia. Even though he most likely isn't dyslexic, a thorough reading eval can reveal so many other types of challenges that impact reading.

Last thought - which is partially a question for you - did you ask *why* the tester flagged him for ADHD? If not, can you ask now? It's possible she's seeing something that might be a symptom of ADHD but also might be a symptom of a child dealing with a learning challenge. We had this happen with our ds in early elementary before his learning challenge was diagnosed. He doesn't have ADHD, never did have it, but he had behaviors that looked very much like a child with ADHD in the classroom and when he was working one on one with teachers/etc on work that was challenging to him. His teachers thought it was ADHD because ADHD was what they were familiar with - they didn't have experience with his true challenges so they weren't looking for them. I would be hesitant to look into ADHD any further for your ds until you've had a thorough up-to-date neuropsych eval or equivalent testing. (Neuropsych evals do usually include behavioral surveys and attention testing too.. so you can get a further look through the neuropsych).

Best wishes,

polarbear

Thank you both so much. I really appreciate it! I will definitely get him in for a psychoeducational or neuropsychological evaluation. (I had never heard of either), you guys are a wealth of information:) Thanks again.

He's been booked for a full educational psychological evaluation next week. Thanks for the advice, I'd never heard of them before this thread:)