My question is, considering that we're having these evaluations done because of problems at school (difficulty interacting with others, trouble with attention issues, anxiety/panic attacks etc...)could the problems themselves actually get in the way of a valid result on the assessments?
2E symptoms can impact the scores on IQ tests in two ways: if a child has varying strengths vs challenges due to 2E issues (gifted and LD etc)... the areas of strengths and areas of challenges are going to show up as scatter in subtest #s - it may not be something that a parent wants to see, but it's actually very useful information. The other way that 2E might potentially impact IQ scores is if it prevented the child from fully understanding what is asked on the test, or from showing his knowledge, or from cooperating, and when that happens the scores you'll see don't accurately reflect what your child's true abilities are.
For example, the psychologist told me that his IQ test went "really well" the first day but "not so good" the second day. Apparently the second day he was up out of his seat, not paying attention, etc...
When you meet with the psychologist, be sure to ask for the full report with subtest scores. Also ask which tests he took on which day, and try to figure out whether or not the behaviors noted on the second day were throughout all subtests, or were they on a specific set of subtests, or did they start with one subtest and then continue. You can ask at the meeting if the psych felt the behaviors started because of difficulty with answering the questions or if he just felt that ds was having a bad day etc - get the psych's opinion. Then, in addition to getting the psych's opinion, after the meeting, look through the specifics of each subtest where your ds struggled - what was the test asking him to do, how were the instructions given (oral or did he have to read them), what type of output was required (verbal response vs mark vs handwritten) etc.
His "overall" score (I don't have the breakdown yet) was 129 with some sub-tests higher (135+) and some lower.
Scatter in subtest scores is very typical for 2E kids. A general rule of thumb (according to my neuorpsych) is that scatter that is less than 1 SD is normal; scatter greater than 1.5 - 2 SD could indicate an area of challenge. I think most of us on the board with 2E kiddos see scatter greater than 2 SD and often greater than 3 SD.
Did the psych administer achievement testing also? It can also be very useful (in conjunction with the IQ test) in understanding how 2E is impacting your child or what the 2E issues are. If you have achievement test results, look for two things: does the overall average match somewhat with the results of the IQ testing, and is there significant scatter in the achievement subtest scores? If there is scatter, once again look at what specific skill the low scores were testing, how the question was asked, what response type was required etc.
Then you take all of that and review what's happening in the classroom and at home and see if anything makes any sense.
The psychologist basically told me that he wouldn't 'play ball'. He wanted nothing to do with role playing and instead kept asking about the blocks from their previous session (the IQ test). She also said that he almost seemed 'angry' with her when she used toys for things other than their intended purpose. At one point she put a toy soldier on top of a toy UFO and said "Look, he's canoeing down the river." and the only thing he would do was glare at her and state "That is NOT a canoe."
I have no idea what's up with your ds - but fwiw this sounds very much like the ds of one of my friends when he was your ds' age. I hope you have more help from the school district than my friend and her ds did - in my friend's situation, she was adamant that there was no "diagnosis" other than he was his own little person with a high IQ, and he's continuing to struggle. Your willingness to acknowledge there is possibly something more going on and your motivation to understand what's up is exactly what your ds needs - you may not get all your answers from this one set of testing (usually most 2e parents find that each set of testing provides some clues, some answers, and almost always a lot more questions)... but you are headed where you need to be heading.
I don't care if his IQ is 129 or 159. I don't care if he has Asperger's vs ADHD vs anxiety disorder. I just want to figure out how to help him. Does anyone else have experience with this kind of thing?
I don't have experience with Asperger's or ADHD (other than an incorrect diagnosis for my ds and the occasional thought that my oldest dd might have ADHD)... but both of my 2e kiddos have suffered from severe anxiety at different times in their lives. For ds, the anxiety was all secondary to his LDs. When he was in 2nd grade and we weren't aware of them yet, his anxiety became so severe he was not sleeping at home, and having panic attacks both at school and at home. We had no idea at all that there was an LD, but once we found out what was really happening re the LD and school, and were able to put accommodations in place his anxiety disappeared. He's still (and will always be) the personality type that reacts to stress with anxiety, but the key for him was that the anxiety was (is) secondary and it's important to deal with what's causing the stress first, rather than dealing with the anxiety as primary.
My dd8, otoh, seems to live in a constant state of anxiety. We still don't have the answers for her - I'm sure part of it is related to her 2E challenges (she has difficulty with reading), but another part of it is, I believe, true anxiety in and of itself.
I am somewhat like you in that I don't care what the diagnosis is, I just want to help my children, but otoh, understanding the diagnosis, understanding what's up, has also been very crucial to being able to help. For instance, if we'd simply medicated our ds for anxiety symptoms when they first showed up, he would still be floundering/miserable today - anxiety wasn't the issue, an LD was the issue. A 2E child who has anxiety as a primary diagnosis might need medication to reduce the anxiety enough to allow them to work on the skills they need to compensate for an LD. As I'm sure you've heard before from other 2E parents, it's complicated, and it's a journey. You'll learn one thing and find another 18 questions - but those questions will lead to more knowledge, more questions, and on and on. It's frustrating at the start, but eventually you'll get to a place where you can look back and realize how much that initial digging for answers really does pay off.
Hope that helps some - let us know what you find out at your meeting.
polarbear
