Ellie - Pearson

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$Pearson Successmaker Math Efficacy Study 2009-10 Final Report$

$Math Review - Pearson$

with her classroom performance and reveal significant deficits in bothreading and writing. The next step was to determine whether Ellie has thecognitive abilities necessary to support the acquisition of academic skills.Cognitive ProcessesIn order to evaluate Ellie’s cognitive processes, the 10 WISC ® -IV core subtestswere administered, followed by three of the WISC-IV Integrated subtests. Inaddition, five NEPSY ® -II subtests were administered and one DAS ® II subtestwas given.The discrepancybetween Ellie’s verbalreasoning abilitiesand her academicdeficits no doubtcontributes to herfrustration, particularlywhen asked todemonstrate whatshe has learnedthrough writing.Ellie’s FSIQ score of 100 on the WISC-IV test is attenuated by two index scoresthat are significantly lower (at the .05 level) than the other index scores. As aresult of these unusual discrepancies (less than 10% base rate), the GeneralAbility Index (GAI), which is an alternative global score, was determined tobe a better representation of Ellie’s overall cognitive ability. Her GAI score of111 (77 th percentile ranking) places her in the high average range.Verbal ReasoningEllie’s Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) score, based on subtests thatmeasure verbal reasoning and concept formation, is 110 (75 th percentileranking). She demonstrates relative cognitive strengths in the areas oflanguage development, verbal abstract reasoning, word knowledge, andverbal concept formation. VCI correlates highly and is a good predictor of astudent’s achievement, particularly in the areas of reading and writing.Her high average VCI score would predict at least average achievementbut that is not the case, so that her underachievement in these two areasis unexpected. This discrepancy between her verbal reasoning abilities andher academic deficits no doubt contributes to her frustration, particularlywhen asked to demonstrate what she has learned through writing. It islikely that her poor reading comprehension is not due to weak vocabularyor other language-related skills.Nonverbal, Visual-Perceptual ReasoningEllie’s Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), based on measures of nonverbalabstract reasoning, visual perception, and organization, is 108 (70 th percentileranking). Her verbal and nonverbal abilities are commensurate but it shouldbe noted that her score on Block Design was lowered by slower speed (asseen in the BDN score of 11 versus her BD score of 9). On the two PRI subteststhat did not require quick response time, her high average scores are amongher highest.8 ellie
She also was given Elithorn Mazes, on which she performed at the 16 thpercentile ranking. This timed subtest required her to draw a trail through amaze while observing specific rules. The task taps some of the same abilitiesas the other PRI subtests (i.e., visual scanning, visual and motor sequentialprocessing, cognitive flexibility, planning and organization) but also requiresthe ability to inhibit a response until a route can be identified. Ellie did notrespond impulsively and it is likely that her lower score is the result of acombination of slower cognitive-processing speed and weak visual-spatialmental manipulation (working memory).Working MemoryEllie’s Working Memory Index (WMI), based on subtests requiringauditory attention, concentration, and sequencing skills as well as mentalmanipulation of verbal information held in short-term memory, is 88 (21 stpercentile ranking). Ellie was administered the Digit Span (forward andbackward), Visual Span, and Spatial Span subtests. She is able to registerverbal information in short-term memory (Digit Span Forward=SS 9) aswell as other children her age can, but when she must manipulate thatinformation over a brief time period, her score drops to below average (DigitSpan Backward=SS 6). Her ability to register information that is presentedvisually is weaker than her ability to register information that is conveyedverbally (Visual Digit Span=SS 6). She has similar difficulty when informationmust be registered in a visual-spatial format (Spatial Span Forward=SS 6)but mental manipulation of visual-spatial information was her weakestscore (Spatial Span Backward=SS 5), placing her at the 5 th percentile ranking.Her behavior on these tasks was familiar in that she attempted to holdinformation in short-term memory using her stronger verbal ability. Sheverbally rehearsed the information for both Digit Span and Visual Spanbut was unable to use that strategy effectively on Spatial Span. She closedher eyes on the later subtest, shook her head, frowned, and expressed herfrustration. Her responses appeared to be guesses although she was able tomatch the number of items that had been presented. She requested a breakafter these subtests, commenting that she had a headache.Ellie demonstrates manybehaviors typicallyseen in youngsters withexecutive dysfunction;namely, poor abilities inplanning, organization,and sustained attentionas well as lack ofeffective and efficientlearning strategies(metacognition).Processing SpeedEllie earned her lowest scores on the two subtests that contribute to theProcessing Speed Index (PSI), which is 83 (13 th percentile ranking). Herperformance on Coding, which requires processing speed, short-termmemory, learning ability, cognitive flexibility, attention, and motivation,PsychCorp.com | 800.627.7271 9
Page 2 and 3: Case Study: ellieEllie’s parents
Page 4 and 5: Behavioral Observations:Ellie was o
Page 6 and 7: AchievementIn order to establish El
Page 10: NEPSY-II subtestresults suggest tha
Page 14 and 15: However, it appears that the effect
Page 16: ReferencesBerninger, V.W. (1998). P

Ellie - Pearson

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