First, we'll get out of the way the caveat that all of the measures were essentially screening measures. Secondly, yes, the RIAS can skew high.
That being said, you do have some data that suggests a possible 2nd e (even if we assume that the RIAS numbers are slightly inflated).
1. There is a notable difference between her achievement in language arts (high average) and her verbal intelligence (Very Superior/Extremely High).
2. There is a notable difference between her verbal memory (average) and her verbal intelligence.
Questions:
1. Do you see evidence of language memory or processing difficulties IRL? It sounds like something has made you suspicious in this area.
2. Was a second exceptionality (LD or other disability) explicitly part of the referral question for this eval? If not, there is no particular reason the school would have included the relevant testing. The finding about verbal memory weaknesses appears to be an incidental one, which was possible mainly, I imagine, because the RIAS has memory screeners on the same form, so they were available for the evaluator to follow up on a clinical observation. Or maybe s/he does them routinely, when using the RIAS.
Suggestions:
1. If you are still unsatisfied with the data on a possible 2e, then it would make sense to pursue a comprehensive evaluation.
2. There are pros and cons to doing so privately vs through the PS.
a. PS pros:
- free
- more likely to obtain qualitative data from teachers
- more likely to conduct a classroom observation
b. private pros:
- you are the client: evaluators answer your referral questions, which may have to do with areas in addition to strict special education eligibility, which is the focus of school evals, in most cases.
- sometimes have access to certain test instruments that are too expensive for schools to purchase, especially direct assessments of ADHD and executive function.
- sometimes have connections to other service providers (if you go through a hospital), such as auditory processing evaluators (audiologists).
3. One option is to begin with a school-based eval, for the basics (WISC-V and achievement, such as WIAT-III, KTEA-3, or WJIV), then bump up to a clinic-based eval for additional testing, if warranted.
4. Some prefer to have the entire eval done privately, so it's all completed by the same team.
Disclosure: I'm a school psychologist, so I have a little bias toward beginning with school-based evals.
