Severe Discrepancy in IQI've seen this happen with a lot of my students with Autism too. I think it's the way the tests are designed: some are a lot more "autism-friendly" than others. I wrote an issue of my newsletter recently about IQ testing and Autism that might be helpful to you: http://www.positivelyautism.com/volume3_issue06/ Nicole As part of her pyscho educational testing, the school psychologist administered The Kauffman Brief Intelligence Test 2. My dd's verbal score was 79 and her nonverbal score was 107 making her full scale IQ 93. I am very concerned with the 28 point difference between the two. It seems to me that the 107 would be a more accurate reflection of her actual intelligence, as the 79 reflects her language disorder (part of the ASD the school says she doesn't have). The school district is hanging on dearly to the severe discrepancy model for Learning Disabilty (which they can use under California state law). My question is shouldn't they use the 107 to compare other test score to rather than the lowered full scale IQ of 93? If they use the 93 there is no severe discrepancy, but there is one if they use the 107 nonverbal. Thanks Tzoya, believe me I know that the needs drive the services and not the qualifying condition....but it really boils my blood to have a school pysch (who has a multiple subject teaching credential and is not a psychologist in the loosest interpretation of the word) say my daughter does not qualify under autstic type behaviors despite a medical dx of PDD-NOS, documented language impairement and continued language goals on the IEP well documented problems with social skills and goals in social skills written into the IEP, simply because she does not tantrum at school, so acorrding to them her ASD does not impact her education. Despite that the OT said in his opinion dd "shuts down" and becomes non-responisve when emotionally dysregulated instead of tantruming as other ASD kids do. All teachers and assessors have noted dd "shuts down" when stressed and becomes non-responsive. Because she doesn't present as other ASD kiddos do (in the school's opinion) she doesn't qualify as having autisic type behaviors. And despite that according to her teacher she is below grade level in 10 out of 19 graded areas she doesn't need resource room help because there's no discrepancy between the woodcock johnson and her IQ. The woodcock Johnson is not based upon California Content Standards so they are comparing apples to oranges. Doesn't NCLB require all students to be proficient. If she is below grade level in all math areas, I highly doubt she will score proficient on the state tests in April. TZoya, I understand that severe discrepancy is only for LD...I feel that my dd can best be classified as primarily autistic with a secondary qualification of SLD. The school however feels she is strictly language impaired. I have been trying to get her resource room help for going on three years. Yet, they say she doesn't need it because her only disability is speech and language. I really was just curious what the normal point spread is between nonverbal and verbal scores on IQ. I teach SDC and quite honestly none of my students have any substantial difference between subsets on IQ scores. They tend to be even straight across the board. My point is a difference of 28 points between nonverbal and verbal surely must be indicative of something, my question is what? Her verbal score brings her full scale IQ down so much that there is no severe discrepancy between that and her Woodcock Johnson scores....(although woodcock johnson is not based on Content Standards so the woodcock johnnson places her GE at 3.5 for math-she's in second grade- yet her report card says she is below grade level in all graded math areas)Oftentimes, the publisher's directions on standardized tests of all kinds give subtest scatter guidance. Some test will be considered invalid if the scatter is too great. This varies from test to test. If you disagree with the results of the IQ test your daughter was given, you can ask for an IEE. The school district MUST pay for the IEE or they MUST take you to a Hearing (and since they would be taking you, the burden of proof for whether the test is valid would be on THEM). Then you can take your daughter for another sort of IQ test. I understand Raven's Matrices typically works well with verbal ASD kids. The school district is only required to bring your child up to grade level standards and even then, only up to the 85th%ile (less than 1 standard deviation below the norm). Since she already qualifies for an IEP under Speech/Language Impaired, she can get an IEP and have all her issues addressed in that IEP -- from academics to functional skills to management needs. Support on the IEP is not driven by the classification but by individual need. The only reason that changing the IEP to Autism would be a good idea is for disciplinary reasons. If your child gets out of school suspension for more than 10 days in any given year, there has to be a Manifestation Determination Meeting to see if the breach in conduct can be traced to the disability. Some school districts interpret this very narrowly and (wrongly) only consider the classification (what used to be called the "handicapping condition.") In the case of Speech/Language Impaired, only misbehavior that is a direct outgrowth of poor speech/language would be subject to disciplinary safeguards. Other than discipline implications, the actual classification is less important than what is contained in the overall IEP (except for NYS, where there are specific guarantees under "Autism.") I am curious about something -- KAB-2 (Kaufman, but not Brief?) markets itself as being good for performance/nonverbal testing ... but I have never heard anyone outside of the test publisher praise it for such. It was what they used on T ...Yes, but the definition of "proficient" is not as clear as you might think. When I compare the standardized test scores to the mass state test scores, I find that most students who score -1sd in a particular area on an individual standardized test score adequately on NYS tests. In fact, there is a type of HS diploma available in NYS that is less rigorous than the "Regents Diploma" and I see kids pass the tests required to receive this diploma only to see that their standardized math and reading scores have them falling in the 3rd grade achievement range. Imagine -- a third grade academic level qualifies a student for a HS diploma! The great fallicy with NCLB is that the STATE gets to decide what "meeting grade level standards" means. Those "grade levels" are NOT measured by objective, standardized tests but by the tests created by the state to measure the STATE's ability to educate students. NCLB is not meant to measure student achievement as much as school failure. And the institutions that are under the microscope get to decide how they will be judged. So you can just imagine how accurate those tests are (NOT!) Depend ONLY on standardized test results. The best way to gauge whether or not a child's IEP is "successful" is to have your child measured using standardized instruments EVERY YEAR. The school district is REQUIRED to show that the child has MADE PROGRESS. In other words, the child is measured against himself. If "more than trivial" progress has been made (the words of caselaw), the IEP has been successful. That is the standard used by Hearing Officers in Hearings. The truth is, even an IEP gives only minimal guarantees. Kids WITHOUT IEPs get even less of a guarantee, so those of us whose kids have IEPs have to be thankful. I know I am. |
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