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Post by lex101 on Apr 30, 2019 14:34:40 GMT -5
Hello. My name is Alexis and I have a son who has been having problems with school and learning. He is currently 17 years old and was getting tested for ADHD. We go the test results back any they came back VIQ:82 and PIQ:120. He was not diagnosed with adhd but in fact depression, despite him being much better emotionally as he has stated and improving. What does this gap mean, is this a potential LD? Please answer, thank you! Anything is fine.
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Post by lex101 on Apr 30, 2019 14:35:29 GMT -5
Hello. My name is Alexis and I have a son who has been having problems with school and learning. He is currently 17 years old and was getting tested for ADHD. We go the test results back any they came back VIQ:82 and PIQ:120. He was not diagnosed with adhd but in fact depression, despite him being much better emotionally as he has stated and improving. What does this gap mean, is this a potential LD? Please answer, thank you! Anything is fine. btw he also says he has short term memory problems and focus problems |
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Post by healthy11 on Apr 30, 2019 20:35:10 GMT -5
Welcome, Alexis. I'm the mom of a 20-something son who was diagnosed with ADHD as well as LDs (reading and writing issues) although he had strengths in math and science. His working memory is also weak. He struggled significantly in school both academically and socially, especially in his teen years, and there were times I questioned whether he'd become a dropout statistic. We persevered... He studied engineering in college, and has been working and living on his own since he graduated.
You mentioned that your son feels emotionally better and is improving...was he identified as having depression in the past? I'm curious whether he attends a public or private high school? You mentioned that your son is having problems with school and learning...is it in every subject, or does he struggle with some more than others? What are his strongest subjects? Was the testing that was just done was performed by someone at his school, or by a private evaluator? Is this is the first time your son has ever been evaluated by anyone using an IQ test? Did they give you a breakdown of the individual subtest scores? If so, can you post them? What other tests were given to your son? Can you share those as well?
I'm sorry to ask so many questions, but it's difficult to give advice without knowing more background. I don't think the PIQ-VIQ discrepancy your son's testing showed is just a result of depression...I suspect that your son does have some kind of learning differences, but no matter what, I know he's fortunate to have a caring parent like you "on his side."
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Post by bros on May 1, 2019 11:18:22 GMT -5
I really doubt that discrepancy is just depression. Was he evaluated by the school, or by a neuropsychologist? If he was evaluated by the school district, I recommend requesting an out of district evaluation and finding a good neuropsychologist in your area (Do not go to one on their list)
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Post by jisp on May 1, 2019 15:54:23 GMT -5
Well I am going to disagree with Healthy and Bros (for what it is worth). Depression can have a very serious impact on memory and processing speed, which in turn can result in IQ scores -especially of an almost adult. Your son's mood when he was tested, how he related to the examiner, his energy all will impact testing in some way . Depending on how long your child has been depressed the impact of the depression might also have impacted their age related learning and knowledge which can also impact the score. In other words IQ tests are scored relative to one's peers and if your son missed a lot of school due to his depression in the past few years that can result in him having a lower score than somebody who had not been out of school with similar intellect.
For example I have a son who is now an adult (a Phd in applied mathematics) who was tested when he was 17 and very depressed. His score was so much lower than previous scores that the neuropsychologist wanted us to see a neurologist to rule out some brain condition. But we talked to a friend of ours who is a brain surgeon who suggested we just monitor our son's memory and only panic if we notice that we really are observing a decline in his every day life.
Now the real question is what to do? You mentioned learning challenges such as ADHD and short term memory issues. I suspect with a score of 120 on his PIQ that he is totally capable of learning strategies to overcome his learning challenges and make learning possible for him. When my son was tested at 17 he had failed Algebra five times!! He had barely passed a single high school class. He was failing across the board. We arranged for him to work with a cognitive psychologist who taught him how to learn and how to approach learning. Armed with actual skills our son would go on to take extension school classes at local colleges and get A's. The rest his history.
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Post by healthy11 on May 2, 2019 8:15:22 GMT -5
Jisp, I wasn't trying to say that depression couldn't be a factor in her son's scores, but I don't believe it's the only difficulty he has. I concur with you that depression can have a serious impact on memory and processing speed, but that's why I asked about her son's subtest scores. For example, PIQ includes subtests like Block Design, whose score is largely based on accuracy and speed. I'm guessing lex101's son did quite well on that speed-based portion of the IQ test. On the other hand, I know a low score in the Digit Span subtest is often indicative of ADHD and weak verbal short-term memory, not necessarily spatial memory. I do hope lex101 will give us additional information, in order to help us give her better guidance.
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Post by bros on May 2, 2019 11:11:01 GMT -5
Well I am going to disagree with Healthy and Bros (for what it is worth). Depression can have a very serious impact on memory and processing speed, which in turn can result in IQ scores -especially of an almost adult. Your son's mood when he was tested, how he related to the examiner, his energy all will impact testing in some way . Depending on how long your child has been depressed the impact of the depression might also have impacted their age related learning and knowledge which can also impact the score. In other words IQ tests are scored relative to one's peers and if your son missed a lot of school due to his depression in the past few years that can result in him having a lower score than somebody who had not been out of school with similar intellect. For example I have a son who is now an adult (a Phd in applied mathematics) who was tested when he was 17 and very depressed. His score was so much lower than previous scores that the neuropsychologist wanted us to see a neurologist to rule out some brain condition. But we talked to a friend of ours who is a brain surgeon who suggested we just monitor our son's memory and only panic if we notice that we really are observing a decline in his every day life. Now the real question is what to do? You mentioned learning challenges such as ADHD and short term memory issues. I suspect with a score of 120 on his PIQ that he is totally capable of learning strategies to overcome his learning challenges and make learning possible for him. When my son was tested at 17 he had failed Algebra five times!! He had barely passed a single high school class. He was failing across the board. We arranged for him to work with a cognitive psychologist who taught him how to learn and how to approach learning. Armed with actual skills our son would go on to take extension school classes at local colleges and get A's. The rest his history. Depression would definitely impact the scores - I don't think it would be that much of a difference, though. |
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Post by jisp on May 4, 2019 7:20:48 GMT -5
Bros in my son's case it is hard to know what the actual point difference was because we would be comparing an adult IQ test with one he took when he was younger. But I can tell you the differences were so dramatic that the neuropsychologist was worried their might be a physical reason for our son's cognitive decline.
But just so you don't think I am using a data point of one person. I volunteer for the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and I regularly see posts by parents who report their child's IQs have declined dramatically. Some worry it is the illness or the meds or both. In many cases it is a bit of both. But it is possible to remediate the cognitive impairment. The cognitive psychologist my son worked with in his last year in high school was finishing up his doctorate at McLean Hospital and wrote his entire thesis on the cognitive impairment of teens with depression and mood disorders.
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