Wisc Dr. Jennifer Sits Across a Table

WISC

Dr. Jennifer sits across a table from Mikey (the names have been changed in this description) and explains a little about the test that she's about to give him. Mikey is six years old and is having trouble in his class. Dr. Jennifer is going to administer the WISC -- IV to Mikey. She explains that she will be asking him some questions and put some blocks together and some other activities. Mikey is a little bit fidgety and she very patiently discusses the test with him.

The first test consists of putting some blocks together and Mikey has some real problems here. Dr. Jennifer shows them how to do the first one and he has trouble so she does it for him again. Mikey still has trouble so she tries a couple of other designs and then moves on to the next test. Dr. Jennifer then asks Mikey to tell her how to things are alike (like a pencil and a pen) and he seems to do better at this test and like this better than the blocks. She then asks him to repeat some numbers and he struggles again. Dr. Jenifer then asks Mikey to repeat some numbers backward, which he really has trouble with as he can only repeat two numbers backward. It appears that he must get a certain number wrong before she can proceed on to the next test. Dr. Jenifer also appears to be reading from the manual, even though she has administered the WISC -- IV many times. I asked her about this later and she explained to me about standardized administration and how the test has to be administered the same way time each to each child.

Mikey is then asked to name some pictures and he seems to do well. Dr. Jennifer encourages him to try as hard as he can but never tells him if his answers are right or wrong. One time he asks if his answer was correct, but she tells him that he was working hard and that was what she wanted him to do.

Mikey is then asked to match some shapes and he really struggles with this test so Dr. Jennifer moves on to asking him some word meanings. Mikey does pretty well on this test and Dr. Jennifer often prompts him to explain his answers further which he does. I am getting the sense watching this test that Mikey is really good with words but not good with other things that are not language related. She then administers what to me sounds like a really hard test where Mikey is read a series of mixed up letters and numbers and he has to put the numbers in order and in the letters in order. He does not do very well on this test and get a little frustrated so after the test they take a short break. During the break Dr. Jennifer explains to me that the test she just administered has to do with attention and Mikey has some interesting issues with his attention.

After the break Mikey does some arithmetic problems and then has to look at a series of pictures and fill in the missing part. He does not do well in either of these tests and is getting visibly frustrated so Dr. Jennifer takes a little time out and they talk about what Mikey likes to do. After the timeout she has Mikey answer some general questions and then do another test with a paper and pencil that has him picking out a symbol and a group that does not fit. Mikey is getting a little fidgety after this test so Dr. Jennifer takes another break in talks to me while Mikey goes to the bathroom and gets a drink of water. She explains that the basic test is now over and she will administer some other tests to him but will not score the tests and obtain the IQ scores until after the entire assessment is over. She explains to me that the WISC -- IV tests different aspects of IQ including a verbal and nonverbal IQ as well as working memory (attention) and his mental processing speed. All of these factors go into the overall IQ test score and each factor has its own score to determine Mikey's relative intellectual strengths and weaknesses. Dr. Jennifer believes that Mikey has relatively good verbal skills but his nonverbal skills and attention are weaker compared to his verbal skills and this is causing his difficulties in the classroom. She will administer more tests to narrow down the actual causes of Mikey's problems and then make recommendations based on the entire examination.