Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Question About Processing Speed

Hello,
Our son recently saw a psychologist for anxiety possible ASD issues, and one of the things the psych did was give him an IQ test (WISC V). He'd had one a few years ago (WISC IV) and scored high verbal, high perceptual reasoning and average working memory and processing speed.

I was surprised by the results, which were:
Verbal-136-99%
Visual Spatial-126-96%
Fluid Reasoning-128 99%
Working Memory-132-98%
Processing Speed-80-9%
FSIQ 129 (137*) 97(99*)
*Prorated score because of processing discrepancy

The subtests for processing speed were:
Coding-7
Symbol Search-6

I was concerned about the processing speed, because it seemed to point toward an underlying issue I was not aware of, and the psych brought up occupational therapy.

After thinking about this for a while, I asked my son, and he said he didn't know he was timed. I downloaded a sample coding exercise from the web, and I took it and then he took it, and his scores did not seem to be particularly bad compared to mine.

How would I approach this with the psych without sounding like a defensive parent? Could I ask the psych to administer a alternate subtest (cancellation) just to see if there was some kind of error? The test was not for any particular purpose, but schools will see it if we apply to middle schools. Or are there some other ways I could determine if there is an underlying issue or not?

Thanks!

I have a kid that we've tested twice. The first time his processing speed was 9th%ile, the second time a couple years later it was 13th%ile. For him in real life we can see that it is an issue. He is a slow writer and has and LD in written expression so he uses a laptop/chromebook/iPad at school for most writing assignments. OT wasn't recommended in our case and I don't think it is motor skill related so we haven't pursued it (but then again I'm not an expert).

If you aren't seeing issues in real life I don't know that I'd be super concerned. Given that his first WISC scores didn't pick it up that would also be a good sign.

We used our DS's scores to apply for a gifted program and he was accepted without a problem but obviously different programs are looking for different things. In our case it wouldn't be a good fit if they actually wanted high processing. If that is a concern then it might be worth asking. I'm also kind of surprised they didn't calculate a GAI since I'm guessing it would be higher than his FSIQ.

suelyon,

The gap you're seeing now with processing speed is larger, but there was also a gap the first time he was tested, when processing speed and wm were average, and other scores were higher. That leads me to suspect that there's something more going on than simply not realizing the processing speed subtests are timed.

What were the reasons you suspected ASD? And you're seeing signs of anxiety? It's possible that whatever is the reason for the gap in processing speed is causing anxiety - that's how we found out our ds was 2e - not because we saw clearly the signs of the actual exceptionality, but because he was having severe anxiety. He was referred to a neuropsych because of the anxiety, discrepancies such as you've noted showed up in his WISC, and additional testing pinpointed what was at the root of his challenge. Once we understood what was going on and had accommodations in place at school his anxiety went away.

What was the reason the psych gave for recommending OT? Did he note fine motor issues? Did he do any further testing in addition to the WISC?

My suggestion is to put together all the questions you have and call the psych up with them. Ask the psych if he thinks that there's a possibility that your ds not realizing the test was timed would have impacted his score - but I'm guessing that's not the only question you have, and asking it along with other questions makes it look less like a mom just wanting to raise her child's score. Plus... jmo, I think there's quite possibly something to the dip in score, since it's a pattern that was noted in his previous testing. I wouldn't worry about it looking negative when you're using his scores to access gifted programs - you may need to be able to explain it and advocate because of it, but if you understand what's behind it, that's very doable.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Hi,
We suspected ASD because our son is very introverted and showed some signs of ASD like lack of eye contact and sometimes pedantic tone. However, the psych evaluation was inconclusive for ASD. Our son is only introverted and not with us, but more so at school and in new social situations. At home and in situations where he is comfortable he is gregarious, funny and extremely loving. He does not have other signs of ASD, including obsessive interests, stimming, etc...

The psych said maybe ASD or maybe social anxiety...maybe...and wants to try a trial of an SSRI, which we are not comfortable with because our son is not depressed. He is often anxious, though. He worries about big problems like something hitting Earth or that the house might fall down. He's very afraid of bugs and the dark. But he doesn't worry about school, and doesn't seem worried about social situations. He just doesn't have much interest in having many friends and he's annoyed by loud, boisterous kids. I'm just not sure I want to go to medication straight away.

The WRAML 2 was administered as well as the IVA-Plus Continuous Performance Task. I'm not familiar with these tests, but it looks like he scored highly on the WRAML 2 and fairly well on the IVA-Plus. I think they evaluate memory?

We did talk to the psych about why the processing speed was so low and she was not sure and suggested OT and concentrating on typing rather than writing. But his handwriting is quite good. So? We are doing some acheivement testing to follow up. In the past, our son has never scored that well on achievement tests compared to his 'potential' according to the WISC, even untimed tests. This has always been something I was confused about because I know he knows a lot. It's possible there is some connection, but I am not sure what.

Yes, it is possible there is some connection between his history of poorer achievement testing and his history of lower processing speed scores. Among other things, processing speed is associated with automaticity, which is one of the core deficits in quite a number of learning disabilities.

It sounds like the social anxiety direction is one that is worth investigating further. Keep in mind that psychotropics are not the only way to go. CBT and related talk therapies have a track record nearly indistinguishable from anxiolytics, when implemented with fidelity. That would be a very reasonable place to start from in a child who is not severely incapacitated by anxiety.

The WRAML2 is a measure of memory. Did he do any differently on the verbal and visual measures? Some of the visual measures are also affected by fine motor skills.

The IVA is an executive function test, usually used for ADHD, that assesses attention and impulsivity.

I think additional testing, including achievement testing, is a good plan. I would want to tease out fine motor (OT) vs anxiety (or it could have been both on this round of testing), other visual skills (e.g., tracking), and subtle language processing deficits (weaknesses in pragmatic language are not found solely in ASD). Including measures of fluency in the achievement testing may help to clarify the impact of fine-motor/processing speed on academics.

Having good handwriting does not preclude typed response as an appropriate accommodation. Some dysgraphics have very beautiful handwriting, when that is all they are doing, but then have insufficient mental processing power left for other important tasks, such as spelling, and expressing ideas through language.

BTW, although not knowing that the tasks were timed is a legitimate possibility in his PSI scores, I should note that the standard directions say, "work as fast as you can without making mistakes until I tell you to stop," and the examiner says, "go," when the timer is started, so there are fairly obvious cues that the vast majority of students understand to mean speed is a factor. So not realizing that he was supposed to go quickly is also clinically significant data, probably related to pragmatic language.

On the WRAML2 all scores were between 94 and 99. There was not a significant difference between verbal and visual measures.

Yes, I would prefer to go with therapy before starting on medication. I just don't feel comfortable giving my child antidepressants when he is a pretty happy kid.

This all sounds very confusing! I have an appointment with his pediatrician, so I will address this with the pediatrician as well. I went in to see the psychologist out of concern about the social stuff, but I feel like I opened up a bag of worms.

Hm. Is that 94 - 99 standard scores, or percentiles? Because if those are standard scores, that would concern me a bit. The WRAML2 scores should be a lot closer to the WISC-V WMI. (Of course, if those are percentiles, then never mind!) May I ask what his WMI and WRAML2 subtest scores were? (I.e., WMI subtest scores, and which WRAML2 subtests were given.)

While I do understand the wish not to medicate the most noticeable effect of SSRI's for me is reduced obsessive worrying and stress dreams.

Those are percentiles.

Immediate memory 133/99%
Verbal memory 126/96%
Visual memory 127/96%
Attention Concentration 123/94%
Recognition scales 132/98%
Verbal Recognition 132/98%
Visual recognition 128/97%

IVA-Plus
Auditory-84%
Visual-92%

His fine motor skills are actually excellent.

Puffin, I do understand. I am not against SSRI medication, but I would prefer not to use it in my child unless he was deeply unhappy.

All excellent scores. So that looks like there are no concerns with memory or attention. It's just those two timed tasks--and they are the only two significantly speeded tasks in the battery, as you've listed it (though some of the VSI and FRI tasks do have time limits).