Cognitive Functioning

Asad has significant discrepancies in multiple ability domains. The subject Asad has high
performance on verbal comprehension tasks (VCI= 132). It indicates that he performed better
than 98% people of his age. Also, his working memory ability is also better than 84% people of
his age showing that he can quickly process visually presented material for manipulating mental
information. Due to these discrepancies, his score for overall cognitive functioning was not
interpretable; it is likely that the relatively less developed abilities affected his overall
performance on the tests and artificially pulled down his overall score. The following discussion
of Mr. K’s abilities is based on an analysis of the separate domains.

In Asad’s case, his FSIQ is 105 classifying him in Average range/ Normal limits (85-115). The
variation in the indexes composing FSIQ is considered too great(53> 23). The four indexes that
make up this score has too much variability. Also, indexes composing GAI is considered too
great (44>23) suggesting that the Asad’s global ability cannot be meaningfully conveyed as a
single score. His performance is best understood by her performance on the separate WAIS-IV
indexes. As the subject was not impulsive or distractible as evident from behavioral
observations, we are considering FSIQ. The comparison between GAI & CPI cannot be made
(44>23). Also, the GAI & CPI comparisons cannot be made because of the difference between
WMI & PSI (38>23).

The most strong feature of his ability is to form concepts and make verbal reasoning for them.
He can quickly retrieve information from long-term memory and think, reason and express it in
words. He performed better than 98% of persons of his age and there is a 95% chance that his
true ability for verbal reasoning lies between high average to superior level (CI = 125-136). His
above average verbal reasoning abilities probably facilitated his academic achievement (Gc =
113, CI =126-137) and consistent with his keen interest in reading books and always excelling in
academics. He had an intact long-term memory and Asad’s knowledge fund and ability to
express is inconsistent as evident from presentation when it came to opening up to other people
and being “shy” and “socially reserved person”. This reserved nature may be due to his low
mood rather than his difficulty to speak up.
Asad's performance on subtests measuring non-verbal and perceptual reasoning (PRI) was
inconsistent and this domain cannot be interpreted as a whole. However, an analysis of the
differences in scores of different subtests indicated that his ability for pure reasoning and logical
thinking ranged from below average to average range as compared to other people of this age.
However, when the task required physical manipulation of objects under time pressure, his
performance deteriorated markedly (MR 9 > VP 8 > BD 7). This suggests that his non-verbal
and abstract reasoning abilities are most probably intact. His agitation during processing of
visual processing tasks, struggling during test and expressing difficulties is consistent with his
current difficulties.

Working Memory

Asad does not seem to be having a particularly difficult time with tasks which require ability to
register and retain information in short term memory long enough to manipulate it mentally
(WMI=117, CI=109-123). He does not struggle much with tasks that require him to plan,
organize and execute actions using cues and information from the environment. This might be
the reason why he could properly concentrate on the instructions provided and occasionally
asked questions ; his long term memory seems intact and also he does not seem to have problem
with attention, concentration and short term memory as well as with processing information and
available cues (WMI =117), but a slight difficulty in visual cues (PSI = 79, Gv = 87, CI = 81-95),
and to use these cues to plan or make in-the moment decisions as to which is the best action to
take consistent with his changing responses on several items. This might account for his
difficulties locating desired objects as he struggled in visual puzzles.

Visuomotor integration skills

The results showed that he had not much difficulty in tasks measuring non-verbal reasoning.
This indicate that problem does not occur in processing abstract information but in processing
information using his motor skills that require quick response (Gs = 79, CI = 73-89). There
might be several factors at play with Asad’s visuomotor problems. First, it could be due to his
normative and relative weakness in processing visual cues. This substantiates his difficulty and
“giving up” on hard items. Also, his agitation and unsettling behavior during test can play a part
in slowing down his psychomotor movements. His expressed agitation during the test might
show that he was most likely able to perceive the items correctly but could not produce the
response as he intended. It is important to note that while the test findings corroborate with
reported difficulties and challenges that Asad is presently experiencing in his life, they do not
match with his past history.

Academic Achievement

The results of WRAT showed that Asad has excellent performance word reading, sentence
comprehension and spelling subtest as he performed better than 99%, 97% & 98% persons of his
age respectively. His performance was very low in math computation and reading composite
subtests (PR:30% & 0.3%) as compared to other people of his age. The standard score profile
showed that math computation is his main problematic area and requires further assessment in
this domain. The scores of remaining four subtests of WRAT are showing overlap between them
indicating that they do not vary much with each other. The high score (70) in word reading is
consistent with his interest in reading from childhood while other scores are also consistent with
his high academic achievement except math computation and reading composite. Thus, math
computation requires exploring further and interventions.