Neuropsych Testing - understanding the results
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Anonymous
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Received written report of tween's neuropsych testing from Stixrud group.
I'm not familiar with most of this and we are new to this. Besides the meeting with the examiner, how do you suggest best reading through and understanding the report? Do I need to fully understand all the tests, scores, percentiles? There is a lot of information in the report - any recommendation on how to learn/understand what's in there? Thank you! |
Anonymous
| Redact all PIN and ask Claude or ChatGPT. That's what I did. |
Anonymous
| There should be sections with diagnosis, a sort of overview of strengths and weaknesses, and recommendations. Try to get your head around those. You don’t need to understand the nitty gritty of each test and subtest. You could look for tests where your child scored below average, or where there is a large discrepancy between their average scores and the scores on a particular test. When you have the parent meeting you can ask what those mean in particular. |
Anonymous
+1 it's a great first step. |
Anonymous
| Ours came with a detailed narrative that was easy to understand, and a readout with the doctor. I'd expect that for the amount of money it costs. |
Anonymous
No it’s garbage |
Anonymous
| For most of the tests, the average is 100 and the standard deviation is 15. I'd look to see what scores are more than 2 SDs from the mean (so below 70 or above 130) and then make sure I understood the implications of that. |
Anonymous
In addition to this, I'd compare scores and sub scores within and across all tests, looking at places where there was a difference of more than 22 points (on the tests which have 3 digit scores) and more than 3 points (on the tests which have single digit scores. The significance of testing lies not just in how far from the median a student is but also in significant discrepancies among abilities and/or achievement. A kid who has a 115 verbal IQ should not have a 85 in reading comprehension. School will tell you that both scores are "average" (although one is "high average" and one is "low average), that is a significant discrepancy of 30 points where IQ indicates good verbal ability and achievement is significantly below ability (suspicious). Similarly, a kid with a Perceptual Reasoning Index score of 10 but who has a Block Design score of 15 and a Visual Puzzles score of 5 may appear to have "average" perceptual reasoning overall, but actually has an extremely wide significant difference in sub scores that makes the overall average meaningless. |
Anonymous
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Does Stixrud group give a detailed written description in plain language? They were recommended to me since we can't get into Children's for my child's second neuropsych.
Six years ago at my child's assessment at Children's, we got a detailed written report that described the key takeaways in plain language and also had a one hour appointment with the psychologist who explained it. Hopefully Stixrud offers something like that? |
Anonymous
Is it true that if you have at least 20 points between verbal IQ and written IQ that indicates a learning disability. |
Anonymous
No, because you could have a score of 130 in verbal reasoning but a score of 110 in one of the phonological/reading/writing scores and they would both still be well above average. The child might not be as good with text as they are with verbal material, but there would be no challenge in learning age-appropriate material. However, a child with a 20 point discrepancy that puts them into low average for a score, even while still within the “normal” range, might experience challenges learning to read/write. So it depends. |
Anonymous
Google AI says not definitely but needs further evaluation by neuropsych |
Anonymous
There is no “written IQ”. Perhaps you are referring to a discrepancy between verbal IQ and achievement scores that have to do with writing. Yes, a significant discrepancy of 22 points or morebetween verbal IQ and written achievement can indicate a “disorder of written expression” AKA “dysgraphia”, which is a kind of SLD. Do not think that a PP is correct when theysay that a writing disorder cannot be diagnosed if the writing the achievement score is in the average range even with a significant discrepancy. My DC had a GAI of 144 with an OWLS 2 written expression score of 91. Even though the score of 91 is considered “average“, because of the significant discrepancy of 53 points, he was diagnosed with a “disorder written expression“. He was determined eligible for an IEP at public school with accommodations and special instruction in writing. The discrepancy made it difficult for him to express himself in writing at a level that was anywhere close to his IQ. So, whether or not someone is “below average“ is not necessarily a requirement to be diagnosed with an SLD. |
Anonymous
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Focus on the verbiage, not the test scores. Think of it as reading an article in a scientific journal. Most college-educated folks can understand the abstract and summary of findings, but unless you are analyzing the research or doing future work on the same topic, you don’t need to independently validate the statistics and methods. The numbers in a neuropsych report form a defense of the tester’s interpretations, which other medical and school personnel may want to know about. They also show where some findings may be less conclusive and open to the tester’s interpretation. Finally, they give objective measures for comparison when future testing is done. You do not need to become an expert on the tests. Just as you trust a pathologist to interpret a biopsy, you can rely on the expertise of the Stixrud team to tell you what things mean.
When you’re unfamiliar with certain terms, like low processing speed, it can help to read up a little and ask questions in your appointment. However, you will probably need some time to observe your child and see how he/she/they does in school. As you see more obvious strengths and weaknesses emerge, you can read more and seek out guidance about specific traits and patterns. If your child has a diagnosis, you’ll likely want the support of related service providers and/or behavioral health experts at some point in the future. They too can be a resource in interpretation of testing and helping you to understand diagnoses. |
Anonymous
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+1 to 9:00. Also, look for the themes that connect the verbiage and the recommendations listed at the end of the report.
With a well-written neuropsych report, you should be able to re-read it and gain more insights for years to come. |