____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CLIENT NAME:
Date of Birth:
Chronological Age:
School:
Grade:

FOSTER, David
March 1, 2011
9 years, 0 months
Mount Pleasant Park Elementary
3

Dates of Assessment:
Date of Report:
Student Clinician:
Supervising Psychologist:

February 20, 2014

March 15, 2014
Leora Fisher
Dr. Meadow Schroeder

Statement of Confidentiality
All psychological assessments are confidential in nature as they contain private information, which
may be used inappropriately by others. To protect the privacy and ensure confidentiality of the
persons involved, please ensure that this report is only circulated to those who are considered
essential to related judgments and decision- making. The intent of this report is to provide opinions
and recommendations in the context of psychological intervention, educational and vocational
decision-making, and any use of this report outside of that purpose should only be done with the
informed consent of the parties and in consultation with the writer.
REASON FOR REFERRAL:
How can Davids parents help him with his reading and confidence in learning?
David is a 9-year-old boy who is currently in grade 3 at Mount Pleasant Park Elementary. He was
referred for a psycho-educational assessment by his parents due to academic difficulties, in the area
of reading and spelling despite current school-based interventions. More specifically, his teacher
noted that he struggles with decoding words and spells phonetically. Davids parents also noted that
he is having social-emotional difficulties with peers. They were also concerned that his difficulty
in reading is leading to anxiety when having to read aloud or when his peers notice that he is
receiving extra support from his teacher. This evaluation was undertaken to evaluate Davids
current level and pattern of intellectual, cognitive, and academic functioning, and to provide
recommendations for intervention in the school and home environment.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
U-CAPES Family History From completed by Davids mother
U-CAPES School History Form completed by Davids teacher
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test- Third Edition (WIAT-III)

Psychoeducational Report for: Foster, David

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Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration 5th Edition (VMI-V)
Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing Second Edition (CTOPP)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Davids background information was gathered from questionnaires completed by his parents and
grade 3 teacher.
Developmental and Medical History
Davids parents reported that David was delivered at 40 weeks with no complications. They
described him having been a happy and healthy baby. He met basic gross motor and oral language
developmental milestones within typical limits. There was no indication of any medical concerns
other than the occasional headache.
Family and Relationship History
At the time of the assessment, David was living in Calgary with his parents Julie and Clair Foster
along with his younger brother (age 7). Davids father and mother both work outside the home. His
father is an engineer and his mother is a bookkeeper. Both Davids parents completed postsecondary education.
It is reported that Davids paternal grandfather had some trouble with reading and only completed
grade 6. His maternal grandmother suffered from depression.
Social and Behavioural History
Davids mother reported that he enjoys bike riding, drawing, and building/making things. His
mother and teacher identified that he has problems getting along with peers, taking turns, being
invited to play by other students, sharing, and cooperating. According to his mother, David likes
things to go his own way when playing with others. His teacher noted that David prefers to play
alone but will play with peers when he is encouraged.
Educational History
David is currently in grade 3 at Mount Pleasant Elementary School in Calgary. He attends a
resource class for Language Arts support three mornings per week. His teacher reported that David
has strong higher-level thinking skills, however he is behind grade level in spelling and reading. He
does well at planning, creating projects, and working with his hands, although his teacher reported
that he has minor problems with fine-motor skills. Davids teacher described his writing as having
letters unusually large with incorrect phonetic spelling. She also noted that he struggles with
decoding and that his reading is choppy.
His teacher pointed out that David shows an interest in math and science, and he loves drawing.
She noted that extra time to complete an assignment or task has been a strategy that works well for
David. She reported that David is slow at switching tasks and does not notice his errors, as he is not
critical of his own work. Lastly, she described that David experiences anxiety when having to read

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out loud or receiving extra help and that his motivation and confidence have been declining since
the beginning of the school year.
CURRENT ASSESSMENT RESULTS
Observations during Individual Assessment:
David arrived for the testing session with his parents. He separated from them with some
nervousness but quickly became at ease. David easily responded to questions asked but he initiated
very little conversation. Davids affect was quiet and serious throughout the testing.
During the testing, David was persistent on tasks that were more difficult and made comments that
he could have done better than he felt he did. His approach was slow and methodical as he checked
his work over before declaring he was finished with each task. Davids attention, concentration,
effort and motivation were generally good during formal testing, and test results are deemed to be a
valid estimate of his current level of functioning.
COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT
Davids cognitive abilities were assessed using the WISC-IV, CTOPP and VMI-V.
On the WISC-IV, there was a significant discrepancy between Davids performance on Verbal
Comprehension (Average) and Perceptual Reasoning (High Average) Indices; therefore, his Full
Scale IQ is not reported. The Verbal Comprehension Index, which was within the Average range
(50th percentile), is considered the best indicator of Davids cognitive functioning. This means that
he did as well as or better than 50 out of 100 others in the tests similar age-comparison group.
The Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) on the WISC-IV is a composite score that measures the
ability of children to use verbal skills to problem solve or reason. Davids score showed variability
in the scores that make up this Index. His score fell within the Above Average range (84th
percentile) on tasks requiring him to verbally define words that were read out loud. This subset was
a relative strength in comparison to Davids Average scores on tasks that require him to state how
two common objects or concepts are similar (25th percentile), answering questions about general
knowledge (25th percentile), and demonstrate the ability to understand situations and provide
answers to specific problems (37th percentile). This difference indicates that the ability to
understand and express the meaning of individual words is an area of relative strength for David.
The Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) of the WISC-IV measures the ability to solve problems and
reason nonverbally. Davids performance on this Index fell within the High Average range (91st
percentile). This suggests that perceptual reasoning, or thinking and problem-solving without
language, is a relative strength for him. David preformed within the Average range on the subtest
that requires him to identify pictures that could be categorized together based on common attribute.
On a task where he was asked to find the missing part of a matrix, his preformed within the Above
Average range (84th percentile). His high performance on this Index suggests that Davids visual
spatial processing and non-verbal problem solving skills are well developed.

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Working Memory is required for temporary storage, manipulation, and monitoring of information
processing. Davids performance on this Index of the WISC-IV was within the Average range (50th
percentile). All subtest scores in this Index fell within the Average range, suggesting that working
memory is evenly developed. These results are consistent with his average performance (50th
percentile) on the Phonological Memory Scale of the CTOPP, which measures Davids ability to
remember and repeat numbers and nonwords accurately.
The Processing Speed Index on the WISC-IV measured Davids ability to visually process
information under a time limit, make a decision regarding that information, and then records that
decision on paper. The variability among Davids performances on the tasks that make up the Index
was unusually large, indicating that his overall ability cannot be summarized in a single score.
Davids processing speed scores are best interpreted at the subtest level. David measured within
the Average range (25th percentile) on the Coding subtest that required him to learn and use a set of
symbols associations to copy out symbols paired with other ones. On the Symbol Search subtest
David scanned strings of visually presented symbols and identified whether a target symbol
appeared in the sequence. His performance on this subtest was within the Above Average range
(84th percentile). The significant discrepancy between the Symbol Search subtest and the Coding
subtest may suggest that David had a difficult time processing the symbolic associations between
the pairings of the geometric shapes and numbers in the Coding subtest.
Davids results on the CTOPP are consistent with Davids weakness in phonological processing. On
the scale that measured Davids ability to synthesize sounds to form words he performed within the
Above Average range (73rd percentile) indicating a relative strength in phonological awareness. On
the scale that measured Davids phonological memory he preformed within the Average range (50th
percentile) indicating that his is able to remember digits and non-word repletion. However, on the
scale that measured his phonological processing, David scored within the Low Average range (16th
percentile) suggesting that David has a relative weakness in his phonological processing speed.
The Oral Reading Fluency subtest on the WIAT-III measured speed, accuracy, and fluency of
contextualized oral reading. David had to read passages aloud and then orally responded to
comprehension questions after each passage. Fluency was calculated as the average number of
words read correctly per minute. David had a difficult time reading the passages, which took a long
time. He was slow and appeared frustrated by the difficulties he encountered when trying to decode
the words. His performance on this Oral Reading Fluency subtest fell within the Extremely Low
range (0.5 percentile). This struggle with decoding words and his results on the fluency indicate
that David has a weakness is phonological processing. These results are consistent with is
performance on the Rapid Naming of the CTOPP, which measured Davids ability to rapidly name
numbers and letters
Davids visualmotor integration, as assessed by the VMI-V was within the High Average range
(94th percentile). The VMI-V measured the extent to which David can integrate his visual and motor
abilities. Davids scored within Average range (30th percentile) on the Motor Coordination Scale.
However, over focusing on irrelevant details, insufficient amount of time to complete timed tasks,
and the need to make his lines the exact size as the target design may have impacted his results. To

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compare Davids motor coordination and his visual perception, the visual-perceptual task of the
VMI-V was administered. When the motor component was removed from the task, Davids visualperceptual skills were within the Above Average range (82nd percentile) suggesting that Davids
visual perception skills are a relative strength for him compared to his motor coordination skills.
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
Davids academic skills were assessed using WIAT-III.
The WIAT- III assessments measure a variety of reading skills, including reading fluency,
comprehension, decoding and phonological awareness. Davids reading performance as measured
by the Total Reading Composite fell within the Borderline range (3rd percentile). David was visible
frustrated when completing these tasks, which took longer than usual. On the subtest that measured
the speed and accuracy when reading out a list of words that increased in difficulty Davids
performanced within the Below Average range (7th percentile). He was slow and methodical when
decoding each word, which may suggest that he has not fully developed the appropriate skills to
decode and recognize familiar words. When David had to rely on his phonological awareness skills
by reading nonwords, he preformed within the Below Average range (12th percentile) suggesting
that David does not have the necessary phonological processing skills to read word effortlessly.
On the Reading Comprehension subtest, which measured untimed reading comprehension of
various types of text, including fictional stories, informational texts, advertisements and how-to
passages David performance within the Borderline range (4th percentile). This score suggests that
David has significant difficulties understanding passages that he independently reads. His inability
to successfully comprehend a passage may be the result of his difficulties decoding words.
Davids Written Language Composite was within the Low Average range (19th percentile). On the
Spelling subtest he had trouble spelling the target words correctly, therefore, performed within the
Low Average range (9th percentile). For these Sentence Composition subtest, David was required to
combine two or three sentences into one sentence that had the same meaning as the original
sentences. The sentence building component measures sentence formulation skills and written
syntactic ability. David was able to write grammatically correct and meaningful sentences. His
performance on the Sentence Composition subtest was within the Average range (50th percentile).
Davids ability to generate a longer piece of meaningful writing was measured through the Essay
Composition subtest. This subtest measures spontaneous compositional writing skills within a 10minute time limit. Theme development, text organization, and the amount written within the given
time limit are scored. David was asked to write an essay about his favorite game, offering a thesis
and three supporting reasons for his argument. David took a long time selecting a topic for his
essay. After starting to write about his first idea, he stopped and started a new essay on a different
topic. David performed within the Average range (27th percentile) on the Essay Composition
subtest.
On the Mathematics Composite score on the WIAT-III is derived from the Math Problem Solving
and Numerical Operations subtests. Davids mathematics performance as measured by the

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Mathematics Composite score was within the Average range (47th percentile). Indicating that
David has the skills to solve basic math operations and word problems.
SUMMARY & DIAGNOSIS:
David is a 9-year-old boy who is currently in the third grade at Mount Pleasant Park Elementary
School. He was referred for an evaluation by his parents, who were concerned about his reading,
spelling and decoding difficulties. Davids anxiety regarding getting extra helps and reading out
loud has affected his self-esteem. In addition, David has some problems with social skills.
Currently, David is receiving extra pull out support in the classroom.
Davids cognitive abilities in the domains of verbal comprehension, working memory, and
processing speed were within the Average range. His cognitive ability in the domain of perceptual
reasoning, or thinking and problem solving without language, fell within the Superior range. This
suggests that perceptual reasoning, or thinking and problem solving without language, is a
relative strength for David. Davids ability to visually discriminate and process information may be
more developed than his ability to hold on to and process auditory information.
Due to the fact that Davids test scores are scattered and significantly different in the Perceptual
Reasoning Scale, a single Full Scale IQ was not calculated. Rather his Perceptual Reasoning,
Verbal Comprehension, and Processing Speed scores are best interpreted at the subtest level.
Davids overall academic performance fell within that typical for his age, except in reading and
spelling where his performance was within the Low Average to Borderline range. This is in line
with teacher and parent reports. His challenges in reading are beyond what would be expected of
one with his cognitive ability. The significant discrepancy between his cognitive and reading ability
is indicative of a learning disability in reading and spelling.

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Appendix A: Test results

Due to the developing and changing nature of childrens/students skills and abilities, the results
and recommendations contained in this report are meant for current use. Any reference to these
results and recommendations in the future should be made with these reservations in mind.
Test results should be interpreted with the support of a registered psychologist.
Cognitive Functioning
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) is an individually
administered standardized measure of intelligence (i.e. thinking, problem-solving and learning)
that consists of a series of 10 core subtests and 5 optional subtests. Subtests are grouped into a
Full Scale score and four Index Scores, which offer insight into the individuals strengths and
weaknesses. Skills assessed include: Verbal Comprehension and expression; Perceptual Reasoning
(thinking and problem-solving without language); Working Memory (holding information in ones
head while working with it); and Processing Speed. The individuals performance can be
compared to other Canadian youth in a similar-age grouping. Percentile scores, scaled scores, and
confidence intervals are also provided in the appendix to assist in interpretation. The FSIQ and
Index scores have a mean of 100 and an average range of 90-110. Each of the subtests has an
average range of 8-12. All scores are reported at a 95% confidence interval, meaning that in 19
out of 20 administrations, the students score would fall in the given range.

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Davids intellectual and cognitive functioning was measured using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale
from Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). The WISC-IV is thought to provide an estimate of
general intelligence, scholastic aptitude and a readiness to master school curriculum. It is important
to recognize that the WISC-IV measures only a portion of the competencies involved in human
intelligence, and is a best thought of as a predictor of school achievement rather than as a pure
measure of intelligence. A students motivation, interest, culture opportunities, natural endowment,
neurological integrity, attention span, and testing environment can affect the results of cognitive
testing.
Test results should be interpreted with the support of a registered psychologist.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)
WISC-IV Composite Scores Summary (Canadian Norms):
Index
Composite Score Percentile Rank 95% Confidence
Interval
Verbal
100
50
93-107
Comprehension
Perceptual
120
91
110-126
Reasoning
Working Memory
100
50
92-108
Processing Speed
103
58
94-111
WISC-IV Subtest Scores:
Subtest

Classification
Average
Superior
Average
Average

Scaled
Score

Percentile Rank

Classification

S/W

Similarities

25

Average

Vocabulary

13

84

Above Average

Comprehension

37

Average

Information

25

Average

Block Design

15

95

Above Average

Picture Concepts

11

63

Average

Matrix Reasoning

13

84

Above Average

Digit Span

11

63

Average

Letter-Number Sequencing

37

Average

Coding

25

Average

Symbol Search

13

84

Above Average

S indicates a score significantly higher than the individuals overall average score (intra-individual strength)
W indicates a score significantly lower than the individuals overall average score (intra-individual weakness)

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Academic Functioning
The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - Third Edition (WIAT-III)
The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - Third Edition (WIAT-III) is a standardized test of achievement
and functioning. The WIAT III is an individually administered measure that examines performance in the
areas of Reading, Mathematics, Written Language and Oral Language. Scores in each of these domains are
then combined to provide an overall achievement score. Canadian norms were used to score this measure.
Davids academic functioning in the area of reading, written language, oral language and
mathematics was assessed using the WIAT III. A comprehensive picture of Davids current
academic functioning was obtained through consideration of his performance within individual
domains.
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Third Edition (WIAT-III)
WIAT-III Score Summary (Canadian Norms):
Subtest or
Standard Score
Percentile Rank
Composite
ORAL LANGUAGE
Oral Language
Composite
Listening
Comprehension
Oral Expression
96
39
READING
Total Reading
Composite
Reading
Comprehension
Reading
Comprehension and
Fluency
Basic Reading
Early Reading Skills
Word Reading
Pseudoword Reading
Oral Reading Fluency
WRITTEN
EXPRESSION
Written Expression
Composite
Sentence Composition
Spelling
Essay Composition

95% Confidence
Interval

Classification

85-107

Average

71

67-75

Borderline

73

61-85

Borderline

65

57-73

Extremely Low

80
79
78
82
61

9
8
7
12
0.5

77-83
72-86
74-82
77-87
53-69

Low Average
Borderline
Borderline
Low Average
Extremely Low

87

19

77-83

Low Average

100
80
91

50
9
27

90-110
73-87
81-101

Average
Low Average
Average

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MATHEMATICS
Mathematics
Composite
Math Problem Solving
Numerical Operations

99

47

91-107

Average

99
100

47
50

89-109
91-109

Average
Average