Ok. Do you have any thoughts if ADHD could be a cause of the achievement discrepancies? I suspected it last year but the Kindy teacher's vanderbilt survey was basically as negative as could be, me and DH were highly positive, and grandmother was negative (though the ed psych mentioned DS kicked her under the table while testing about 500 times). The ed psych suggested the testing results were a result of his youth/maturity, thinking his skills will naturally improve as he ages. But we're working hard for everything. Is that possible and/or likely for youth to cause the achievement discrepancies?
It is possible that ADHD might cause achievement discrepancies, but I lean toward dyslexia/dysgraphia.
I assume OIO is where he reached a premature ceiling?
Sorry I don't understand. Are you asking if that's where the ed psych said she stopped the official testing results? IDK if it was that subtest or not.
Yes, that's what I meant.
This verbal memory score concerns me, falling as it does at the lower end of the Average range, especially with those high VIX scores. I'm always on the alert for memory and processing speed issues in dyslexia/dysgraphia situations.
Could other things cause that? Or even briefly explain what that test was (repeating a word she said or a string of letters or something)?
Many other things could cause this, including anxiety, sleep disorders, attention problems. But learning disabilities are among the top associations, and looking at the overall pattern, that's still where I'm leaning.
Oral language achievement approaches the level found on the RIAS VIX, which suggests that the verbal cognitive ability is grossly accurate.
OK, even though it's much lower?
Yes. It's a different test, so you have to take into account standard error even more so than within test.
Reading achievement is far below levels predicted either by the RIAS VIX or by the WJ OL achievement. Notably, the speeded, fine-motor involved aspect of reading was untestable, and reading comprehension was even further below expectations than word calling. (Keep in mind that a typical five year old is not expected to have much reading comprehension at all, so a low average result in this area in a child with this level of verbal cognition is quite striking.) Also, at this level, almost all of the words read are sight/high-frequency words, or simple cvc words, so minimal draw on sophisticated phonological awareness or phonics skills is needed.
This test was done after about a good 1-2 months of me teaching him phonics. His skills in reading by the time this test was done were significantly better than when I did the original consultation before testing. Sight words for DS are getting better as I'm working more on them with him this year. I started more with phonics because for him, logically following the directions worked better than the system they teach at his school (looking at pictures and first letters and guessing words, basically). He still guesses words instead of sounding them out, and maybe I should have focused more on sight words but last year but I taught him phonics so he wouldn't have to guess and can actually have the skills to read.
Per reading comprehension I'm still a little confused. He should have scored higher by your guess? He does tend to do well with comprehension in school and their FAIR(?) testing, and can discuss the books we read if I ask him questions.
He should have scored higher on comprehension based on his verbal cognitive ability. But he didn't.
Rhyming appears age-appropriate overall, but there is a 23 point difference between ability to produce rhymes and ability to hear rhymes.
IDK if that's significant or just an interesting difference?
Significant. I suspect auditory discrimination weaknesses.
I would be investigating reading and writing disabilities (dyslexic/dysgraphic), with the related cognitive processing areas mainly visual-spatial reasoning, language processing/memory, processing speed, and fine-motor/visual-motor integration. I would consider speech and language eval (especially for language memory, retrieval fluency, and auditory discrimination), and definitely include OT.
Thank you for these recommendations and for all your help with these results and translations! I am very grateful. Can you recommend how I go about finding a speech and language eval (are there special testers for this)? Would a school use them or should I find a private person or a neuropsychologist? I'm setting up a consult for OT (we had an eval last year but in retrospect I think it was by PT) and likely going to start services soon (within a month at the most). I'll continue working on HWT but I'm not certain how much that has helped at all.
Also, I'm not certain if I mentioned in a prior post or this one or not, but DS did have quite a few stutters prior to last school year (5 years old), as well as mispronouncing words (now resolved). I always attributed it to his peers at his daycare because as soon as he stopped going there it stopped. He still has difficulty saying words that rhyme or sound like the /ir/ in bird. They sound like /or/ (sorry can't write them phonetically). Is that another clue or just a normal deviation?
That's more auditory discrimination symptoms. Probably affects his articulation. Yes, schools have speech language pathologists on staff, who are eminently qualified to assess auditory discrim, artic, and language memory/processing.
While the process is winding its way, do lots of read-aloud, with him narrating back to you, to maintain intellectual stimulation and access to higher-level vocabulary, as well as to exercise auditory working memory. And scribe any written response longer than a word or two.
Thank you for these recommendations as well. I do read alouds daily. Usually picture books at a higher level than he can read as he still likes to look at pictures. Chapter books he likes too so maybe I should start a gradual transition as they tend to be more complicated. We also use Myon, a website that reads books aloud on the computer while pages are flipped on the screen. In the car we do listen to audiobooks but only drive together once a week or so. I will start discussing what we read a little more too. And stop making him write so much, instead write for him. I thought it would be good for his practice but maybe not?
I am so grateful to this board. Thank you to everyone giving of your time to help us.
Scribing is to maintain his interest in written expression and allow him to continue to develop language expression skills without becoming so frustrated by the process that he decides he can't do it, and won't do it in the future. I would separate the handwriting practice from language expression and creative writing tasks.
