Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Advice on IEP services and WISC-V results

I have been learning a great deal from this forum and would like to say thank you for everyone�s great advice and kindness to help. DS8 was assessed by a neuropsychologist last year and was diagnosed with ADHD-combined type. His WISC-V revealed a FSIQ of 144 with the following index scores:

VCI: 127
VSI: 151
FRI: 141
WMI: 140
PSI: 130

In addition to WISC-V, the results from TOVA and NEPSY-II also suggested the presence of a clinical attention deficit.

DS8 is currently in 3rd grade of a public elementary school and our state(MA) does not offer GT services. Since the beginning of this school year, he was sent to the principal for behavior incidents on multiple occasions. He was recently assessed for social skills and behavior assessment. Both assessments indicated that he has social skills deficit in the area of communication, responsibilities, empathy, aggression and self-control at school. Also, he lacks the social thinking skills such as abstract and inferential social communication and gestalt processing. The school suggested that he has social skills support from Speech/Language Pathologist for 30 minutes, twice a week and also plans to implement a behavior plan with the special education teacher. They also did academic testing via GORT-5, TEWL-3 and KeyMath-Third Edition, and all the achievement scores were in above average to very superior range in all areas. He is not on any medication and although we are considering.

Based on the test results detailed above, I would like to ask your advice or opinion on the following:
1) Does the test score suggest any issues other than or in addition to ADHD (i.e. CAPD, Autism spectrum, etc.)
2) He was not offered any academic services, although I would think accelerated learning or differentiation services might be helpful for him. Any suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated.
3) Any other services we could ask the school to provide under IEP?
4) Did anyone have experience with The Hallowell Center in Sudbury MA for ADHD treatment?

Again, thank you very much for your advice and help!

Hi. I can comment on the autism piece. My son was diagnosed with autism through a developmental pediatrician. They performed the ADOS on him. If it is something that you're concerned about, it's good to get that test done, and then you'll know one way or the other. My son is 7, and gets speech therapy at school through an IEP (although only for speech articulation). And he gets 12 hrs of ABA therapy a week at home. Right now, they are working on how to have a phone conversation, and also working through a program called Super Flex. They talk about different villians, like Rock Brain (when you have rigid thinking), and then how to defeat them. They do a lot of work with him on identifying emotions, how to communicate effectively, etc. He presents very mildly, so someone that meets him for the first time would just think he's shy. He doesn't have a lot of empathy, and conversations are very one sided (he'll talk at you about a topic he's interested in, but does not ask questions of others). His social deficits sound similar to your son. I would recommend having the ADOS done if autism is something that you're concerned about.

Hi Kchow1, thank you very much for the advice and I will definitely look into the ADOS testing. For the ABA therapy, do they only offer for children on the spectrum? What they do would be very helpful for my son and I wonder whether they offer for children with ADHD diagnosis.