Martie,
I do believe the RIAS was probably given to save money. As I said, they didn't want to re-evaluation her at all as they believe it all relates back to behaviors. I of course became concerned that there is more going on once her behaviors were more under control.
The diagnostician is very nice, and truly enjoyed testing my daughter, but she does work for the SD. She spent an hour going over the report with me, relating reasons my daughter might have scored lower than expected. Basically she explained that difficult child is a visual-spatial learner, and made some recommendations regarding such. When explaining the scores on the RIAS, she referred to subscores on the WJ-III to back up her findings on the RIAS. There are no subscores or anything on the RIAS portion of the report I was given. The report just says the RIAS includes two-subtest Verbal Intelligence Index (VIX) and a two-subtest Nonverbal Intelligence Index (NIX). The scaled sums of T scores for the four subtests are combined to form the Composite Intelligence Index (CIX), which is a summary estimate of global intelligence. A Composite Memory Index (CMX) is derived from the two supplementary memory subtests.
Then it only lists:
Verbal Intelligence 104
Nonverbal Intelligence 129
Composite Intelligence 117
Composite Memory 88
It is noted that the CMX is below average range. It also says that the CIX is a good estimate of her intelligence, but does note the discrepancy of the NIX of 129 and the VIX of 104. Then it says the magnitude of the difference observed is important because, "a difference of this size is relatively uncommon, occurring in only 9.2% of cases in the general population." On another page it says "it can be seen that her CMX falls significantly below her CIX. This result indicates a level of working memory skill that is not as well developed as her general intelligence at this time. The magnitude of the difference seen in this instance may take on special diagnostic significance due to its relative infrequency in the general population. A difference between CIX and CMX of this magnitude occurs in only 6.1% of the population." Then there is some information regarding the CMX and how it relates to visual-spatial and working memory, but in that paragraph again it says, "This discrepancy between nonverbal memory and verbal memory may take on special significance because the magnitude of the difference observed here is relatively uncommon, occurring in 2.2% of the population at her age."
OK, I know that is a lot of information, but maybe that will help you help me understand what is going on. I also know that I shouldn't be extremely concerned since her intelligence is above average, although it did drop significantly from the initial evaluation in kindergarten. I just feel I need to have all the puzzle pieces to best help her since she goes into junior high next year and I would like her to be able to do what is expected and not give up. She already deals with anxiety, although it is predominantly related to school and school work.
I think unless somebody can give me a good reason to believe this is an adequate test of what is going on I may have to ask for further testing.
I will look for the information at the library to see if I can understand things better. I have been searching the internet for information on the RIAS, with no luck in interpreting it. If what I have given you can help you give me a better picture of what is going on, I would welcome any help.
mistmouse
