CRITICAL INFORMATION ABOUT TESTING FOR:DYSLEXIA, LEARNING DISABILITIES AND ADHDIfyouhavehadpriortestsandweretoldyoudidnothavedyslexia,learningdisabilities,ADHDorADD,yetyoususpectyoudo haveoneoftheseconditions,youmayfinditbeneficialtohaveadiagnosticinterviewandhaveyourtestresultsreviewed.A diagnostic interview can be arranged with Dr. Smith through the Michigan Dyslexia Institute.Problems with IQ Testing:Traditionally,theprincipalmethodofdiagnosinglearningdisabilities,suchasdyslexia,hasbeentocomparemeasured intelligenceandachievementlevelsuchasreading.Itisexpectedthatthereadingscoreforinstance,willbesignificantlybelow theIQscoreifdyslexiaispresent.Otherfactorsarealsoconsidered,buthecenterpiecetodiagnosisisthisdiscrepancyin scores. However, there are serious problems with this approach that are frequently not considered in a diagnostic evaluation.First,theconceptofintelligencebeingasingleabilityaccuratelyrepresentedbyasinglescoresuchasIQhasbeenseriously challengedbyresearch.TheoverallfunctioningthatisrepresentedbyIQisactuallytheresultofatleastfour,(andpossibly more)separatecognitiveabilities.Thearemostcommonlyidentifiedasverbalreasoning,nonverbalreasoning,workingmemory andprocessingspeed.Whentheseareallfunctioningatthesamelevel,thenasinglescoresuchastheIQcanberegardedas validlyrepresentingaperson'sintelligence.However,Itisnotuncommonforpeoplewithlearningdisabilitiestohavevery unevenfunctioninginthesefourareas,perhapsrangingfromverylowtoveryhigh.Consequently,achildoradult'sreasoning andlearningabilitiesmaybemuchhigherthanwhatisreflectedintheIQscore.Unfortunately,itisthelowerIQscorethatis oftenusedincalculatingthediscrepancybetweenabilityandachievementsuchasreadingresultinginadiscrepancythatis deemedwithinnormallimits.Consequently,thelearningdisabilitythatisactuallypresentisnotdetected.Failingtodetecta problem that is actually present is called a false negative. Thereareadditionalconsequencesinnotproperlyinterpretingintelligencetests.Workingmemoryandprocessingspeedare consideredaspectsofattentionandarecloselyassociatedwithsometypeofattentiondeficitdisorder.Impairmentsinthese areasstronglysuggeststhatanevaluationforADHDorADDisinorder.RelyingonthetraditionalIQscoremaymaskactual impairmentsandresultinfailuretodetectaproblem,wheninfactaproblemispresent.Againafalsenegative.Thiscanalso resultinseriousundermeasurementofactualabilityorpotential.Unfortunatelymanypsychologistsareonlytrainedtousethe traditional IQ score and ignore indications that a traditional IQ score is invalid. Problems with Testing of Reading:Automaticityisacquiredinthelatterstageofreadingacquisitionwhendecodingofwordsisautomaticandthereforerapid, whichallowsmorementalresourcestobedirectedtothetaskofreadingcomprehension.Automaticityisnecessaryforpractical readingtypicalnon-dyslexicreaders.However,theextrastepsandmentaleffortthedyslexicreadermustusetoperformbasic decodingcontinuestoreflecttheongoinginterferencethattheirdyslexiahaswithpracticalreading.Mostreadingteststhatare usedtoevaluatefordyslexiaareuntimedanddonotrequireAutomaticityofdecodingandwilloftenfailtodetectthepresence ofdyslexiainapersonwhohashadsubstantialremediation.Peoplewithdyslexiawhohavehadsubstantialamountofremedial readinginstructioncanoftenperformwellontheseuntimedtests.Consequently,itisimportanttoadministerreadingteststhat requireAutomaticityofdecodingfortheevaluationtohaveareasonablechanceofdetectingdyslexia.Unfortunately,suchtests areoftennotincludedinanevaluation,whichmayresultinafalsenegativediagnosticconclusion.ProblemswithADHDorADD testing:ThereisconsiderablecontroversyatthepresenttimeoverwhatarethecoresymptomsofADHDorADD.ADD,whichis ADHD,PredominantlyInattentiveType,isparticularlydifficulttodiagnosebecausehyperactivityorimpulsivenessarenotthe primarysymptoms.PeoplewithADDarenotdisruptiveandareoftenwellbehavedinclassrooms.Theirsymptomsinvolve internal,silentproblemsofmentalprocessingofinformationthatresultsinpooracademicperformance.Becausetheir symptomsarenotreadilynoticedbyobservers,theirconditionoftengoesundetecteddespitethesuspicionthatsomethingis justnotright.Becauseofthecontroversyregardingthecoresymptomsandthedifficultydetectingsymptomsevaluationsoften resultinfalsenegativeswheninfactthereisaproblem.Evaluationsrequireacarereviewofalltests,history,gradereports, teacher reports and parent reports. Click on a Links below to:Contact Dr. SmithMichigan Dyslexia Institute
Robert D. Smith, PhDDiagnosis of Dyslexia, ADD & Learning DisordersChildren & Adults