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WISC-IV Interpretive Report
EXAMINEE: Jane Smith REPORT DATE: 07/12/2003
AGE: 10 years 6 months GRADE: 5
DATE OF BIRTH: 01/01/1993 ETHNICITY: White, not Hispanic origin
EXAMINEE ID: 00001 EXAMINER: Jerry Jones, Psy.D.
GENDER: Female
Tests Administered: WISC–IV (07/11/2003) Age at Testing: 10 years 6 months
SCORES SUMMARY
WISC–IV SCALE SCORE
Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) 104
Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) 102
Working Memory Index (WMI) 86
Processing Speed Index (PSI) 91
Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) 97
Reason for Referral
Jane was referred for an evaluation by her psychologist, Dr. Jones, secondary to experiencing
academic difficulties.
Home
Jane is 10 years old and currently lives with her mother and father. There is one other child
living in the home with Jane. Her custodial arrangements have changed one time in the last 3
years; however, her current living arrangement has been in effect since birth. Jane comes from a
highly educated family. Her mother and father both attended graduate school. Recently, there has
been an event that has caused stress in her family. Specifically, the family has experienced loss
of employment of a major wage earner.
Language
Jane speaks only English, which she has been exposed to since birth. The language spoken in
Jane’s home is English. It was observed that the child’s speech was clear and intelligible and the
child demonstrated English proficiency.
Development
According to her mother, Jane was born with no apparent complications. She reached the
following milestones within the expected age ranges: sitting alone, crawling, standing alone,
walking alone, speaking first words, speaking short sentences, using toilet when awake and
staying dry at night.
Sensory/Motor Status
According to her mother, Jane’s visual screening was conducted on July 1, 2003 and revealed
that she has a need for complete visual examination. Her hearing screening revealed that she has
a normal auditory acuity. It was observed that she appeared to have trouble focusing visually.
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Medical/Psychiatric/Neurological Status
Jane has no major medical/psychiatric concerns. Her mother reports that she has no sign of
neurological concerns in the past or currently.
Medication/Substance Abuse
According to Jane’s mother, she has taken medication in the past for a cold, an ear infection, and
flu symptoms. She is currently taking medication to treat allergy symptoms. Jane has no history
of substance abuse. It was observed that she did not appear under the influence of any
medication or substance during testing.
Educational History
Her mother reports that as for pre-kindergarten, Jane attended a special services pre-school. Also,
she attended a half-day kindergarten program. In addition, Jane attended the same school since
initial enrollment in school. Regarding school attendance, she currently is maintaining good
attendance and she had an excellent attendance record in the past. As for her conduct in school,
at this time she is extremely well-behaved and she had an exemplary record in the past.
Regarding academic performance, at this time she is experiencing many academic difficulties
and she had many academic difficulties in the past. Most recent standardized test results show
that she scored below average in Reading, Math, and Language.
Behavioral Observations
Jane arrived on time for the assessment and was accompanied by her mother. She appeared alert
and oriented, and appeared to put her best effort into the testing process.
Interpretation of WISC–IV Results
Jane was administered fifteen subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth
Edition (WISC-IV) from which her composite scores are derived. The Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) is
derived from a combination of ten subtest scores and is considered the most representative
estimate of global intellectual functioning. Jane's general cognitive ability is within the Average
range of intellectual functioning, as measured by the FSIQ. Her overall thinking and reasoning
abilities exceed those of approximately 42% of children her age (FSIQ = 97; 95% confidence
interval = 92 – 102). Her ability to think with words is comparable to her ability to reason
without the use of words. Both Jane's verbal and nonverbal reasoning abilities also are in the
Average range.
Jane's verbal reasoning abilities as measured by the Verbal Comprehension Index are in the
average range and above those of approximately 61% of her peers (VCI = 104; 95% confidence
interval = 97 – 101). The Verbal Comprehension Index is designed to measure verbal reasoning
and concept formation. Jane’s performance on the subtests that contribute to the VCI are all in the
average range, suggesting that her abilities in this domain are similarly developed.
Jane's nonverbal reasoning abilities as measured by the Perceptual Reasoning Index are in the
Average range and above those of approximately 55% of her peers (PRI = 102; 95% confidence
interval = 94 – 109). The Perceptual Reasoning Index is designed to measure nonverbal concept
formation, visual perception and organization, simultaneous processing, visual-motor
coordination, learning, and the ability to separate figure and ground in visual stimuli. Jane’s
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WISC-IV Interpretive Report
performance on the subtests that contribute to the PRI are somewhat variable, suggesting that her
abilities in this domain are less equally developed.
Jane's working memory abilities as measured by the Working Memory Index are in the Low
Average range but above those of only 18% of her peers (WMI = 86; 95% confidence interval =
79 – 95). Jane's abilities to sustain attention, concentrate, and exert mental control are a
weakness relative to her verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning abilities. Mental control
is the ability to attend to and hold information in short-term memory while performing some
operation or manipulation with it. Jane's difficulty when asked to repeat long strings of numbers
backward is evidence of weak mental control. A relative weakness in mental control may make
the processing of complex information more time-consuming for Jane, drain her mental energies
more quickly as compared to other children her age, and perhaps result in more frequent errors
on a variety of learning tasks. The academic difficutlies noticed by Mrs. Jones may be related to
this weakness in mental control. This pattern is more common among children who are
experiencing academic difficulties in the classroom than among those who are not.
Jane performed signifcantly higher on the Arithmetic subtest (Scaled Score = 10) than on the
Letter-Number Sequencing subtest (Scaled Score = 7). Both of these tasks require attention,
concentration, and mental control, but the Arithmetic subtest also requires specific abilities in
numerical operations and mathematics reasoning.
Jane's speed of processing abilities as measured by the Processing Speed Index are in the average
range and above those of approximately 27% of her peers (PSI = 91; 95% confidence interval =
83 - 101). Processing visual material quickly is an ability that Jane performs poorly as compared
to her verbal reasoning ability. Processing speed is an indication of the rapidity with which Jane
can mentally process simple or routine information without making errors. Performance on this
task may be influenced by visual discrimination and visual-motor coordination. Because learning
often involves a combination of routine information processing (such as reading) and complex
information processing (such as reasoning), a relative weakness in the speed of processing
routine information may make the task of comprehending novel information more timeconsuming
and difficult for Jane. Thus, this relative weakness in simple visual scanning and
tracking may leave her less time and mental energy for the complex task of understanding new
material. The problems noticed by Mrs. Jones may be related to this weakness in processing
speed. The pattern of processing speed abilities lower than verbal comprehension ability is more
common among students who are experiencing academic difficulties than among those who are
not.
Intra-Individual Strengths and Weaknesses
Jane achieved her best performance among the nonverbal reasoning tasks on the Matrix
Reasoning subtest (Scaled Score = 12), and lowest score on the Block Design subtest (Scaled
Score = 9). Her performance across these areas differs significantly, suggesting that these are the
areas of most pronounced strength and weakness, respectively, in Jane’s profile of nonverbal
reasoning abilities. The Block Design subtest required Jane to use two-color cubes to construct
replicas of two-dimensional, geometric patterns. This subtest assesses ability to mentally
organize visual information. More specifically, this subtest assesses her ability to analyze partwhole
relationships when information is presented spatially. Performance on this task also may
be influenced by visual-spatial perception and visual perception-fine motor coordination, as well
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WISC-IV Interpretive Report
as planning ability. The Matrix Reasoning subtest requried Jane to look at an incomplete matrix
and select the missing portion from five response options. This subtest measures visual
information processing and abstract reasoning skills.
Summary
Jane is a 10-year-old child who completed the WISC–IV. She was referred by her psychologist,
Dr. Jones, secondary to experiencing academic difficulties. Her general cognitive ability, as
estimated by the WISC–IV, is in the Average range when compared to her peers (FSIQ = 97).
Jane’s verbal abilities were in the Average range (VCI = 104), and nonverbal reasoning abilities
were in the Average range (PRI = 102).
Recommendations
• Jane is encouraged to regularly and frequently review information that must be remembered.
Family and teachers could review this information with her and provide positive
reinforcement for improvement.
• Jane may benefit from “chunking” information, a strategy in which pieces of information are
grouped together into larger chunks so that fewer “bits” need to be remembered. For
example, the seven digits of a telephone number can be grouped into four numbers: 555-5678
becomes five, fifty-five, fifty-six, seventy-eight.
• Jane’s family are encouraged to support her efforts in completing homework while avoiding
an overemphasis on high grades. Her family may wish to focus upon the quality of work and
timely completion of assignments.
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WISC-IV Interpretive Report
Tables and Graphs
Composite Scores Summary
Scale
Sum of
Scaled
Scores
Composite
Score
Percentile
Rank
95%
Confidence
Interval
Qualitative
Description
Verbal Comprehension (VCI) 33 104 61 97-111 Average
Perceptual Reasoning (PRI) 31 102 55 94-109 Average
Working Memory (WMI) 15 86 18 79-95 Low Average
Processing Speed (PSI) 17 91 27 83-101 Average
Full Scale (FSIQ) 96 97 42 92-102 Average
Vertical bar represents the Standard Error of Measurement.
Composite Score SEM Composite Score SEM
VCI 104 3.67 PSI 91 4.74
PRI 102 3.97 FSIQ 97 2.6
WMI 86 4.24
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Verbal Comprehension Subtest Scores Summary
Subtests
Raw
Score
Scaled
Score
Test Age
Equiv.
Percentile
Rank
Similarities 23 11 11:6 63
Vocabulary 38 11 12:2 63
Comprehension 24 11 11:6 63
(Information) 17 10 10:6 50
(Word Reasoning) 14 10 10:6 50
Perceptual Reasoning Subtest Scores Summary
Subtests
Raw
Score
Scaled
Score
Test Age
Equiv.
Percentile
Rank
Block Design 30 9 9:10 37
Picture Concepts 17 10 10:2 50
Matrix Reasoning 24 12 12:10 75
(Picture Completion) 24 10 9:10 50
Working Memory Subtest Scores Summary
Subtests
Raw
Score
Scaled
Score
Test Age
Equiv.
Percentile
Rank
Digit Span 13 8 8:2 25
Letter-Number Sequencing 13 7 7:10 16
(Arithmetic) 22 10 10:2 50
Processing Speed Subtest Scores Summary
Subtests
Raw
Score
Scaled
Score
Test Age
Equiv.
Percentile
Rank
Coding 38 8 8:10 25
Symbol Search 20 9 9:6 37
(Cancellation) 64 8 8:6 25
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Vertical bar represents the Standard Error of Measurement.
Subtest Score SEM Subtest Score SEM
Similarities (SI) 11 1.12 Picture Completion (PCm) 10 1.16
Vocabulary (VC) 11 0.95 Digit Span (DS) 8 0.99
Comprehension (CO) 11 1.34 Letter-Number Sequencing (LN) 7 0.99
Information (IN) 10 1.24 Arithmetic (AR) 10 0.9
Word Reasoning (WR) 10 1.37 Coding (CD) 8 0.99
Block Design (BD) 9 1.2 Symbol Search (SS) 9 1.34
Picture Concepts (PCn) 10 1.2 Cancellation (CA) 8 1.2
Matrix Reasoning (MR) 12 0.99
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Composite Score Differences
Discrepancy Comparisons
Scaled
Score 1
Scaled
Score 2 Diff.
Critical
Value
Sig.
Diff.
Y/N
Base
Rate
VCI - PRI 104 102 2 10.6 N 43.6%
VCI - WMI 104 86 18 10.99 Y 9.9%
VCI - PSI 104 91 13 11.75 Y 21%
PRI - WMI 102 86 16 11.38 Y 15.1%
PRI - PSI 102 91 11 12.12 N 24.2%
WMI - PSI 86 91 -5 12.46 N 42.1%
Base Rate by Overall Sample
Statistical Significance (Critical Values) at the .05 level
Subtest Score Differences
Discrepancy Comparisons
Scaled
Score 1
Scaled
Score 2 Diff.
Critical
Value
Sig.
Diff.
Y/N
Base
Rate
Digit Span - Letter-Number Sequencing 8 7 1 2.83 N 39.1%
Coding - Symbol Search 8 9 -1 3.55 N 44.8%
Similarities - Picture Concepts 11 10 1 3.36 N 41.5%
Digit Span - Arithmetic 8 10 -2 2.94 N 28.7%
Letter-Number Sequencing - Arithmetic 7 10 -3 2.80 Y 17.6%
Coding - Cancellation 8 8 0 3.58 N
Symbol Search - Cancellation 9 8 1 3.80 N 45.1%
Statistical Significance (Critical Values) at the .05 level
Differences between Subtest and Mean of Subtest Scores
Subtest
Subtest
Scaled
Score
Mean
Scaled
Score
Diff.
from
Mean
Critical
Value S/W
Base
Rate
Block Design 9 9.6 -0.60 3.01 >25%
Similarities 11 9.6 1.40 3.01 >25%
Digit Span 8 9.6 -1.60 2.87 >25%
Picture Concepts 10 9.6 0.40 3.39 >25%
Coding 8 9.6 -1.60 3.17 >25%
Vocabulary 11 9.6 1.40 2.70 >25%
Letter-Number Sequencing 7 9.6 -2.60 2.63 10-25%
Matrix Reasoning 12 9.6 2.40 2.68 10-25%
Comprehension 11 9.6 1.40 3.44 >25%
Symbol Search 9 9.6 -0.60 3.56 >25%
Overall: Mean = 9.6, Scatter = 5, Base Rate = 90.3%
Statistical Significance (Critical Values) at the .05 level
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WISC-IV Interpretive Report
Process Summary and Discrepancy Analysis
Process Score Raw Score Scaled Score
Block Design No Time Bonus 30 10
Digit Span Forward 8 9
Digit Span Backward 5 7
Cancellation Random 28 8
Cancellation Structured 36 9
Process Score Raw Score Base Rate
Longest Digit Span Forward (LDSF) 6 60.5%
Longest Digit Span Backward (LDSB) 3 94.5%
Process Discrepancy Comparisons
Process Score Raw Score 1 Raw Score 2 Difference Base Rate
LDSF - LDSB 6 3 3 31.4%
Base Rate by All Ages
Subtest/Process Score
Scaled
Score 1
Scaled
Score 2 Diff.
Critical
Value
Sig.
Diff.
Y/N
Base
Rate
Block Design - Block Design No Time Bonus 9 10 -1.00 3.26 N 24.3%
Digit Span Forward - Digit Span Backward 9 7 2.00 3.62 N 30.4%
Cancellation Random - Structured 8 9 -1.00 4.40 N 41.0%
Statistical Significance (Critical Values) at the .05 level
This report is valid only if signed by a qualified professional:
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