At Psychological Services, we do evaluations for schools, colleges, and individuals to determine if the student has a learning disability including ADD. We also do evaluations for Disability and other doctors on patients to determine if a head injury includes any cognitive or memory deficits. Below are a few frequently asked questions about these areas.
What is a Learning Disability (Neuropsychological deficit)?
When someone has a Learning Disability, it means that he or she learnsdifferently than most people, and that learning itself is usually more
difficult than it is for most people. A Learning Disability is a condition that
can effect anybody, regardless of age, ethnicity, or gender. It is diagnosed
using four criteria. First, there must be a significant discrepancy between
overall cognitive ability and achievement. Ability is usually estimated using
a battery of intelligence tests. Achievement means performance in some
academic area, such as reading, spelling, or math.
The second criteria for a Learning Disability is a processing deficit. The
brain must process all information that it receives from the senses (like
hearing and vision). Sometimes, a person's ability to process information is
impaired in some way. For example, a person's visual memory may be weak.
This person has great difficulty remembering what he sees. Another person
may have trouble processing the sounds she hears. She may have trouble
discriminating between sounds that are similar, like 'f' and 's'.
Third, the processing deficit(s) must be shown to be directly contributing to
underachievement. For example, it is not enough to say that a child has
"visual-motor problems"; the visual-motor weaknesses must be negatively
impacting academic performance, say in handwriting quality. Likewise, the
person who has difficulty processing and discriminating between sounds may
have trouble learning to read using a phonics approach.
The fourth criteria for diagnosing a Learning Disability is that the
underachievement cannot be primarily due to factors other than a processing
deficit, such as a head injury or epilepsy, physical disability, sensory
impairment (vision and hearing), mental retardation, lack of appropriate
instruction, or severe psychological disturbance. Of course, many learning
disabled children have other problems in addition to their learning disability,
such as low self esteem and test-anxiety. However, these other concerns are
not the primary cause of the underachievement, they are secondary to the
learning disability.
How can I tell if my child has a learning disability?
Some children cannot seem to do well in school, despite good effort and
apparently normal intelligence. Their teachers and parents may complain that
they are not trying hard enough. Other parents are told that their child will
"outgrow" his or her problems. Sometimes, these children can perform very
well in some school subjects, but do poorly in others. Some children just
work slowly, and need extra time to complete many tasks, although they do
not seem to be mentally retarded. Often, parents are told by the school that
their child's grades are not bad enough to warrant testing or intervention.
Nevertheless, the parents feel strongly that their child is not working up to
potential.
Sometimes, parents may notice that their child has weak skills in very
specific areas outside of school. For example, a youngster may have difficulty
remembering what she hears. You may have to repeat directions numerous
times, and may wonder if she is just not paying attention. Another child may
have severe spatial orientation difficulties. He gets lost easily, and when he's
reading, he tends to skip letters, words, and even whole lines. His writing,
letters and words are all bunched together in some places, and there are large
gaps elsewhere. Other children have very poor handwriting, or it is tediously
slow. Some children reverse letters and numbers, when their peers have long
since outgrown this tendency.
Because there are so many types and variations of learning disabilities, it is
often difficult for parents and teachers to identify the exact problem.
Sometimes children are put into resource rooms at school, or given other
extra help, but nobody really understands what is causing the difficulties. A
school may even do some testing, and report that a child is below grade level
in reading or other subjects, but there is still to explanation to why.
To diagnose a Learning Disability, many areas need to be tested. First, a
person's overall cognitive ability (intelligence) must beestimated. Next, all of the
processing areas must be assessed, such as visual memory and discrimination,
auditory memory and discrimination, processing speed, and so on. All the
achievement areas must be tested, including listening, speaking, reading,
writing, spelling, and math. Background information must be looked at as
well, such as medical history, family history, prior instruction, emotional
factors, attention span, and motivational issues.
The testing usually takes about 3 hours to complete. This time is broken into several smaller testing sessions to avoid fatigue.
What will the results of the testing tell me?
Regardless of whether or not a Learning Disability is diagnosed, you will get
a large amount of valuable information. First, you will find out about your
child's strengths and weaknesses. You may already have a good idea about
where the problem areas are, but it is also equally important to find out
which areas are strong. This will be important for planning remediation
strategies, as well as future coursework.
You will also find out why a certain areas are strong or weak. For example, it
is vital to find out why a particular child has difficulty reading. It may be
due to poor phonics skills, poor ability to discriminate between letters, poor
vision, slow reading speed, poor comprehension, or inability to concentrate,
or any of a number of other factors.
Once areas of relative strength and weakness are identified, as well as the
processing and cognitive factors underlying those strengths and weaknesses,
appropriate recommendations can be generated. You will get
recommendations for your child, the parents, the school, and sometimes for
other professionals (school social worker, pediatrician).
Luria Nebraska Psychoneurological Test Battery-a comprehensive test of brain functions which (in the hands of a skilled administrator/interpreter) can pinpoint the location of brain damage, as well as point the way towards effective rehabilitation stategies.
Intelligent Testing with the WISC-III® , WPPSI-R, WAIS III, WRAT III
Wechsler Memory Scale III
Quick Neurological Screening Test
Woodcock Reading Test, Revised. (oral reading list.)
Bender Gestalt Screening for Brain Dysfunction
Benton Visual Retention Test® (BVRT®)--5th Edition
Differential Ability ScalesTM (DAS)
Matrix Analogies Test--Short Form (MAT-SF)
Our three objective tests for Attention-Deficit Disorder- the Gordon System, Auditory Sequential Memory, and the Gardner Tests make this approach the most comprehensive in the area.