Help in interpreting school assessment - ADHD suspected

[Anonymous]

We recently had our two meetings with the school and have scheduled a follow up with the pediatrician, but I'm new to all of this so I'm hoping to get some more clarification. Assessment was requested because student was struggling with reading, but tested "highly superior" on NNAT and CoGAT.

The WISC-V was all over the place - 128+ in Verbal Comprehension, Fluid Reasoning, and Working Memory, all 96 percentile and above. But Naming Speed was 9th percentile, storage and retrieval 19th percentile.

I have read posts that suggest that the results wouldn't even be considered valid because of the wide range? The school can't diagnose, but they strongly suggested it was inattentive ADHD. Does that fit? It does run in our family.

[Anonymous]

The full scale IQ wouldn't be valid, or useful. It's not helpful for understanding the kid because the kid is both much stronger than that number and much weaker in different areas.

But the scores are definitely valid for detecting a pattern of strengths and weaknesses that can point to a learning disabilities. If taken together with instruments that measure attention, they can also be used to diagnose ADHD.

I would look for someone who can incorporate those scores into a full neurospych.

[Anonymous]

It does fit with ADD.

[Anonymous]

Could also include stealth dyslexia - our DC with dyslexia and ADHD has a similar profile

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could also include stealth dyslexia - our DC with dyslexia and ADHD has a similar profile

OP here. That's what I thought it was at first and why I asked for the assessment. I was pretty convinced she had dyslexia. But her CTOPP score showed Phonological Awareness and Phonological Memory at 98 percentile. The Rapid Symbolic Rating, however, was 16th percentile. Basically any thing that was timed and took concentration she bombed.

I guess Inattentive ADHD is very easy to miss in girls. Her teacher gave her a 4% score on the Conners test (you have to score 70% or higher to be considered ADHD). I guess they are really not trained in what to look for.

[Anonymous]

I’d be more focused on expressive and receptive language deficits, start with a VB-MAPP and full reading assessment.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think there’s any objective test that diagnoses ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could also include stealth dyslexia - our DC with dyslexia and ADHD has a similar profile

OP here. That's what I thought it was at first and why I asked for the assessment. I was pretty convinced she had dyslexia. But her CTOPP score showed Phonological Awareness and Phonological Memory at 98 percentile. The Rapid Symbolic Rating, however, was 16th percentile. Basically any thing that was timed and took concentration she bombed.

I guess Inattentive ADHD is very easy to miss in girls. Her teacher gave her a 4% score on the Conners test (you have to score 70% or higher to be considered ADHD). I guess they are really not trained in what to look for.

or she doesn’t actually have ADHD … if she is having difficulty reading you should focus on getting her evidence based reading remediation.

[Anonymous]

OP here. She's in tutoring 3 times a week. It's making a big difference. Of course tutoring one on one helps both dyslexic and ADHD children.

Interesting about the Language Deficits - no one mentioned that as a possibility. I'm feeling really confused by it all. Nearly every test is labeled "Very High" or "Well Below Expected". Some of the tests were not explained to us at all, like the NePSY-II. No idea what that is, and results are concerning. I just want to get her the help she needs.

[Anonymous]

Did they administer reading achievement measures? I'd assume they did if that was the main referral question. This could be WIAT, WJ, ect. Those measures have measures of reading comprehension and reading fluency, which could help pinpoint the problem.

[Anonymous]

Also - what was the conclusion of the school testing? DNQ (does not qualify) or something else?

[Anonymous]

They said DNQ because we don't have an ADHD diagnosis from the doctor yet. Once we do, we could qualify for a 504.

But my spidey sense is going off - I feel like we're missing something.

They gave her the Kaufman Education Achievement test. Everything Average or Above Average with the exception of Object Naming Fluency and Math Fluency which were Below Average.

[Anonymous]

How old is she?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d be more focused on expressive and receptive language deficits, start with a VB-MAPP and full reading assessment.

I’d add an EVT and PPVT to those tests.

[Anonymous]

Got it - so her reading scores came out average or above, but she is struggling with reading at school. That could suggest an attention problem rather than a reading problem (i.e., she has the reading skills but is having trouble demonstrating them perhaps due to inattention). The fact that the only achievement areas that were below average were fluency (meaning timed) could suggest a processing concern. Other than as a possible explanation for the reading issues, do you see significant difficulties with attention and executive functioning? Definitely worth following up with a doctor, though they may use the same teacher rating forms that the school did. It may be that she has relatively slow processing speed, which would just mean she would benefit from extended time most likely.