IQ assessment/learning disability...

[Tunesimah]

This is a rather personal thread... just so you are warned.

I got the results from an IQ assessment, and there are some discrepancies that seem pretty significant. I took a WAIS-III and the Woodcock-Johnson PSycho Education Battery. My suspicions of a short term memory problem was very accurate...

On test related to short term memory, and quick decoding/processing of information... I score quite low, in Digit Span I'm 25th percentile, Digit Symbol-Coding also 15th and Picture Completion I'm 27th. Which is quite disconcerting.

In all the others I score high, at least 90 percentile. And some more than 99 percentile... like vocabulary, block design and matrix reasoning.

Nothing solid came out of this with the Psychiatrist. We went through more sessions... but I didn't get an official diagnosis of anything.... I don't have a general practitioner or insurance... so I'm kind of out of luck or something.

But what does this all mean? It seems as if I have a foot in ability and inability.

Anyone here have experience like this? It feels so strange to be below average and above average, for whatever that means. Does this point to any specific learning disability?

 

[Kidege]

I'd like to be helpful but it's not my area of expertise...

I do know some people with many above average abilities, and a few areas where they are below average. My mother is one: extremely intelligent ENTJ, great theorist, great politician... gets lost in a square space. Put her in the main square of a town and 5 min later she's lost. She's developed a few strategies to cope so it isn't too problematic.

Could your problem be temporary or a result of chemical imbalance or stress?

One of my professors was an expert in Romanian literature, until she found herself incapable of saying any vowels. She tried to talk and she couldn't pronounce any vowels. Apparently it was due to stress. When she recovered she 'forgot' to speak Romanian.

Dunno. The point is, I'm sure there's a way to cope if not "fix" the problem.

 

[Tunesimah]

Could your problem be temporary or a result of chemical imbalance or stress?

One of my professors was an expert in Romanian literature, until she found herself incapable of saying any vowels. She tried to talk and she couldn't pronounce any vowels. Apparently it was due to stress. When she recovered she 'forgot' to speak Romanian.

Dunno. The point is, I'm sure there's a way to cope if not "fix" the problem.

I don't think my problem is specifically stress related. Certainly stress will make it worse. But I wasn't stressed when taking this, and I think it reflects my regular ability... sometimes it's better than this sometimes worse.

It may be chemical or something... maybe ADHD inattentive related. In another thread here someone has me thinking it's dyspraxia. I used to think I had Aspergers. Now I don't really think so. My verbal and performance IQ are very close... and I don't have quite the flavor social problems those with Aspergers have.

My academic/life history makes perfect sense in this light, but it's unfortunate that most professionals around me haven't picked up on my areas of great weakness. I got pinned as being lazy and unmotivated a lot, which isn't the full story.

I'm just wondering what my expectations in life are now. Without assistance will I be able to cope and manage on a job? Can I get assistance somehow to fully use my abilities in some way.

I'm in college again, pursuing a teaching certification. I have a meeting with the Disability services coordinator. Hopefully she can bring some light and guidance to this.

The psychiatrist seemed like a dead end, just wanted to bilk me out of money for therapy sessions.

 

[INTPINFP]

Some peoples brains are specialized in certain areas, so, areas of the brain which are not specialized are less developed.