Hi aeh
Thanks for the input. We are awaiting the final written report. But the preliminary report included the following. We didn't get a composite score, though, for reading/writing. Is that something we should ask for?
The WIAT-III subtests that look like reading and writing achievement were these: Early Reading Skills - 99; Spelling - 104; Oral Expression - 114; Listening Comprehension - 146.
The WJ-III subtests were these: Writing Samples - 106; Letter-Word Identification 101; Word Attack - 109; Spelling of Sounds - 102. Also (though not strictly reading/writing) - Understanding Directions - 76.
Also - On the Gray Oral Reading Test he scored below 20th percentile on all subtests.
Re the other tests you mentioned:
On CTOPP he had too many errors to even be scored.
Beery-Buktenica Visual Motor Integration Results were: Visual Motor Integration 64; Visual Perception 120; Motor Coordination 84. These results are very confusing to me. Among other things, the kid is athletic and coordinated. He's been riding a bike with no training wheels since he was 4, and he regularly hits 45 mph pitches from a pitching machine. And he has great fine motor skills when it comes to Lego or drawing things he is interested in drawing.
There are several other test results, but none with the initials PAL or PAT.
Any further feedback you can provide would be so appreciated. Also can you expand on why the PSI is less concerning for a 6-year old?
The more I look at this information, the more confused I get. Of course I hope and trust that the final report will explain things in detail, but I'm having a hard time waiting because school is already going badly.
I'm getting so anxious even as I type this out .... Ugh.
Sue
You have no composite scores for reading and writing because none of the clusters had enough subtests administered. These are the reading subtests:
WIAT-III Early Reading Skills 99
WJ-III Letter-Word ID 101
WJ-III Word Attack 109
GORT <20%
Average across the board decoding skills, in isolation, below average when in connected text. Both normative and personal weaknesses.
Writing subtests:
WIAT-III Spelling 104
WJ-III Writing Samples 106
WJ-III Spelling of Sounds 102
Average basic skills and brief written expression. Hugely discrepant from cognition, of course.
Oral Language subtests:
WIAT-III Oral Expression 114
WIAT-III Listening Comprehension 146
WJ-III Understanding Directions 76
High Average expressive language, curiously divergent listening comprehension, with one measure extremely high, approaching his verbal cognition, and one noticeably below average. The big difference between the two is that the first task more closely resembles natural language use, while the second requires you to attend very carefully to long series of rather artificial directions. Auditory working memory and attention are important for this. All areas are weaker than verbal cognition.
Math: Appears comparable to his perceptual reasoning.
VMI: I will posit a hypothesis having to do with encoding of symbols, which is the big difference between the real-life motor coordination activities you describe, and the abstract/symbolic designs that constitute the test materials on the VMI.
CTOPP: So basically his entire vocabulary of decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) is memorized, since he appears to have untestably negligible phonological awareness.
PSI: It's the beginning of the norms, and the range of normal development for fine-motor skills is wide, so it's harder to interpret in isolation. But given the VMI and CTOPP results, I would say the relative weakness in PSI is not just developmental.
You have CTOPP results, so the PAL and PAT aren't as critical, for dyslexia. I might like PAL scores for dysgraphia, though.
I would say, based on the prelim results you've posted, you're looking at quite significant deficits that are very dyslexic/dysgraphic in appearance, in conjunction with extraordinary strength in verbal ability, and relative "weakness" in perceptual ability (though clearly still normatively strong).
ETA: You don't necessarily need R/W composite scores.
