My teenage boy with apd just took his IQ test and I could use some explanation of his scores.

VCI 121
sim 15
voc 13
sim 13

PRI 88
bd 8
pc 8
mr 8

WMI 104
ds11
lns 11

PSI 94
c10
ss8
canc8

FSI 104

Looking to match his profile with a good reading program. Lacks decoding and comprehension.
Any explanation of deficits to point me in the right direction would be greatfully appreciated.

Hey mom06,
Welcome! Good for you for being an involved Parent!

Who did the testing? Were they able to talk about what each subtest is meant to measure? Would they schedule an appointment to review the scores with you?

Did they explain that most people score between 75 and 115 on each of these subtests? By that reasoning, your son's scores are mostly in the average range, with the Verbal being the strongest.

A child with a profile like this might be a bit maddening in that they are clearly in the 'top 20%' of an average group of same age children when they have a conversation with you, and yet when you try to get some schoolwork out of them, they seem much more like 'average.' Your son may have noticed this himself and it might be a source of frustration or shame.

Does this seem similar to what is going on at your house?

Sadly, there is nothing so practical as guidelines such as 'which reading program is good for which kids' with which subscores. Which ones have you tried so far?

Every kid (and adult for that matter) does best when they are interested in what they are learning. Have you tried getting him reading material that is topical to his interests? I know that some reluctant writers have flowered when posting on Internet message boards about their favorite computer games. (Not that I'm a fan of unrestricted Internet, but it does have it's uses!)

If you tell us more about what he likes, we will wiggle our brains and try to come up with creative ways of 'hiding the academic vegtables.' Will he text message with you?

I also have a personal bias, which is to encourage reading aloud, or provide wonderful audio books to children who are having trouble with the mechanics of reading so that they can further develop their love of language while they are waiting for the mechanics to fall into place. If you have any long family car rides on the summer schedule, you may want to visit a good local library and chat up the librarian for books you can play in your car. Sometimes the best way is to model having an interest and the children can get caught while they are snooping. I just did this with my son, age 13, and the audiobook of 'Three Cups of Tea - young people's edition.' My son had no interest, but got hooked while I was listening.

I've taken 100 wild guesses here - I hope some of them are useful, and none of them are offensive!

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Thank you for your suggestions. In other testing it was noted that he had both auditory and visual discrimination deficits. Could these sensory deficits be the cause of the low PRI test. When one has sensory deficits can this particular test accurately indicate his ability? Is the test accurate with a large difference between the subtests? Thank you for your input. I'm just trying to understand the results.

Grinity & Dottie know more about the Weschler IQ tests than I do, but I'll chime in with a little info as both of my kids have been tested on those as well. In terms of his deficits impacting the PRI index, I could potentially see visual discrimination deficits lowering the block design (BD) test and the PSI index as a whole. I don't know that auditory deficits would come into play on either of those, though.

I posted you a private message, just thought I would mention it here so you are sure to find it. You should have a flashing icon near the top of your screen where you can access messages (just in case you haven't seen it before).

Thanks for all the information. I'm trying to understand how a deficit in visual discrimination impacts my son's education. As I look on some sites there are so many mixed reviews on vision therapy I'm wondering if is a deficit that just can't be remediated. If the scatter in his WISC -IV test scores are so large is there a better test to access his true abilities.

If the verbal area is his strength, I doubt that you'd wind up with higher scores on the Stanford Binet. Is there a reason you need more testing to get at his abilities? Are you trying to get him accommodations at school, get him into a specific program, or figure out how best to teach him?

As far as vision therapy, I too have heard mixed messages. We had that suggested for one of our daughters as well, but I was never able to get anyone to tell me that there was a truly objective way to say, "yes, this is the issue" and to fix it. I am rather scientific minded and don't like significant subjectivity to my medical diagnoses.

Is he having serious frustration issues regarding reading or other things that leads you to want to pursue treatment? Also, do you have a family history of either learning disabilities or giftedness?

I'm just trying to understand the test and my son's abilities and challenges and whether or not there is therapy or certain educational programs to rectify his scattered abilities so he can reach his potential. I feel an urgency as to remediate his weaknesses ( decoding,comprehension (silent and listening) and writing (expanding ideas in prose )) since he is in his teenage years. I also wanted to understand whether this IQ test signify a reason why he cannot be sucessful in remediating these areas.

Your sense of urgency to remediate your child's weaknesses (as bad as that feels) is what can bring about a better outcome for your son. You are on the right track. If you can get started with a reading program you should be able to figure out what the roadblocks are, especially if you use a high quality, stepwise, proven reading program. That is exactly what worked for us, and I know many other parents who have succeeded the same way. If you want to send me a PM with more specific information on your child's reading level, maybe I can help point you to a highly effective program for that level. Your child's WISC profile leads me to think your son's challenges (while probably not autism related) can still be addressed in ways similar to those we used for my oldest child.

I live in NYC and I think it is interesting how the private kindergartens seem to want to admit kids without these uneven IQ profiles (the admissions testing done here for private school is totally ridiculous). There seems to be some idea that an even test profile (with minimal difference between subtest scores) suggests or promises the child will be easier to teach (and that may be true). But the most talented and/or brilliant people in my extended family are exactly those who had the (supposedly alarming) uneven IQ test profiles.

Take heart that those higher verbal scores your son achieved show he has promise, and I am sure with his and your effort he will do very well (even if it is not an easy path). Good luck.