Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment WISC-V results, question about school...

My 6 year old son (Severe ADHD-Combined type and ASD Level 2) recently completed a good portion of the WISC-V as part of his neuropsych evaluation. He was unable to complete portions of the subtests due to his inability to attend to the task (he resorted to banging his head and becoming dysregulated, and the evaluator immediately stopped the Picture Span and Coding subtest). While he did complete several different types of tests, I was looking at the WISC-V as many of the other evaluations tested items we already knew he struggled with (working memory, attention span, etc.) It did seem that the WISC-V was the portion that caused the most stress to him.

His scores for the portions that were done:
Verbal Comprehension (VCI)* 118 88 High Average
Visual Spatial (VSI) 105 63 Average
Fluid Reasoning (FRI) 100 50 Average
Working Memory (WMI)** -- -- --
Processing Speed (PSI)** -- -- --
Full Scale IQ (FSIQ)** -- -- --
General Ability Index (GAI) 109 73 Average
Verbal Comprehension
Similarities 17 77 Very Superior
Vocabulary 10 50 Average
Visual Spatial
Block Design 10 50 Average
Visual Puzzles 12 75 High Average
Fluid Reasoning
Matrix Reasoning 11 63 Average
Figure Weights 9 37 Average
Working Memory
Digit Span 9 37 Average
Picture Span*** -- -- --
Processing Speed
Coding*** -- -- --
Symbol Search 12 75 High Average

* Caution should be taken when interpreting the VCI, as a clinically significant discrepancy exists
between (subject's) highest and lowest subtest scores.
** Scores could not be computed, as a sufficient amount of data could not be collected due to noncompliance.
*** Picture Span and Coding were discontinued due to non-compliance. (Self-injurious behavior and emotional/behavioral dysregulation).

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Due to the level of stress he experienced during the testing I am proud of what he was able to accomplish. My concern is that as this evaluation was performed in another state, privately, and without knowledge of the school board, I am now worried that his school will require their own testing and I would hate to have him go through that again.

Based on the results we were able to get, is there any reason that school administration would need to re-administer the testing again? I'm unclear on exactly what specific evaluations the school would require and as it is now summer I don't believe I could get that information. It does seem from what I have read that cognitive testing is generally included. Prior to the neuropsych eval the only testing he had received was the STAR Early Literacy given to all of the kids in his kindergarten class, which I was told he scored "in the 99th percentile". Would those results, as well as the results from his neuropsych WISC-V be enough to gauge his cognitive processes?

If nothing else, you need to disclose to the school that he has had WISC-V testing recently if they say they are going to test him, because the retest will not be valid.

The school district would definitely not need to re-administer the WISC-V specifically, as it would not be a valid administration for at least 24 months after the neuropsych. They might want cognitive assessment, but there is no particular need for them to obtain another one, unless they believe this one was not accurate (which, btw, it probably is not, based on the behaviors you report--but that doesn't mean a second cognitive assessment would be any better, at the moment). If you submit this assessment, they may accept the data in place of their own. If the school requests cognitive assessment of their own, make sure they have access to his history of prior testing, so they don't waste his time and their own on invalid retesting with the WISC-V.

The additional testing the school might seek would be in academic achievement, and possibly emotional or behavioral, depending on what the behaviors of concern at school are. I would note that, if his cognitive testing is at all representative of his true abilities, I would expect educationally-relevant concerns to lie in the mathematical or written expression areas, rather than in early literacy skills, which (as has been documented) would be expected to be an area of strength. At this early stage of formal education, expectations are low for those skills, so it may be that, even if there is a genuine underlying learning challenge, it will not yet be evident in his academic performance.

If his challenges at school truly are restricted to those related to ASD and ADHD, a 504 plan may well be appropriate at this time, though one would want to monitor academics closely. If his strengths are mainly in reading, and non-desired behaviors are associated with instructional misfit, then you may be able to argue that his 504 plan should include adjusting his reading materials to higher levels as a strategy for preventing emotional/behavioral dysregulation.

Thank you for the replies! I will be sure to submit everything that was involved with the neuropsych testing. I will say that the results probably are not indicative of his true abilities, as when he is stressed his challenges present themselves more.

It is interesting that you would expect concerns in the math and written expression areas! He is actually quite good at math, as long as he can verbalize the answer. He loves when we make up word problems HOWEVER he hates having to write out an equation and answer, or "show his work". This is an area that causes a lot of strife when we try to do "homework".

Hopefully his school will accommodate him and allow verbalization of answers when possible. They were already allowing him to shorten his written work load and show mastery of concepts, instead of requiring completion of work.

So yes, you probably want to pursue assessment in areas related to written expression, including occupational therapy evaluation (handwriting, fine motor skills, visual-perceptual skills). And those accommodations you've noted are quite appropriate. They equally apply to language arts, where higher-level reading is usually accompanied by higher-level written demonstration of comprehension. Oral assessment of his comprehension would make more sense for him.