My son is going through transition to K testing with the IU. I have expressed interest in an IQ test, but they "don't see the need." I have been a little worried they won't do a good job even if they do test him because every test they give just seems to be to prove he has no delay, not to look for higher than average skills. My son has a very mild ASD diagnosis and is 4 years old, 5 in February. He is very academically gifted in relation to his peers.
The IU did do a speech assessment using Celfp-2.
Just some background: When he was 2.5 my son was given the PLS-5 at the dev peds who originally did his diagnostic work. At that time he scored 115 receptive (84th %tile/age equivalent 3.4) and 142 expressive (99th %tile/age equivalent 4.3). They diagnosed him with Mixed receptive expressive language disorder (as well as the ASD) due to "an unusual pattern of language development marked by expressive language skills that exceed receptive language skills."
I'm gonna copy/paste from the new assessment and just pop DS in for his name:
"The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, Preschool Edition (CELFP-2) was administered to assess DS's receptive and expressive language skills and his pragmatic language skills. Overall, he scored in the average to above-average range on his overall core language skills (he received a Standard Score of 110, with 100 being the mean, with 85-115 being the average range), indicating average overall language functioning. All scores on the subtests were in the average or above average range as well. DS demonstrated good knowledge of basic concepts (attributes, size, locations, quantity, sequence), sentence structure (prepositions, verb conditions,
passive construction, clauses), expressive vocabulary (naming), and word structure (grammatical rules, morphology). He was able to follow complex, multi-step directions and repeat sentences without difficulty. On these subtests (Concepts and Following Directions and Recalling Sentences), he received above-average standard scores of 14 and 18, respectively, indicating advanced auditory memory and language comprehension skills (a score of 10 is average on the subtests).
On the Descriptive Pragmatics Profile rating of the CELFP-2, DS scored a 54 on the clinician's rating form, which is below the criterion level of 70. This indicates that despite average to above-average language skills, DS is having some difficulty using language to interact with others. He demonstrates inconsistency in responding to peers' attempts at
conversation and some unwillingness to initiate with peers."
Later in the document it lists the subtest scores:
CELF Preschool-2
On the subtests, 10 is an average score. A score of six or less is below average. A score of 14 or above is above average. On the Index scores, 100 is the mean, with a score of 85-115 as average.
SUBTEST SCORES
Sentence Structure: 12 (average)
Word Structure: 13 (average)
Expressive Vocabulary: 10 (average)
Concepts and Following Directions: 14 (above average)
Recalling Sentences: 18 (above average)
Basic Concepts: 9 (above average)
INDEX SCORES
Core Language: 110 (average)
Receptive Language: 117 (above average)
Expressive Language: 121 (above average)
Language Content: 112 (average)
Language Structure: 125 (above average)
Testing indicates DS is demonstrating average to above
average receptive and expressive language functioning.
Descriptive Pragmatics Profile
Criterion Level: >=70
Clinician rating: 54; below criterion score
What confuses me is that at 2 and a half his language was pretty much at 4 year old level and at 4 it's still testing at the same level? Is this difference due to the 2 different tests being used? It's not like his language development has remained stagnant. It has not. Oddly other quotes from the evaluation include:
"When DS is speaking with peers, much of his
conversation is one-sided. It revolves around restricted topics that interest him, such as mazes, numbers/math, games he invents involving "levels", and computer-related topics.
When peers are talking to him about a non-preferred topic, DS will often be unwilling to engage with them. Often, DS's peers do not seem to grasp what he is talking about, either because they cannot follow his train of thought, or they are unfamiliar with his vocabulary, which is advanced for his age."
"DS is able to incorporate new, less familiar or technical words into his everyday conversations and he uses
long, complex sentences in his speech."
I find it odd that with those comments his score on expressive vocabulary was 100% average. Also, I spoke to the speech teacher after the assessment and he said DS wanted to continue with the test but was told he had to stop because the next section was for kindergarten kids. This almost sounds like they just tested to a certain point and stopped? I know that on the PLS-5 (which we were able to see being administered) they kept going till he got 3 wrong in a row. Which he never did, he completed the whole test, which amazed everyone on the team there. They were especially amazed because he appeared to not even be paying attention to the test and ran around the room while they tried to grab his attention as needed to answer questions.
In the past the IU administered the Battelle Developmental Inventory second edition (BDI II), a cognitive scale) at 2 years 11 months and gave an "estimated standard score" of 95, average being 100. This was administered by a certified school psychologist. I was able to watch the test. It honestly was just some baby stuff, stacking blocks, using a graduated ring stacker, drawing a line, etc. He did not get any items incorrect, and the test was ended after just a few activities. At the time he was a beginning reader, able to do simple math, knew tons of shapes, all of his states, did 60 piece puzzles, and loved mazes. How can you accurately assess intelligence if you don't even get close to the level the child is at?
I know this is probably a rambling mess, but I'm just trying to make sense of everything. It is hard to understand how the IU can just dismiss all of our concerns and call everything my son does well a "splinter skill". Everyone who knows him, including his teachers, are amazed by how smart he is. We talk to him like an adult and he totally gets everything that we say to him and responds like any other adult conversation partner. He picks up on the meaning of adult conversation around him to an amazing degree. There is nothing he doesn't seem to be able to understand. He loves to read and tell stories and build amazing things and draw complex mazes with "tons and tons and tons of dead ends!"
I'm not one to insist my son is intellectually gifted. I think he is 100% academically gifted right now. This may even out as time goes by, I can't predict the future. I expect he will have strong areas and weak areas like most people. But I can't help feeling like the IU is not really trying. Like they don't really care. I sometimes feel like they don't want him to be able to perform at a certain level. On his first IEP they listed his language skills as "above age appropriate", which honestly sounds like a bad thing. Now I am faced with insisting they do an IQ test and risking a bad one or just going private and paying a ton to get a quality, accurate assessment. So, any thought on all of this?
