Thanks everyone for your feedback. I've been slow responding, as I wanted to get some feedback from the Social Worker who has been doing art therapy with my daughter.
First, going back to polarbear's point about visual-motor testing, a Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test was administered. This showed a Copy score in the 93rd percentile, Recall in the 70th percentile, and 76-100% range on the Bender Motor & Perception tests. They also administered a Grooved Pegboard test, which fell within the average range on her dominant hand. She had some problems with her non-dominant hand (placing pegs in the wrong direction and dropping a peg twice), but they thought that it just showed less dexterity with her left hand. Overall, they don't think my daughter has any issues with visual-motor integration.
As mentioned above, our SW originally wanted some sensory testing done, but it seems the place we went to doesn't administer this. Our SW recommended that we go to a place with an Occupational Therapist who is qualified to administer a Sensory Integration & Praxis Test.
As I mentioned earlier, the Psychologist had ruled out Autism based on the Teacher's GARS-3 & Vineland II questionnaires, even though my questionnaires indicated potential problems. When I questioned why no independent testing was done, the Psychologist said that if our daughter was truly autistic, then there would be signs of it when she is out in public. Our SW initially agreed with this assessment, but then researched the subject a bit further, and found that almost all Aspergers research had been done on boys. After looking into it a bit more, she said that some newer studies show that girls with mild Aspergers may actually be able to hold everything together during the day, and then let everything out at home in the evening. She agreed that an ADOS test would be the only way to truly rule out any autistic issues.
Finally, the Psychologist diagnosed a General Anxiety Disorder, based largely on the fact that my daughter drew a family picture with only herself in it, and because her coloring was chaotic & heavy. Our SW who has done a lot of art with our daughter said that she's drawn plenty of pictures with other people in it, and that she's never seen the heavy, chaotic coloring the psychologist mentioned. I don't dispute the overall anxiety diagnosis, but wonder if the drawing showed that my daughter wasn't really comfortable in the psychologist's office.
We will definitely find a place to have an SIPT administered. Would it make sense to start a complete Autism evaluation as well, or wait to see the results of the SIPT first?
I still have a number of other questions as well, and would appreciate any input that others might have:
- I understand that a FSIQ doesn't make sense in this case, as my daughter's scores vary somewhat. The psychologist didn't give a GAI though. Should I ask for this?
- I've read some comments online, where people have said that processing speed shouldn't be included in the WPPSI, as young children have incomplete motor development. These people recommend the Stanford-Binet test instead to get a true measure of a child's intelligence. Do you agree with this, and should we consider getting this test done as well?
- Are there any type of activities or therapy we could get to improve, our daughter's Matrix Reasoning skills? Also, could her relative weakness in this area be a potential sign of Aspergers?
Thanks for your help.
