Interpreting ADHD Testing Results | ADHD Information
I've been reviewing my test results for my ADHD Battery, and I was wondering if anyone here had enough information to tell me what a trained professional would see while looking at the data? I'm applying for testing accomodations, and I really want to know what they're going to think and why. I'm also curious as to what parts of the testing actually indicate ADHD. Also, does anyone have any resources in interpreting ADHD tests for people with higher IQs? Or just in general? Seems some of my patterns don't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Thanks!
WAIS-IV
(Note: I showed up hung over and on 5 hours of sleep for this one. I didn't realize it was going to be used for my ADHD testing. It was being done for another reason that I didn't really care about. After interpreting the results, before they found out about the hung over/no sleep thing, the people who tested me said that they figured my IQ was actually around 140. I don't know if that changes anything?)
Verbal IQ: 127
Performance IQ: 116
Full Scale IQ: 124
VCI: 124
POI: 109
WMI: 121
PSI: 122
Vocab Subtests:
Vocabulary: 17
Similarities: 11
Arithmetic: 15
Digit Span: 12
Information: 15
Comprehension: 15
Letter-Number Sequencing: 14
Performance Subtests:
Picture Completion: 11
Digit Symbol: 16
Block Design: 12
Matrix Reasoning: 12
Picture Arrangement: 11
Symbol Search: 12
Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (Standard Scores)
Total Achivement: 127
Broad Reading: 124
Letter-Word Identification: 112
Reading Fluencey: 123
Passage Comprehension: 112
Word Attack: 118
Broad Math: 119
Calculation: 114
Math Fluency: 121
Applied Problems: 114
Broad Written Language: 130
Spelling: 118
Writing Fluency: 127
Writing Samples: 132
Wechsler Memory Scale Third Edition:
Logical Memory 1: 12
Logical Memory II: 9
California Verbal Learning Test II Raw and (z scores)
Trial 1 = 7(0)
Trial 2 = 10(0)
Trial 3 = 8(-1.5)
Trial 4 = 10(-1.0)
Trial 5 = 10(-1.0)
Trial B = 7(0)
Short Delay Free = 7(-1.5)
Short Delay Cue = 8(-1.5)
Long Delay Free = 7(-1.5)
Long Delay Cue = 8(-1.5)
Long-Delay Recognition Hits = 11(-3)
Long Delay Yes/No False Positives = 4(1.0)
Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)
Verbal Fluency
Letter Fluency: 16
Category Fluency: 19
Category Switching (accuracy): 17
Category Switching (responses): 17
Trail Making
Visual Scanning: 13
Number Sequencing: 15
Letter Sequencing: 13
Motor Speed: 13
Nelson-Denny Reading Test Rawn Score/% Rank
Vocabulary: 78/92
Comprehension: 74/92
Total: 152/93
Reading Rate: 312/80
Yeesh, that make sense to anyone?
NO !!!But i wish I could see mine and interperet them.
Maybe you can do a search on the internet and find it with an explanation.
I would no more attempt to diagnose your results than tell you if I see cancer if you give me a mammogram. Only the real experts will be able to put your results into the context they deserve.
ADHD tests can be long and need to be interpreted in context with your life and any other problems or disorders that the specialist can find in you. You may want to interpret your desire to go drinking to such an excess the night before a test as it could tell you about where you are in life.
I can tell you a few things. The difference between your performance IQ and IQ would indicate a learning disability. I don't know off the top of my head if it is enough of a difference to qualify for accommadations but my guess is that it is. You are not performing up to your potential due to some issue, I suppose it could be from the ADD. I would guess with your IQ you were able to make it though school okay because you are smart enough to figure out how to play the game. An IQ of 127 is above average, 140 is high. It looks like reading and decoding might be an area a weakness. There is such a thing as gifted LD, which maybe you are. The doctor should give you a full report explaining all the data when they are totally finished evaluating you. Don't go hung over anytime, thats dumb. Thats all I can make of it Ha, I should clarify:
1. I was diagnosed with ADHD based on these test scores and clinical
analysis. I was just wondering how they knew.
2. I actually showed up hung over on a Friday morning to take a different
evaluation with a different group (it was an emotion-based study I was
in). I didn't realize that the WAIS would be in it, and that I could only take
it once every six months. The actual ADHD evaluation was a different
day, but they had to use the first group's WAIS. I didn't find out that the
first battery of tests actually affected the second evaluation until I showed
up. Ooops.
3. Anyone else have more insights?
O.K. Well, they must have decided by the Kaplan or the California Verbal Learning Test, which are two tests I do not know, because I SURE do not see it in the other tests. Characteristically, ADHDers have poor working memory scores and poor processing scores on the IQ test, with the latter being almost an absolute. Both your working memory (WMI) and your processing speed (PSI) are excellent. In academic achievement, you often see lower fluency scores with ADHDers, thought to be due to poor processing speed, and all your fluency scores are excellent. I'll research the tests I am unfamiliar with and see what I can find out. With the IQ and achievement tests, I don't see ADHD, at all. And I respectfully disagree that the differences between your verbal and performance IQ's are indicative of a learning disability. There only is an eleven point discrepancy, which is not large enough to be problematic. So, let me research the other tests and get back to you.
BTW, you be smart 
.
high. But the no sleep/hangover factor may be the issue (as well as the
fact that a grad student administered the WAIS). notice how much higher
the Kaplan scores are than the verbal scores on the WAIS on average. It's
really almost a standard deviation higher. Meanwhile, the kaplan and
wais are about even for the performance measures. Maybe the Kaplan
verbal is less sensitive to ADHD qualities?
The California tests short-term memory, and I was significantly impaired
on that one. Up to 3 standard deviations below the norm and never
above it. It doesn't show it on my memory tests, but even though I got a
12 on logical memory 1, it was an average between my prose memory
(the gist of the stories), which was in the 90-something percentile and my
detail memory, which was in the bottom 7%. I'm guessing they relied
largely on the memory tests.
As far as the Performance and Verbal IQs, that's the big split. I've got an
18 point difference. And the difference between the subtests is
somewhat large. I have a 2 deviation scatter between just the verbal and
1.5 deviation scatter between performance. Though such a high digit
symbol is odd for someone with ADHD, right?
Very confusing. A second person looked at the results and also
confirmed that it was ADHD, and that I was eligible for accommodations
at school. Both people reviewing the scores are experts in testing gifted
and LD/ADHD students. So what the heck did they find?
Any additional help would be useful. Need to know how to fill out these
LSAT accommodations papers.
As far as the Performance and Verbal IQs, that's the big split. I've got an
18 point difference.
You have an eleven point difference between performance IQ and verbal IQ, and that's not large.
And the difference between the subtests is somewhat large.
No, it isn't. The subtests have little scatter. For example, my ADHD/dyslexic son's WISC-IV, which is the children's version of your test, shows a scatter of eleven points in the subtests of the performance section. Block design was a five (standard score of 75) and matrix reasoning was a 16 (standard score of 130). Scatters of five points in subtests, which you have, are quite common and expected. Also, your scatters between sections are not that large. Yes, your verbal is higher, but if you look at the subtest scores, the reason for this is vocabulary. One subtest score substantially raised the subtest average, which is what happens on this test. It is not a true average. Scores are achieved by how close they are to the norm of 100. It's very complicated, and those who score the WISC-IV and the WAIS-IV use a conversion chart to average subtest scores.
I have a 2 deviation scatter between just the verbal
That's not the way it is done. You look at subtest scores for scatter, and you want to see a substantial scatter of ten points or more.
and
1.5 deviation scatter between performance. Though such a high digit
symbol is odd for someone with ADHD, right?
Can be. What is truly odd is your PSI. I have NEVER seen that high of a PSI with someone who has ADHD. My son's has never been higher than a 8. It's quite common to see ADHD kids with PSI's in the deficiency range of 4 or below.
Bah was thinking my POI versus VIQ, which is an 18 point difference.
That's something they focused on.
Subtest scatter in related and non-related fields is definitely used to
determine ADHD/LD (LSAC specifically requests this information, for
example). Though from what I have been reading, apparently there's a lot
of debate on this as accurate. And 10 point scatter isn't necessary for
ADHD/LD, that's over 3 standard deviations. 2 standard deviations
between related tests is usually enough to raise a big flag, but it's also
not that uncommon among gifted people.
And, to be fair, Similarities tends to be quite low for highly gifted people
(not that I'm in that category by this) because they tend to overthink the
questions and produce incorrect answers because of it. So using
similarities as my low score is only so useful.
I wonder if the WAIS was just administered poorly and under poor
circumstances? (It was just a grad student afterall). It's interesting to
note that my IQ as a child was in the 150's. But then again, if you have
deficiencies, the gap tends to get wider as you get older, right?
I just found an interesting chart for the WAIS-IV:
Average Index and IQ Scores for Various Groups
Group
VCI
PRI
WMI
PSI
FSIQ
Gifted
124.7
120.4
112.5
***110.6
123.5
Mild MR
67.1
65.5
66.8
73.0
60.5
Moderate MR
52.3
52.5
57.0
58.2
46.4
Reading LD
91.9
94.4
87.0
92.5
89.1
Reading and Written LD
94.8
98.0
90.2
90.6
92.5
Mathematics LD
93.2
87.7
92.9
90.6
88.7
RWM LD
89.8
90.1
89.7
90.5
87.6
ADHD
99.0
100.1
96.1
****93.4
97.6
ADHD and LD
92.7
92.7
88.7
****88.2
88.1
A 93 is average for ADHD and 110 is average for gifted on the PSI. The
difference is barely over one standard deviation when normed between
the two. So I think it's overrated a bit as an indicator. Working Memory
was about the same between the two groups.
The more I look at this the more I
[QUOTE=KDLMaj]Bah was thinking my POI versus VIQ, which is an 18 point difference.
That's something they focused on.
Subtest scatter in related and non-related fields is definitely used to
determine ADHD/LD (LSAC specifically requests this information, for
example).
Yes, it is.
Though from what I have been reading, apparently there's a lot
of debate on this as accurate. And 10 point scatter isn't necessary for
ADHD/LD, that's over 3 standard deviations.
Again, that's not the way it's done. FSIQ on the IQ test is compared to achievement test results (performance), and, when using the discrepancy formula, you must have a standard deviation or more discrepancy, depending on the state, to have an LD. States are moving away from the discrepancy model, and state laws are being rewritten, as we speak, because of changes in IDEA 2004.
You do not show a severe discrepancy between IQ and performance. For example, my son has a 30 point discrepancy between his FSIQ score and his written expression score, and a 28 point discrepancy between his FSIQ score and his math calculations score. He qualified for Special Education for a disorder of written expression. He did not qualify for dyscalculia, even though he has this, because he always makes good grades in math class. Just because someone has a severe discrepancy, which in the state of Texas is one standard deviation, does not mean the person qualifies for an LD. Performance in the classroom is also taken into account. According to Special Education law there must be an educational need.
2 standard deviations
between related tests is usually enough to raise a big flag, but it's also
not that uncommon among gifted people.
And, to be fair, Similarities tends to be quite low for highly gifted people
(not that I'm in that category by this) because they tend to overthink the
questions and produce incorrect answers because of it. So using
similarities as my low score is only so useful.
I wonder if the WAIS was just administered poorly and under poor
circumstances? (It was just a grad student afterall). It's interesting to
note that my IQ as a child was in the 150's. But then again, if you have
deficiencies, the gap tends to get wider as you get older, right?
I just found an interesting chart for the WAIS-IV:
Average Index and IQ Scores for Various Groups
Group
VCI
PRI
WMI
PSI
FSIQ
Gifted
124.7
120.4
112.5
***110.6
123.5
Mild MR
67.1
65.5
66.8
73.0
60.5
Moderate MR
52.3
52.5
57.0
58.2
46.4
Reading LD
91.9
94.4
87.0
92.5
89.1
Reading and Written LD
94.8
98.0
90.2
90.6
92.5
Mathematics LD
93.2
87.7
92.9
90.6
88.7
RWM LD
89.8
90.1
89.7
90.5
87.6
ADHD
99.0
100.1
96.1
****93.4
97.6
ADHD and LD
92.7
92.7
88.7
****88.2
88.1
A 93 is average for ADHD and 110 is average for gifted on the PSI. The
difference is barely over one standard deviation when normed between
the two. So I think it's overrated a bit as an indicator. Working Memory
was about the same between the two groups.
The more I look at this the more I
[/QUOTE]
foremost, the WAIS, while a good indicator of LD, isn't conclusive for
many LDs (nor for ADHD apparently), and it leaves a lot of room for gifted
students to compensate for their LD since each subtest actually measures
a few different things and can encompass a student's strengths and
weaknesses at the same time, causing an averaging out.
But also, ADHD isn't LD. It usually is accompanied by significant subtest
scatter, but it doesn't always come with significant IQ differences
(particularly since the scatter may be equal on both sides, causing the
scores to average out)
But lord, my test results on the WAIS still don't make any sense. And
does anyone have any idea how to interpret the Delis-Kaplan results?
If you are determined that you are gifted and have an LD, but these tests are not supporting your beliefs, I suggest taking another IQ test. There are a lot of them out there, and FSIQ can vary according to the tests. Within a three-month period, my son was given three IQ tests--the SB, the Kaufman NV, and the WJ Cognitive Battery. His IQ ranged from a 93 to a 128. If you don't like the test results, take a different test but remember, IQ tests alone are not enough to prove the existence of an LD. It is against SPED law to use only one test in the determination. No, no, no I don't think I'm LD. I got stuck on the tangent and wouldn't let it
go.
Again, I'm diagnosed as ADHD. That particular battery of tests is what was
used to confirm diagnosis. I'm just trying to figure out what in the tests
showed ADHD. Then I got side-tracked and started talking about LD trends
(heh)
Again, I just want to know because I have to fill out accommodation requests
for LSAC, and I'd like to know in advance what kinds of questions and such
they'll have. My WAIS just doesn't seem like much of a predictor of ADHD.Wow. That's a lot of letters, words and sentences.
here's a qualifier:
http://www.webmd.com/a_to_z_guide/health_tools.htm?z=2000_00 103_1113_rx_02