James Robinson, Adam’s teacher, referred him for an evaluation of observed interpersonal and academic problems.
Specifically, Adam displays a great deal of withdrawal and anxiety when interacting with his peers and engaging in classroom activities. In addition, Mr. Robinson reports that Adam struggles with academic content in English language arts and mathematics.
The purpose for this evaluation is to determine if Adam has a documented disability as defined by one of the IDEA disability categories. The evaluation is also being conducted to gather data to understand Adam’s educational strengths/needs and determine subsequent appropriate educational programming for Adam.
The following data sources were collected for this evaluation report.
· Teacher’s report (conducted on 02/22/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk and Dr. Jones)
· Parent report (conducted on 2/23/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk and Dr. Jones)
· Self-report (conducted on 2/23/2014. by Dr. Kowalczyk and Dr. Jones)
· Classroom observation (conducted on 02/28/2014 by Mr. Robinson, classroom teacher)
· Informal writing evaluation (administered on 2/25/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk)
Formal assessments administered include:
· Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (administered on 02/20/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk)
· WJ III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (administered on 02/25/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk)
TEACHER’S REPORT
This information represents Mr. Robinson’s observations of Adam over the previous month.
Mr. Robinson described Adam as caring and conscientious, but he is also shy. Adam seems unhappy and his mood swings include displays of nervousness around new activities and/or changes in schedule. He said that Adam needs more one-to-one attention to complete about as much schoolwork as other boys his age
Mr. Robinson reported certain characteristics that may be affecting Adam’s classroom performance.
Adam seems to have difficulty sustaining attention in schoolwork activities. He usually attempts, but gives up easily, when confronted with difficult tasks. His oral responses to questions are stated slowly and carefully.
He often loses his personal belongings.
When seated, Adam is often lethargic. Outside the classroom, he seems sluggish or lacking in energy. His style of motor activity seems slower and overly careful in comparison to other boys his age. Adam generally talks much less than other boys his age. He typically avoids interacting with his peers. Mr. Robinson is most concerned about the way Adam interacts with his peers; he believes this generally impairs Adam’s classroom performance as group work is often required as part of the classroom routine.
Mr. Robinson reported that Adam demonstrates withdrawn behaviors in the classroom. He also demonstrates anxious type behaviors in the classroom.
Mr. Robinson rated Adam’s levels of listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and written expression as average. His levels of oral expression, basic reading skill, and basic writing skill were rated as limited. His levels of mathematics calculation and mathematics reasoning were rated as negligible.
FATHER’S REPORT
Mr. Gallery provided the following information. Adam lives with his mother and father, along with three other children, ages 7, 6, and 2. There have been no significant changes in Adam’s family life recently.
According to his father, Adam has a health condition, but does not require medication. Adam had a recent vision test; his vision is normal when he wears corrective lenses. No hearing problems were reported; Adam’s hearing was tested recently. At night, Adam typically sleeps soundly for 8 or 9 hours.
During pregnancy, Adam’s mother had no significant health problems. Adam’s delivery was within normal range and post-birth ratings indicated acceptable health levels.
Adam’s father remembers Adam as an affectionate infant and toddler, but also shy and withdrawn. His thinks that early motor skills, such as sitting up, crawling, and learning to walk, developed normally. His early language development, such as first words, asking simple questions, and talking in sentences, seemed to be typical.
Adam attended preschool, beginning at age 4. His preschool cognitive development and social skills progressed normally. Adam had no atypical behavior management problems. Still, Adam’s father was not certain if any specific reports/concerns were shared via the preschool staff.
Mr. Gallery believes that Adam has learning problems and has been concerned about this for about a year.
At the time of this assessment, Mr. Gallery described Adam as reserved and caring, but also shy. He typically avoids interacting with his peers. Mr. Gallery said that Adam likes some things about school but dislikes other things. Generally, he tries to succeed at schoolwork, but often fails to finish.
Some things that Mr. Gallery reported may be significant. Adam frequently fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes. He seems to have difficulty organizing and sustaining attention during task and play activities done at home. He often does not follow through on instructions. Adam usually attempts, but gives up easily, when confronted with difficult tasks.
Mr. Gallery reported that Adam demonstrates some problem behaviors at home; these include inattentiveness, anxiousness, and withdrawal tendencies.
SELF-REPORT
Adam does like reading about topics that he finds interesting and that are not too difficult. He does not like it when the “words are too hard” to understand. Topics of interest include reptiles, the solar system, and space travel. He enjoys listening to his teachers read aloud and putting his initial thoughts down in writing on graphic organizers when provided teacher support. He gets “worried” when tasks are too hard. This includes timed tasks, talking aloud in class, and any work related to mathematics.
Adam typically avoids interacting with others. He usually remembers what he is supposed to do. He often has difficulty relaxing. Further, Adam shared that he has recently experienced an inability to concentrate for long periods. He tries to keep his personal items organized, but does lose “things” during the school day.
In social situations that occur in school and outside the home, Adam prefers to play quietly by himself. He has a few classmates that he sits next to during lunchtime.
CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS
Adam was observed in the classroom on 02/28/2014. James Robinson was the observer. A small-group activity was observed. Adam usually wears glasses and was wearing them during this observation.
When compared to another male student who was identified as typical, Adam was observed as having more off-task behaviors. During the 45-minute observation, the comparison student was off-task 5 times; Adam was off-task 16 times. Inattentive and withdrawn behaviors and anxious behaviors were observed, but were not disruptive to others. The primary problem behavior observed was withdrawal. This behavior may have occurred because of group activities scheduled with the other students. According to Adam’s teacher, his behavior during this observation was typical for him.
TESTS ADMINISTERED
Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (administered on 02/20/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk)
Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (administered on 02/25/2014 by Dr. Kowalczyk)
The WJ III tests provided measures of Adam’s overall intellectual ability, specific cognitive abilities, academic achievement, and oral language abilities. Relative strengths and weaknesses among his cognitive and academic abilities are described in this report. A description of each ability is provided. His performance is compared to peers from the same age group using a standard score range.
Adam’s proficiency is described categorically, ranging from negligible to average; his test performance can be generalized to similar, non-test, age-level tasks. Clinical interpretation (with qualitative observations) of cognitive and academic task performance is provided.
WOODCOCK-JOHNSON III TESTS OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES
INTELLECTUAL ABILITY
Adam’s overall intellectual ability, as measured by the WJ III General Intellectual Ability (GIA) Extended (Ext) score, is in the average range of those his age. There is a 68% probability that his true GIA score would be included in the range of scores from 95-99.
COGNITIVE ABILITIES
Intra-Cognitive Variations
When compared to others his age, Adam’s cognitive abilities are in the average range in working memory, short-term memory, fluid reasoning, auditory processing, visual-spatial thinking, processing speed, phonemic awareness, comprehension-knowledge, and long-term retrieval.
Clinical Interpretation of Cognitive Fluency and Executive Processing
Adam’s overall speed in performing cognitive tasks is average. For example, his performance on tasks measuring speed of forming simple concepts was average; he made decisions slowly. On tasks measuring speed of direct recall of simple vocabulary, Adam’s performance was average. On tasks measuring fluency of retrieval from stored knowledge, Adam gave examples very slowly; his performance was average.
His overall ability to plan, monitor, and arrive at solutions to problems is in the low average range. Specifically, Adam’s ability to maintain focus on a task amid visual distractors is low average. Adam’s adaptive learning and flexibility in thinking are low average. Adam’s strategic planning ability appeared to be impulsive in style. During testing, Adam’s ability to focus his attention on relevant stimuli for information processing purposes was low average.