After our prior trouble with the school district giving DS the wppsi (only gave 5 subtests, refused to honor the calculated GAI, would not print me an official signed report based on the assessment, etc.) we decided to get DS retested privately. The following is our entire report, edited to remove personal info. I'm looking for insight as to what all of it means, since his verbal and nonverbal tend to go back and forth between subtests in a way that makes little sense to me. Also wondering what the test he did really poorly on could possibly indicate.

I'll put in brackets the parts that are non-specific to DS and just give information about the sections of the test for those who are interested in this particular test, as I know it's less commonly used. Oh, and DS was 5 years 10 months for the test. Here goes:


DS was referred for a cognitive assessment in order to obtain a current estimate of intellectual functioning as part of the application process for private school.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

(pregnancy and medical info removed)

When DS was 2 years old, his parents had him evaluated by Early Intervention which revealed social delays and sensory issues. DS received occupational therapy and special instruction to help with social skills. He also did occupational therapy at (local children's hospital). At 2 1/2 years old, DS was evaluated at (local children's hospital) and diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, although his parents are no longer satisfied with this diagnosis and wonder whether he may have ADHD and/or mood/anxiety disorder. DS was recently diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome at (local children's hospital). Currently DS is taking the medication Tenex to help with tics.

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS:

Behavioral characteristics observed during the evaluation revealed that DS was an enthusiastic, energetic young student who displayed extremely well developed cognitive skills. However, he also displayed great difficulty maintaining a consistent level of attention and focus throughout the evaluation. He was quite active and seemed to display problems regulating his behavior. There were times when he shut down and did not want to proceed with a task. He also was extremely motorically active, jumping on the table, crawling under the chair, grabbing test materials from my hand. On the other hand, he enjoyed telling me of things he liked to do such as playing chess and playing board games with his parents. When working on a task that he found intrinsically interesting, DS was entirely focused and able to reason through very difficult problems by talking aloud, guiding his thinking and reasoning until he arrived at the correct answer.

In these instances, DS demonstrated flexibility in thinking and the ability to consider alternative responses prior to giving his answer. In spite of the problematic behaviors, DS achieved extremely well on the Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition, although one could argue that his current test results actually under-represent his true level of ability.

TESTS ADMINISTERED:

The current evaluation utilized the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5), as a measure of cognitive functioning.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

DS was administered the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5). On this assessment, DS achieved an overall score that was within the �very superior� range of cognitive ability (98th percentile) when compared to other students his same age. DS�s Verbal skills and his Nonverbal skills were uniformly developed and within the �very superior� range (98th percentiles). On the Nonverbal subtests, DS�s abilities represented a wide range of variability whereby his scores ranged from the �average� range to the �very superior� range (25th percentile to the 99.9th percentile). Clearly, Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning skills and Visual Spatial skills, and Verbal Working Memory skills and Quantitative Reasoning skills serve as very significant areas of strength.

[The Abbreviated Battery IQ (ABIQ) measures the areas of Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning and Verbal Knowledge and includes two of the most important abilities predictive of academic achievement. The Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning task required DS to identify patterns or series of object and pictures, and to solve problems presented in a matrix-analogy format. The Verbal Knowledge tasks required DS to define words by using verbal knowledge, acquired and stored in long-term memory.]

DS�s score on the Abbreviated IQ was at the 99.7th percentile (ABIQ=142). Given the significant variability in DS�s ability to remain consistently focused and attentive throughout all evaluation tasks, his overall ability score is most likely within the range that includes the Full Scale score and the Abbreviated Battery score.

[Fluid Reasoning is the ability to solve verbal and nonverbal problems using inductive or deductive reasoning. The ability to reason inductively requires the examinee to reason from the part to the whole, from the specific to the general, or from the individual instance to the universal principle. In deductive reasoning activities, the examinee is given general information and is required to infer a conclusion, implication, or specific example. In the SB5, the Early Reasoning activity items requires the examinee to inspect pictures depicting human activities and deduce the underlying problem or situation by telling a story.]

DS�s Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning skills were stronger than his Verbal Fluid Reasoning (99.9th percentile and 75th percentile, respectively). Thus, DS demonstrated an exceptional ability to attend to visual cues and to recognize abstract, visual patterns.

[Knowledge represents a person�s accumulated fund of general information acquired at home and/or school. This factor involves learned material, such as vocabulary, that has been acquired and stored in long-term memory.]

DS displayed a very significant difference between his skills on the Nonverbal Knowledge tasks and the Verbal Knowledge tasks, in favor of the later (25th vs. 95th percentiles, respectively). On the Nonverbal tasks, he seemed to have more difficulty describing the incongruences that were shown in a variety of pictures. The Verbal tasks were a measure of DS�s vocabulary. As such, DS exhibited excellent ability to rapidly retrieve words and explanations from his memory as well as an excellent fund of general information.

[Quantitative Reasoning is an individual�s facility with numbers and numerical problem solving, whether with word problems or with pictured relationships. Activities in the Stanford-Binet 5 emphasize applied problem solving more than specific mathematical knowledge acquired through school learning.]

There were some differences in the Nonverbal and Verbal aspects of the assessment in favor of the Verbal (99th percentile), but DS�s Nonverbal Quantitative Reasoning skills were still strong (91st percentile). The discrepancy in scores indicates that DS was somewhat better able to reason through mathematical problems using his strong language skills than when using nonverbal cues.

[Visual-Spatial Processing measures the ability to see patterns, relationships, spatial orientations, or the gestalt
whole among diverse pieces of a visual display. Activities in the Stanford-Binet 5 include Form Board and Form Patterns, where pieces are moved to complete the whole puzzle, and a collection of position and direction items.]

On the Visual Processing tasks, DS�s Nonverbal skills were his strength, with scores reaching the top of the scoring scale (99.9th percentile). Here, DS exhibited very excellent visualization skills and spatial relations. He demonstrated much attention to visual cues, showed patience with difficult tasks, and showed cognitive flexibility.

[Working Memory is a class of memory processes in which diverse information stored in short-term memory is inspected, sorted, or transformed. For example, in the Stanford-Binet 5 Last Word items, the examinee listens to a series of sentences and then sorts out the last word in each sentence for recall. In research, the concept of Working Memory has demonstrated the importance of working memory in school learning and general problem-solving tasks. Other abilities required for adequate Working Memory include impulse control, freedom from distractibility, attention to verbal cues, and concentration for long periods.]

On the Working Memory tasks, DS displayed an excellent strength on the Verbal tasks (99.6th percentile). Thus, DS demonstrated a wide auditory attention span and exceptional attention to verbal cues. The scores for the current evaluation are as follows:

IQ SCORES

Standard Score Percentile Age Equivalent

Full Scale IQ 132 98 8-8

Nonverbal IQ 130 98 8-7

Verbal IQ 132 98 8-5

Abbreviated IQ 142 99.7 10-0

FACTOR INDEX SCORES

Fluid Reasoning 132 98 9-7

Knowledge 108 70 7-5

Quantitative Reasoning 130 98 8-11

Visual Spatial 137 99 10-0

Working Memory 132 98 8-4


SB5, Subtest Scores:

NONVERBAL Scaled Score Percentile VERBAL Scaled Score Percentile

Fluid Reasoning...19.........99.9................12........75

Knowledge...........8.........25...................15........95

Quantitative Reasoning
.......................14.........91...................17........99

Visual Spatial......19........99.9.................14........91

Working Memory..13........84...................18........99.6

SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATIONS

DS was administered the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition, in order to obtain an estimate of his current level of cognitive performance. Results show that DS is performing within the Very Superior range (98th percentile) when compared to his cohort. There was some variability in his functioning across the various aspects of the assessment. Because DS�s level of engagement was variable during the testing, the overall results are thought to be an unreliable estimate of his true potential. The Abbreviated Battery IQ may be a more accurate approximation. Suffice it to say, DS exhibits extremely highly developed cognitive skills. His ability to work through the various tasks using complex, logical reasoning was impressive! Generally, DS exhibits excellent verbal comprehension, general reasoning skills and
ability to analyze and integrate a wide range of verbal and nonverbal information. Tasks measuring vocabulary development and working memory were also extremely well developed. Visual processing skills are also quite impressive showing that DS is exceptionally alert to the visual aspects of the environment
and is well able to use visual information to solve novel, complex problems.

DS meets the criteria for eligibility as a Gifted student.

The parents are encouraged to seek out further diagnostic evaluation to determine underlying causes for his problematic behaviors.