dmack, I'm not a testing expert, but from what I understand scatter > 1 SD is potentially significant - but I've heard that mostly re VCI vs PRI vs PS vs WM, not within the subtests. Our ds has scatter > 1 SD on his subtests, and our neuropsych discounted taking away anything significant from that... otoh... we were not using a neuropsych that specializes in 2e kids. She *did* emphasize the significance of the VCI/PRI vs PS scatter, which was greater than 2 SDs for our ds. Our ds has also been through WISC testing twice (2nd and 5th grade), had discrepancies in VCI vs PRI both times.. but in opposite directions both times - go figure!
I think from the scores you've posted that WM is likely not an issue for your ds, but processing speed potentially is.
Re missing some items and getting more difficult items correct, and your ds noting that he "notices" things around the room, I'd wonder if perhaps the low scores in processing speed might be related to a vision challenge. If he'd been through a neuropsych eval, one of the tests they would have followed up with would be a test of visual-motor integration. Our dd9 had a significant dip in processing speed that was greater than 2 SD - and she had a lot of difficulty with the motor integration test. Our neuropsych referred her to a behavioral optometrist who found that she had severe double vision which was causing one eye to shut down most of the time, and she also had severe tracking problems. She went through vision therapy for a little over a year, and although she hasn't had her IQ retested, I'm certain that her processing score would now be back up in line with her other subtest scores, based on the type of work she did in VT and the massive improvements we saw.
Another thought re noticing things other people don't notice - my ds has an expressive language disorder combined with dysgraphia which made it extremely difficult to write (output), especially up through 4th grade, and the school wasn't helping him much at all - so there were a lot of times when the class would be working on a writing assignment and he'd be just sitting there, not having a clue what to do. While he sat there, he says he'd notice things and his mind would start to fixate on them, things like another kid's notebook, something on the teacher's desk etc. It wasn't an attention challenge, it was a kid sitting in a classroom who couldn't do what he was supposed to be doing. A similar thing happened with him during class discussions because the pace of the class was just too slow for his brain... sooo... just fwiw... he had a few teachers convinced he had inattentive ADHD when really he had an entirely different challenge. That's where neuropsych testing really *really* helped us understand what was going on.
polarbear
