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    Joined: Mar 2016
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    My daughter took the WISC-V and WIAT-III and the psychologist said that she suspects my daughter has some sort of learning disability because her working memory and written language scores are so much lower than everything else.

    --------
    WISC-V

    Verbal Comprehension - Extremely High

    NonVerbal - High Average

    Fluid Reasoning - Very High

    Working Memory - Average


    ----
    WIAT-III

    Reading - Extremely High

    Math - Extremely High

    Written Language - Average

    Oral Language - Very High

    -----


    Unfortunately I feel like this test has brought up more questions than answers. The psychologist said that we could bring our daughter back in to be tested for dysgraphia, but I�m wondering if these results really indicate a problem (since her scores are at least "average" in all areas). And if they do indicate a problem, should we pursue more thorough testing?

    Some of the other posts have mentioned neuropsychological testing. Does that seem like it would be appropriate in this case? Where do we go from here?

    Thank you for any insights!

    Last edited by RoyalBlue; 04/13/16 09:40 AM. Reason: Removed Identifying Information
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    Whether you pursue a neuropsych, or additional testing with your existing psychologist, depends mainly on your level of confidence in the current professional. A competent clinical or school psychologist is perfectly capable of diagnosing dysgraphia, and providing you with practical recommendations for school or home. In some cases, however, especially complex or puzzling ones, a neuropsych may be helpful. It is not, practically speaking, hugely different from the kind of psychoed eval that your existing psych would most likely conduct, as it consists of the same core instruments (if you went to a neuropsych, you would definitely want to bring your existing WISC/WIAT results, so s/he would not inadvertently duplicate/invalidate testing, and so the results could be incorporated into the assessment). You can get equally good evals from different kinds of psychs. It's more contingent on the clinical and diagnostic acumen of the individual professional, than on their nominal specialization.

    Honestly, the results you have right now would be sufficient for establishing the need for dysgraphia/LD-in-written-expression services in many of the districts I've worked in. If that's all you need, then you already have it.

    If I were pursuing additional evaluation, not only would I want finer definition of the contributors to her dysgraphic presentation, I would also want to know about the memory area, including whether factors that affect attention were involved (ADHD, auditory processing, emotional interference, fatigue/sleep irregularities/allergies/allergy meds/asthma, etc.), and what aspects of memory were affected (short/long-term, visual/verbal, encoding/retrieval/recognition).

    You might consider asking your current psych what would be involved in additional evaluation.

    Also, don't downplay her intelligence. The level of diversity across her index scores makes the FSIQ a much less comprehensive indicator of her ability. Verbal Comp is a significant strength, in addition to Working Memory being a significant relative weakness.


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    I'm not sure if I have insights but I can say your not alone. This is very similar to what goes on my my DS17. When he has something to say he writes brilliantly but often he has absolutely nothing to say and it's like pulling teeth to get him to put anything done on paper. It's been a big problem because he often writing nothing, or two sentences when a 1-2 pages was expected. I still remember that first week of his pullout gifted class when the teacher got back to me that she was worried it was the right placement as he had only written two sentences on the "lets get to know you" essay the teacher assigned. (I should have taken this as a clue..)


    I didn't pursue full neropsyc testing till he was in H.S. and this was a mistake. But we did finally do this and I'm glad I did. He has low working memory and processing speed and has been labeled with anxiety & LD with impairment in Written Expression. The neuropsyc exam was one where he only wrote 1-2 sentences. The anxiety seems to closely tied to the writing issue but it's not clear if it's a cause or effect.

    What has helped?? He now has a 504 and gets extra time on in class essays, and permission to get extra time on writing assignments. (And with College Board.) Yes this has helped, I'm not sure why. I think he sometimes just had to think more about what he's going to say than other people. One thing in his 504 that has helped with some teachers, is the request that they "reframe" the questions for him. He doesn't respond well to essays that ask for his "favorite" or are too open ended. Often a reframing to make the question a bit more specific is all that is necessary. He sometimes goes round & round obsessing about what the prompt is really asking.

    DS has also matured a lot in the last 18 months and now seems to understands what at stake. I think that does help a bit. If you can't write that essay, you won't pass English & you will never make it to college. And that would be a shame when he is so good at math & science. It's gotten better but writing essays still are still weakness. Understanding what his problems/blocks have helped because I have backed off. De is not taking honors/AP English & Social Studies in H.S after that disastrous 9th grade year. Although the regular classes are boring in other ways it help keep his time available for the advanced classes in math & science.

    And thinking back on it last years Social Studies class/teacher probably make a big difference. While I was a bit frustrated because he got a poor grade in that class because the teacher only graded on short answer tests & quizzes. (Vs. other teachers who used multiple choice tests he would have Aced.) He really learned over the course of that year to answer critically in a way he could understand. I think this is because while everything required writing, the questions were very well framed and to the point.

    Last edited by bluemagic; 03/18/16 02:19 PM.
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    Bluemagic, Thank you for sharing your DS story. It does sound sound like he has similar characteristics to my daughter and it makes me lean towards going ahead with more testing.

    Aeh, thank you for all your information as well! I was a little skeptical that these results showed an actual problem so I'm relieved to see that your opinion backs up that of our psychologist. I didn't want to send DD back for completely unnecessary testing.





    Last edited by RoyalBlue; 04/13/16 09:45 AM. Reason: Removed Identifying Information

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