Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC-3. Yes. You read that correctly. Please help.

I took the WISC-3 when I was 15 years old in 1996. I just came across this test result at 36 years old. I'm curious as to what the discrepancy between my Verbal and NonVerbal IQ means, but any additional information would be greatly appreciated as well. I wonder about NVLD, but have yet to find enough relevant information on the topic. My composite reading and writing scores were both above the 80th percentile and the mathematical was in the 99th percentile. The only 2 things the school psychologist noted were my poor ability for sight vocabulary and reading decoding. I remember when taking this test that the school psychologist despised me greatly so I believe her written description is lacking much necessary information. The day I turned 16 years old, I dropped out. I hope my age doesn't deter my prospect to gain knowledge about my condition.
Thank you.

Verbal IQ - 132
NonVerbal IQ - 99
Full Scale IQ - 118

Scaled Scores:
Comprehension 19
Arithmetic 17
Digit Span 17
Information 15
Similarities 14
Vocabulary 12
Block Design 12
Picture Completion 10
Object Assembly 10
Coding 9
Picture Arrangement 8

Welcome!

Let me take a look around. I might still have a WISC-III manual somewhere. When I have a few minutes later, I'll try to give you a first pass on the overall picture.

Sorry for the late reply, aeh.

I would be very grateful for your help.

Thank you,
Jimmy

Thank you, Portia.

I think I have above average coordination and average fine motor skills. I think pattern recognition is my strongest ability along with really strong abstract reasoning and visual perception, 'not visual memory,' and strong with 2D, but not very good at 3D compared to the rest of my cognitive abilities. I'm a slow test taker as well. I hate building and fixing things still to this day. I also dislike comic books, but as an adult I have strengthened that ability with practice.

Appreciated,
Jimmy

Portia is correct in observing that your verbal scores were much stronger than your performance (visual spatial, motor, nonverbal) scores. This can be associated with some kind of learning difference. It is, at a minimum, rare in the population.

The comment regarding focal weaknesses in word-level reading skills, but composite reading scores in the High Average range, suggests that your reading comprehension scores were likely more on a par with your verbal cognition, which is very much the profile of a high-functioning compensated dyslexic, powering through reading using intelligence, rather than fluent decoding skills. It is also somewhat consistent with NVLD, as you surmise, though typically I find that, by high school, math reasoning scores have slipped down much lower. Yours have not.

One of the factors that is a bit trickier to tease out at this late date is the impact of speed on your performance. On the WISC-III, all of the performance (labeled "nonverbal" here) subtests were timed. I don't think it was fine-motor speed necessarily, as the motor-free (but timed) task is in the same range as the hands-on tasks, and there does not appear to be a gradation in performance paralleling the complexity of motor requirements. So this suggests either a visual-perceptual factor (not necessarily motor) or a mental processing speed factor. Or a combination of the two.

You have two verbal outliers--one which is notably lower than your other verbal subtests (vocabulary), and one which is quite a bit higher than the others (comprehension). Typically, I see this in verbally strong students with a history of reading delays (such as yourself), who reason very well using the language one uses in everyday life, but have had less exposure to rich written language than expected for their cognition, because of the challenges of accessing text efficiently. Consequently, Comprehension, which is largely verbal social reasoning, is strong, but Vocabulary, which is specific academic language, is not as strong.

Another interesting note is the 10 scaled score difference between verbally-mediated social reasoning and visually-mediated social reasoning. For some individuals, this gap between articulating what should be done in social situations, and perceiving all of the subtle nonverbal communications necessary to implement those strategies effectively in real time is the primary manifestation of their NVLD-type profile. IRL, it can look like repeated, puzzling, patterns of social-emotional conflict or miscommunication. I don't know what led to your early departure from school, but this profile might be something to reflect on, and consider whether it explains any of your experience then or since.

I hope that your life path over the past two decades has taken positive and life-affirming directions.

Thank you so much, aeh!

I've learned a lot from your thoughtful comment.

I'd like to say that I'm the slowest reader that I know of. Finishing a book always takes forever, so it seems. I actually get incredibly stressed out on a daily basis because of this. As you will see from my post from hours ago, which hasn't posted yet, I think nvld may be a huge factor as well. I'm interested in hearing your opinion, if you will.

Some other things that I didn't know were important to explain are the psychiatric diagnosis I've received over the last several years which I've had all of my life. A serious anxiety disorder that includes (panic attacks and ocd, before benzodiazepine, ssri, ERP) and I just spent a year learning DBT for my emotional issues and it has helped tremendously. I assume BPD, but have had no conformation. My therapist refuses to give my diagnosis, but I think I will go retreive my records. I know now that these disorders are what made me leave school after the 10th grade.

If there is anything that may teach me how to read well, I'd love to know about it as it may make a huge difference in my life. If I'm nvld like I think I am, where should I start for remediation or can it not be improved upon.

I'm really happy to have found this forum.

Did you ever have a structured, explicit phonics program? Such as Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, or Barton? If you were never identified as having reading difficulties (which is possible, with your high reading comprehension), then you might benefit from taking a look at an OG-based program. I would suggest reading The Logic of English (https://www.amazon.com/Uncovering-Logic-English-Common-Sense-Approach/dp/1936706210), which breaks down the phonemes and graphemes of English used in the vast majority of our language. There are other curricula based on the same system that I usually recommend for remediating reading in children and adolescents, but as an adult, this book probably makes the most sense for you.

With regard to NVLD, it's more of a matter of remediating or supporting areas that interfere with your successful life functioning, than it is changing your underlying learning profile. I think you have already taken many of the steps that will be functional for you (such as learning DBT and seeking medication consults). If you are not already working on this in one of your therapeutic contexts, you may also wish to seek out some social-emotional learning opportunities. One place to start might be Michelle Garcia Winner's work (https://www.socialthinking.com/).

And you are warmly welcome to this community!

ETA: I mean that your reading difficulties were unrecognized, and therefore unremediated.

Unfortunately, I was never identified as having any kind of reading disability even though now, I'm certain that I do.

In DBT, we worked on interpersonal skills and I continue to practice everything that I learned on a daily basis.

I'm really glad that you left links and other names of programs, aeh. I'm looking forward to checking them out. Thank you for the time and work you put into this for me.

Thank you, Portia and aeh, for making me feel welcome here. I'm extremely grateful.

Welcome!

Although I have no information to add to your current topic, there are a few posts and resources which you may find of interest, in the forum titled Adult.

I just read the last 6 months of the adult part of the forum. There are many links I plan on reading over the next few days.

Thank you, indigo.
Jimmy