Neuropsych report. Help interpreting. Possible accommodation.

We had our bright but slow daughter do a neuropsych test. Basically showed low reading and math fluency with some processing issues.
She is at a private school so not sure what they will do.
Doctor recommended time and 1/2.
Although some of her scores are low I am unsure what low really is.
Can someone tell me what specifically they might look at.
Thanks.

May I suggest that you make an appointment with the doctor to review the entire report and its ramifications. These reports can be very difficult to interpret for the lay person. You may also need to seek out a specialist in IDEA or accommodations.

We met with doctor but did not have report in advance. She discussed findings and then gave us the report. To go back…more money.

I’m just not sure how low scores have to be or did they look more at discrepancy. Anyone who has been through it?
Maybe concrete examples.
HS student.
Thx.

Your D should have been compared to others on a bell curve. Depending on where she falls on that curve, she may or may not be eligible for accommodations. Does you school have a learning support program? If it doesn’t, you’ll have have a much tougher time getting her the help she may need.

Look for differences in the percentiles of different measures in the report. Yes, you’re looking for discrepancies. Those discrepancies (scores that are much lower than the other scores) are where your child’s weaknesses are. Kids that don’t need accommodations will have scores that are close to each other (e.g. ranging from 50th-60th percentiles) Kids that need accommodations will have scores that are far apart (e.g. some scores around 75th percentile, others around 1st-30th percentile).

Also, does the report have a review of findings and/or recommendation section at the end? All neuro psych testing I have seen attempts to correlate the test results to specific implications for classroom approach, relevant home or tutorial support, and accommodations, such as time. Reviewing that section carefully and then reviewing the report itself may help contextualize the findings, as well as determine what relevant accommodations the school has to offer.

Some neuro-psych testing is more comprehensive than others. While a second full review of the testing may be a significant cost, answering a concise, specific question that came up as you looked at the report may be different. Also, someone at school may have enough expertise to answer your questions.

It is important to stir in your student’s classroom performance, teacher’s assessments and general health/well being to understand their strengths and needs. Does the private school offer any special education support? What led to the decision to test? Is your child able to perform at grade level, but requires extra time? If testing was recommended by the school, they may be interested in teachers having relevant information to support their efforts with your child.

Best with all of this. It is a highly individualistic process and private schools vary widely in available resources. It can take time to sort it out.

Perhaps contact your state dept of education and ask for the child advocate’s office - it may be named differently in different states. When you approach them, try to keep your position as collaborative as possible, since you understand that they have the same goal as you, to help find the best solution for your child’s needs.

What particular neuropsych tests were performed? Did the report contain the normative data? Were any tests repeated to address fatigue? There are many factors that go into reviewing a neuropsych test.

Here is a good website to get you started
http://southcountychildandfamily.com/2015/10/28/how-to-understand-a-neuropsychological-report/

A few questions:
Are there percentile ranks in these “low” areas?
Is there an IEP ( or a private school equivalent) or a 504 plan?
What made you seek out this evaluation?

it is difficult to give you concrete examples that may be relevant to you if we do not know what instruments your neurpsych used. If I read it correctly, I think you have the report now, can you share what instruments the neuropsych used ? and what scores did your D get (you mentioned “low” score)? Do you think your D needs more accommodation than time and 1/2?

I tend to agree with Travelnut. When I did such testing, I’d schedule an hour to review with parents. Reports would always include a list of recommendations. I cannot recall any report less than 8 pages. I’d include pages showing what each test covered and meaning of scores. Sometimes I’d talk or meet with the school,psychologist. I’d answer by phone a specific question. Sometimes parents would call repeatedly with questions that couldn’t be answered simply.

I wonder if your local public school could be of help. They do free evaluations for students, but they might also offer assistance in interpreting, for no cost. You are taxpayers…

I agree that you need to get the scores and get them interpreted if you aren’t going to be able to get an actual report.

Having been through some of this testing with my kids, I can tell you that gifted children with slow processing speeds are not all that uncommon. If you google those terms, you’ll come up with a wealth of information. IQ scores are sometimes recalculated without the processing score if it was low. As for what makes something significantly low - I was told that 2 standard deviations was usually the “rule of thumb” for indicating a problem. (For IQ tests, that works out to be approximately 30 points - but it completely depends on the test and scale used so don’t quote me!) I can tell you that for one of my children, the difference in subtest scores themselves made it completely obvious that something was up. I didn’t have to wait for the final report to know that.

We had variability in scores with low fluency scores that the neurpsych attributed to motor weakness to a great degree but also visual processing, and made a recommendation for extra time in the report even without a clearly stated diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder or dysgraphia.

Her private college accepted the recommendation but I don’t know if a larger public university would have been as helpful.

She has only used the extra time accommodation a handful of times in four years of college but at those times, it really helped.

Going forward I am worried about licensing exams. But somehow their strengths compensate for a lot, especially when the find their niche.

You don’t really need to make the case with the scores if the doctor did in the report. If I understand you right, you have the report, just got it after meeting with the doctor. Especially at a private school, our experience is that the school would provide the recommended accommodations if the report from the doctor suggested them.

You don’t say her age. If she will be needing to ask for extended time on the SAT, ACT, or AP tests, it is more likely to be given if she has been getting extra time in school. She might need retesting when going to college, too – sometimes they want more recent results.

I own a speech and language pathology company, and we do educational testing all the time. I find that almost noone explains exactly what a bell curve is, why it is shaped that way, and how scores in varying areas of the bell curve affect classroom performance. I created a parent friendly tool to help with this, which you can find (free) on our website pacificcoastspeech dot com. It’s at the top of the resources section. I would print out both sides. Lay it out on your desk, and go through the explanation point by point as if you were in the IEP meeting. THEN take your neuropsych report, and plot your child’s scores on the printout from our site in a bright color. You should be able to understand the results a bit better. If you still don’t get it, in my opinion, you did not get what you paid for. You need to call the neuropsych, and tell them that they did not provide adequate guidance. Yes, you may have to pay for an extra hour of help, but with my bell curve and a thorough read of the information on the “back side” it should be much easier for you to understand the results when they explain them a second time. Think of it like a bicycle. If someone handed you a bicycle, and you had never seen one, you would have a hard time understanding their directions on how to ride one. If someone demonstrated how to ride one, and then showed you step by step how to put your feet on the pedals, you could understand the directions much better. One other caveat: private schools often have minimal knowledge of things like accomodations and learning disabilities. Without the benefit of a special education team (like the team in a public school) they have noone to consult with and help them apply the neuropsych’s recommendations. You are essentially the “translator” for the neuropsych’s report, and need to be clear on what they believe would be helpful so you can share that with the teachers.

I think this gives a good explanation of bell curve and scores
http://www.wrightslaw.com/whitepaper/test.scores.whitepaper.pdf