Frieda is a 12 year-old student with global delays. She has been served in a variety of special education settings. Her parents are very educated and advocate for her and other children with disabilities. Frieda is about to enter the sixth grade and her parents want to begin a more functional curriculum for her. Their major concerns are independence and social acceptance while at the same time gaining as many academic skills as possible.
Frieda is a very likable student and gets along well with teachers and peers. As she gets older her parents realize that social acceptance will become more of a concern. Especially, as she gets into junior and senior high school, peer relationships will be harder to maintain. Frieda has functional abilities ranging from 3 to 5 years with some social skills up to about 6 or 7. She has limited verbal language abilities but is able to communicate through signs and gestures. She recently starting using a communication board and it has helped with schoolwork.
Her parents are concerned that too much time is spent repeating the same work that she has done for several years. For example, Frieda has demonstrated that she can distinguish between colors and shapes. Worksheets sent home consistently have her completing these skills. She has been working on writing her name and can complete her first and part of her last name. She can identify letters and numbers up to 20. They would like for her to develop functional reading skills so she can recognize appropriate places like restrooms, and persons who can assist her like police and fireman. They are also interested in her learning basic mathematic skills, understanding money, etc. Socially they want to her continue being friendly but be able to understand who to trust and who not to trust. Finally they are concerned as she goes through puberty that she learn the appropriate hygiene and social skills of an adolescent.
Several evaluations were preformed on Frieda , including two behavioral observations; a speech/language checklist; a hearing and vision screening; a Conner’s’ Teacher Rating Scale; a Conner’s’ Parent Rating Scale; the Wechsler Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WISC-III); the Woodcock-Johnson II Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH); and an Adaptive Behavior Inventory (ABI).
According to the WISC-III Intelligence Test Frieda’s Full Scale IQ of 44 exceeds <0.1 percent of her normative age group, thus she is considered below average for her age in her cognitive ability.
The WISC-III Verbal Scale IQ of 50 again corresponds to a percentile ranking of <0.1 and suggests below average verbal skills for her age. The Verbal Scale measures verbal comprehension, including application of verbal skills and information to the solution of new problems, ability to process verbal information, and ability to think with words. It provides information on language processing, reasoning, attention, verbal learning, and memory.
Frieda’s nonverbal skill IQ of 46 is also in the percentile ranking of <0.1 and below average for her age, according to the WISC-III Performance Scale. This test measures perceptual organization, including the ability to think in visual images and to manipulate these images with fluency and relative speed, to reason without the use of words (in some cases,) and to interpret visual material quickly,
The four point discrepancy in favor of Frieda’s WISC-III Verbal Scale IQ is not statistically significant at the .05 probability level and suggests in this respect that she functions on about the same level whether expressing herself verbally or dealing with concrete objects in problem solving situations.
Frieda’s academic achievement skills in reading, math, and writing were consistent with the other tests scores with a percentile ranking of <0.1, suggesting below average school achievement compared to her peers. Her reading comprehension was scored at 26, her math calculation skills at 26, and there is no score at all for the written expression because she refused to do it.
Frieda’s behavior characteristics and adaptive behavior were measured on the Connors’ Rating Scale, by both her special education teacher and her grandmother. She showed abnormal scores in such areas as A. oppositional, B. cognitive problems/inattention, D. anxious-shy, F. social problems, and other areas of inattention.
Frieda also took an Adaptive Behavior Inventory or ABI. Her ranking was at 4 or below in all areas of social skills, where a ranking of 5 is considered a weakness.
All of these tests can be affected by such factors as motivation, interests, cultural opportunities, natural endowment, attention span, and the ability to process verbal information. As noted in some of Frieda’s behavioral observations a lack of motivation and interest may have very well affected her scores.
