Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Concerned about low processing score

Ds 7.5 took the wisc-iv last week. His processing score was extremely low, 78. It dragged his FSIQ down to 124. She did calculate the GAI at 139. He also took the WJ-III, and qualified for DYS with his total acievement at 146. I feel like this is not adding up. He took the SB-V at age 4 and scored a 140.

The tester was not concerned about an LD, but I'm wondering if I should look into it. She said she got the impression that he didn't understand the urgency, and he is a perfectionist, so that made him go slow.

This topic comes up a lot, and the "perfectionism" explanation is a common one (assuming it's not a legitimate case of slow processing). I'm not convinced. I think the problem is that you have a task where you need to come up with a strategy to find the right balance between speed and accuracy, and you have no reference point to know how fast you should be trying to go (and maybe don't have the life experience to even think about such strategies) so you simply set about the task most likely at a non-optimal speed.

I just don't think it's a good test where the score depends on whether a child happens to hit on the right balance of speed and accuracy.

So I shouldn't really worry?

I just don't want to miss a warning sign, and therefor put off getting help if he needs it.

The trouble is from this test you can't tell if there is actually slow processing or if a kid was just too slow and cautious in their approach when they were actually capable of going much faster.

DD scored 94 for processing speed (she had just turned 8). Interestingly, her Woodcock Johnson writing fluency score was nearly the same, I think 89. Did he do writing fluency? I think there is some degree of perfectionism involved because DD's handwriting on both the coding section and the fluency section looked over-the-top neat. She was trying very hard to do well with ALL the tests and she's too young to think "Oh, this is timed, they are looking for my speed, not at my handwriting" (even though I tried to explain that to her beforehand). On the other hand, she IS very slow with class, in general, even when she's not trying very hard to write perfectly. It seems like writing is not "automatic" for her, when I watch her do things like write the alphabet as fast as she can. We see evidence of the slow processing in real life. And I can also see how she speeds up when she is medicated, because she's not losing focus as often.

FWIW if his school performance is what you would expect for his IQ I wouldn't worry. Keep it in mind if problems come up but I wouldn't stress.

My DS had similar WISC scores when we tested at 6.5. We tested because he was really struggling in grade 1 with writing, average or below average in reading and his marks were not great because he wasn't doing anything at school and yet we knew he was smart. In his report the tester put "probable LD". He's now 8 and has made great strides with writing and reading but I do think there is something there. He has always been the type of kid that needs time to mull things over, quick thinking is not his thing. Talking to him you can see the gifted side but if you look at his writing samples he looks average at best.

My DS also has a gifted classmate that had low processing scores. His school work doesn't show it at all and it is more likely due to perfectionism or a tester giving poor instructions - he was told to "be careful" so he was. His report doesn't mention anything about a potential LD.

I should also mention that "getting help" in our situation has mostly been things like allowing extra time on tests, scribing written work and some extra patience from the teacher. These things have all helped reduce DS's frustration but it isn't like there is a cure or program we can do to improve it (at least as far as I know.... if there is I would love to hear about it).

I'm assuming you mean the WISC-IV, since Pearson told my secretary a few days ago that they had not started shipping the WISC-V yet. (I thought mine had arrived, but it wasn't in the shipping.)

140 on the SBV and 138 GAI on the WISC-IV are not significantly different. Keep in mind that there is no measure of processing speed on the SBV. His WJIII achievement scores are also quite consistent. So from a global perspective, I wouldn't see any reason to question the validity of the results, nor to be overly concerned about academic progress. I would agree that the place to look would be the fluency measures on the WJIII. If they are equally low, then I would be more concerned. If they are at least high average (110+), I would be less concerned.

Do you observe any behaviors in school or at home that would be consistent with slow processing speed, visual/fine-motor weaknesses, or impaired automaticity?

Yes, I definitely observe behaviors! I should mention he is homeschooled, so we've been working around his speed and attention issues. He's a daydreamer, he has a hard time focusing, unless it's hyper focus.

His fluency scores on the WJ were all over 100, his lowest being writing fluency at 107.

His WJ-III scores,
Broad reading, 144
broad math, 135
broad written 140
academic skills 152
total achievement 146

I guess I was thinking his scores on the WISC (And yes, it was the IV, I must have missed the I when I typed this last night!) would be a little higher, I didn't think it would come out to DYS 145, but I thought he'd get closer. I was planning on doing the portfolio with the WJ-III, but at this point, I don't know that I'd even apply, since he seems more moderately gifted than profoundly according to his IQ. I probably need to read more about the requirements and characteristics of different levels of gifted kids.

Thanks for all of your help everyone! It was suggested that he be medicated for ADD (he's not hyperactive, just spacey. :))when he was around 5, but I felt it was too young, so now I'm just sensitive about this, in case I made the wrong choice!

What was his block design score? Was it much lower than the other PRI scores?

First of all, you clearly have done an excellent job with him, based on his achievement scores. (In fact, there is peer-reviewed research that finds that homeschooling parents can have as good academic outcomes with ADHD and LD children as master's level special educators.)

Secondly, whether or not he is diagnosable as having ADHD, medication is not the only treatment. Nor is it necessarily a bad thing. That's a decision that I would encourage families to make holistically, taking into consideration the needs and well-being of both your individual child and your family system. It's also not an either-or decision. The majority of psychostimulants are short-acting; I know many students who take them only during school hours, but not at night, on weekends, or during school breaks. If his attentional dysregulation interferes with his major life functions or happiness, then it becomes a problem. Otherwise, it's just one aspect of who he is. He's also still very young. Given opportunities to learn and be reinforced for skills in managing his attention, his brain has time to develop the neurocognitive skills further.

To your original PSI question: attentional dysregulation is most certainly associated with low processing speed. These are minimally-engaging rote tasks, without particular intrinsic meaning. Sustained attention for them can be quite challenging for ADHD-ish kids. With WJ fluency scores no lower than 107, I would not be particularly concerned about LD, as the inattention could easily explain the PSI. Were Coding and Symbol Search about the same?