Information on fictional student for review and practice purposes only

EDEX 790: Introduction to Assessment in Special Education

Student Information & Psychological Report on Barb

Programs in Special Education

University of South Carolina

Date of Report: 6-1-97

Name: Barb Date of Birth 7-5-89 Age 7-10

Sex F School Grade 2

Referring Person: Teacher

EVALUATION PROCEDURES	DATES
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Revision      (WISC-III)	5-14, 15-97
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised; Form M  (PPVT-RM)	5-16-97
Test of Nonverbal Intelligence-Second Edition  (TONI-2)	5-16-97
Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration	5-12-97
Woodcock-Johnson  Tests of Achievement – Revised  (WJTA-R)	5-21-97
Drawings	5-15, 16-97
Achenbach – Child Behavior Checklist	4-20-97
Teacher’s Report Form	5-16-97
Classroom Observations	5-5,  21-97

REASON FOR REFERRAL:

Barb has been referred to SAT several times during first and second grades with concerns raised about her learning, possible attention problems, and her emotional development. In an effort to clarify these issues, Barb worked for a while with the school guidance counselor. As assessment of attention problems was conducted during the first grade with inconclusive results. Barb's grandmother has worked with her a lot at home on school related activities. Simpler materials have been provided that reinforce the concept being studied, opportunities for extra drill and practice have been provided including tutors, the language level of materials has been reduced, and study/test taking/homework strategies have been taught. Nevertheless, problems have continued. Barb’s current teacher noted that Barb has great difficulty recalling information, doing academic work, and working independently. Behaviors of concern noted in the referral materials included that Barb is easily distracted, overactive, restless, she has trouble finding her place, has disorganized work habits, has difficulty copying form the board, is careless and doesn’t complete tasks, has a short attention span, is easily frustrated, and tries to control others. Anecdotal records noted behaviors such as difficulty working independently, inattention, slow to complete work and does not complete work, running in the room, immature behavior in the hallway, and talking during silent reading.

SCREENING RESULTS:

Vision and hearing screenings dated 2-20-97 were passed. P.E. screening dated 1-17-97 was passed. Barb is enrolled in speech/language therapy.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

According to information provided by on a Health and Developmental History form dated 2-5-97, Barb and her younger brother live with maternal grandparents. There is a reported paternal history of learning problems.

Reportedly, there were no complications during the full term pregnancy; birth weight unknown. Barb did reportedly have jaundice at birth. She has a reported history of frequent ear infections during the first five years of her life. Restlessness during sleep was reported. Barb is in reported good health and takes not medications on a regular basis. Developmental milestones are not known.

Barb reportedly follows oral directions given at home. She does reportedly interrupt frequently or have difficulty waiting her turn. She does not engage in risky behaviors or have frequent accidents. reported that Barb likes to play outside, riding her bike or playing with a friend. She likes to play with her Barbies and a game called Aggravation. She and her brother play-act-store, school, Dr., etc.

Her Grandmother reported her feeling that Barb is slower than other children her age to learn and requires a great deal of effort to learn. Concerns have existed since kindergarten. Current major concerns about Barb were identified as her inability to concentrate for long periods of time and not seeming to hear words correctly. reported Barb strengths as being her ability to meet new people, her good coordination in sports, her kindness, and ease with laughter. noted that Barb has few weaknesses such as occasional stubbornness and problems with attention span.

PREVIOUS TEST RESULTS:

This is an initial psycho educational evaluation for Barb. Ability/achievement screening during October/November, 1996 yielded the following results. K-BIT Vocabulary, 92; Matrices, 82; Composite, 86. K-TEA mathematics, 90; reading, 80; spelling, 77; composite, 74.

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS:

Classroom:

Barb was observed in her classroom on two different days in addition to other informal observations. On one day, she was on task approximately 50% of the time, in comparison with 67% of the time for her classroom peers. On another day, she was also on task about 50% of the time in contrast with approximately 80% of the time for her classroom peers. When she was not on task, Barb appeared to be looking around the room, not following along in her book as the teacher and asked, writing on a paper when she was supposed to be paying attention to the teacher’s instruction, etc. Barb did not volunteer to read. She did remain more on task when coloring.

Testing:

Barb is a very attractive girl who was cooperative throughout the evaluation sessions. She was generally reserved, not spontaneously verbal, with occasional eye contact, and somewhat blunted affect. There was an undercurrent of restlessness, manifested in frequent repositioning herself in the chair, wiggly legs and feet, picking at/twisting hands/fingers, and twisting clothing. Audible sighs and yawns were produced. She did not hold her paper to write, despite it moving some, but did hold it to erase. Directional confusion was evidenced as Barb worked some from right to left instead of vice versa. She skipped some easy items on the math calculation achievement test. When the errors were pointed out, Barb appeared surprised. She used her fingers to compute many math problems and tended to not pay attention to operational signs. Several nonverbal items were successfully completed after the allotted time had expired, suggestion a slower rate of processing some information. Long response latencies were evidenced on some of these items, and at times, Barb seemed to need both visual and auditory information. She expressed especially liking to put the puzzle pieces together. Several articulation issues were apparent (e.g., th/f).

About school, Barb said that she had had a good year. She said that she most likes math, least likes reading which she said is worst at, is best at drawing, gym is easiest, and Barb said that she did not know what is hardest for her. Barb said that she has friends at school, her teachers are good, and she does not get into trouble at school.

A right-handed pencil grip was evidenced.

When she is not at school, Barb said that she likes to swim, play with her brother, and animals. Barb mentioned having another brother in Texas who lives with her mother, and hoping to visit her mother this summer. She also mentioned having two cats.

PRESENT TEST RESULTS:

To obtain an understanding of Barb’s cognitive abilities, the WISC-III was administered. The WISC-III is an individually administered test of general intellectual ability, which is typically used to predict a child’s ability to perform in school. It provides up to 13 subtest scores, separate scores for verbal, performance, and overall learning aptitude, in addition to scores pertaining to distractibility and processing speed. Average IQ and Index scores are considered to be between 90 and 109, low average scores between 80 and 89, and high average scores between 110 and 119. On this measure, the

Verbal Scale Subtests		Performance Scale Subtests
Information	5	Picture Completion	8
Similarities	8	Coding	7
Arithmetic	9	Picture Arrangement	6
Vocabulary	9	Block Design	7
Comprehension	12	Object Assembly	10
Digit Span	5	Symbol Search	10

Verbal Scale IQ     =  92              

Performance Scale  IQ   =  84           

Perceptual Organization Index   =  87

Verbal Comprehension Index    =  92

Freedom Form Distractibility Ind   =  84

 Processing Speed Index     =  93

Full Scale IQ   =  87

These scores indicate that Barb’s overall cognitive abilities are within the low average range, at the 19^th percentile. Her nonverbal abilities were relatively evenly developed. When working on nonverbal items, Barb exceeded allotted timeframes on several items suggesting some difficulty and need for longer processing time on such items. Also, she verbalized on some of these tasks and self-corrected several errors as she did so, suggesting the possible need for combined auditory and visual stimuli/feedback. Relative to her other verbal abilities, strength was evidenced on social comprehension of everyday situations (common sense), while weaknesses were evidenced on tasks of general information and short-term auditory memory for randomly presented numbers.

To further assess Barb’s single word receptive vocabulary, the PPVT-RM was administered. This test requires the student to select which of four pictures on each page best show the meaning of a word spoken by the examiner. The following scores were obtained: standard score equivalent = 69; percentile rank = 1^st; are equivalent = 5 years, 6 months. These scores are in the mentally disabled range, and suggest that Barb may have difficulty understanding some word meanings, verbal directions, and verbal instructions.

To further assess Barb’s nonverbal abilities, the TONI-2 was administered. A Quotient of 85 was obtained, at the 16^th percentile. These scores are in the low average range, similar to her WISC-III Performance Scale IQ.

To obtain an understanding of Barb’s visual-motor integration skills, the Development Test of Visual-Motor Integration Skills was administered. This test requires the student to copy designs (three per page)

	Single Ceiling	Double Ceiling
Standard Score Equivalent	90	102
Percentile	25	55
Age Equivalent	6-8	8-1

These scores suggest that Barb’s paper and pencil visual-motor integration test are in the average range, and that she may exhibit some variability in quality of paper and pencil tasks form time to time.

To obtain an understanding of Barb’s academic skills, , Learning Specialist, administered portions of the WJTA-R. Average standard scores are generally considered to be between 90 and 109, high average standard scores between 110 and 119, superior standard scores between 120 and 129, low average standard scores between 80 and 89, and borderline standard scores between 70 and 79. The following Scores were obtained:

	Standard Score	Percentile
Letter-Word Identification	77	6
Passage Comprehension	84	15
Broad Reading	79	8
Word Attack	81	10
Reading Skills	82	11
Calculation	70	2
Applied Problems	79	8
Broad Mathematics	75	5
Dictation	80	9
Writing Samples	90	25
Broad Written Language	85	17

These scores are within the borderline to low average ranges, with her lowest score being in math calculation.

To screen for possible social-emotional issues contributing to Barb’s difficulties at school, she was asked to draw several pictures. Barb’s drawings contained indicators of need for structure, support, and assistance in dealing with the environment, and strong nurturance needs.

What will be the committee's recommendations?
If this child qualifies for special services, if so in what area, and what goals and objectives would you consider?

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