What was his block design score? Was it much lower than the other PRI scores?
Not the OP but DD's block design score was 16. It was lower than the 18-19 (without extended norms) that she scored on Picture Concepts and Matrix Reasoning, but it seems like with her slow processing speed that score should have been lower. The slow processing speed does not seem to apply to visual spatial tasks (with her). And I'm not sure how to explain why this would be the case.
There are most likely many different reasons that could be the case, but fwiw here's one example - my dysgraphic ds has the dip in processing speed scores (for him coding is the severe discrepancy), but he ceilinged block design - didn't miss any of the questions. If I understand the block design subtest correctly, it involves manipulating blocks to repeat designs, and there is no handwriting involved. Processing speed is made up of two subtests - coding and symbol search. Symbol search relies on the ability to pick objects out of a random crowded visual field, and coding requires the student to copy a symbol using a pencil. Coding relies on fine-motor skills, symbol search relies on visual skills. Looking at how the actual processing subtest scores break down can help give a clue to why the overall processing score is low, and depending on the scores might help determine whether or not there's a reason to look further.
She has a very good grasp of concepts but is very slow with doing actual calculations.
I'd want to know here - is she slow with the actual calculations, or is she slow with putting them on paper? My dysgraphic ds is really good at math - it's definitely one of his strong set of skills. He's not a super-fast calculator, but he isn't horribly slow either. However, it *does* take him a very long time to write his math calculations down on paper.
polarbear
