PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL EVALUATION REPORT
CONFIDENTIAL
NAME: STUDENT
EVAULATION DATES: 9/30/15, 10/7/15, 10/8/15
BIRTHDATE: ###
REPORT DATE: 10/12/15
AGE: 7 years, 11 months
SCHOOL: SCHOOL Elementary
Grade: 2
EXAMINER: Nick Marchi, M.A.
SUPERVISOR(S): Joe Sinnott, Ed.S.
REASON FOR REFERRAL
STUDENT was referred for an initial evaluation by the school psychologist intern and special education
director upon reviewing her move-in file. STUDENT was previously evaluated for Emotional Disability at
OLDSCHOOL Elementary; all assessment components were completed but a case conference was not held
before STUDENT moved to SCHOOL. This evaluation examined the possibility of an Emotional Disability
using data from gathered from her previous school and current data from SCHOOL.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Social-Developmental History
Educationally Relevant Medical Information
Available Records (Educational History, Interventions, Previous Psychoeducational evaluations etc.)
Teacher Interview
Testing/Behavior Observations
Classroom Observations
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Third Edition (WIAT-III)
Social-Emotional Functioning
Functional Behavior Assessment
SOCIAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY
Background information was collected via a review of available records and information from STUDENT and
family, as requested and available.
Developmental History: Mr. PARENT, STUDENT’s father, reported a normal pregnancy for STUDENT and
no special problems during growth and development.
Medical Information: STUDENT has the following diagnoses from Oaklawn: post-traumatic stress disorder,
selective mutism, enuresis, and encopresis. She is not reported to be taking any medications at this time.
Hearing and vision screenings completed 10/5/15 showed normal results, and vision is corrected to normal with
glasses.
CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
Social History: STUDENT lives with her father and legal guardian, Mr. PARENT. She has unsupervised
visitation with her mother, Mrs. PARENT.
Behavior Information: Concerns reported from her previous school included inappropriate touching of other
students, refusal to change her pull-up after toileting incidents, refusing to talk to staff, refusing to comply with
staff requests, leaving assigned areas (e.g. seat, playground boundaries), and lying. She had crisis management
and positive behavior intervention plans in place. SCHOOL staff reported that they have not seen the same
level of concerning behaviors since STUDENT moved to SCHOOL. However, she still exhibits selective
mutism (mainly with male staff and students), and had one instance where she refused to enter the classroom in
the morning.
Leisure: STUDENT enjoys riding her bike, swimming, crafts, and playing hide and seek.
Educational Information: STUDENT attended kindergarten and 1st grade at OLDSCHOOL Elementary in
Elkhart, Indiana. She moved to SCHOOL for the 2015-2016 school year.
Parental Concerns: Mr. PARENT is currently concerned about STUDENT’s ability to listen and follow
directions, respect personal space, and talk to adults. Grounding, time-out, and loss of privileges are effective
disciplinary techniques, and the best way to help her is to make deals with her.
Strengths: Mr. PARENT reported STUDENT is creative, a good helper, energetic, and almost always happy.
PREVIOUS EVALUATIONS
Summary from NEIGHBOR Community Schools, 5/12/15* (*Only nonverbal results were obtained due to lack
of student verbal responses).
Test
Score
KTEA-3
Silent Reading Fluency: 93
Reading Comprehension: 91
Math Computation: 100
Written Expression: 76
Spelling: 83
DAS-II
Nonverbal Reasoning: 100
Spatial: 104
BASC-2
Teacher:
Parent:
Clinically Significant:
Clinically Significant:
hyperactivity, aggression, hyperactivity, aggression,
conduct problems,
conduct problems,
anxiety, depression,
somatic complaints,
atypical behavior,
atypical behavior,
withdrawal, somatic
attention problems,
complaints, and
adaptability, and activities
adaptability.
of daily living.
At-Risk: social skills,
leadership, and adaptive
skills
At-Risk: social skills,
leadership, and functional
communication.
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
ASSESSMENT OF PROGRESS AND INTERVENTIONS
At the time of this report, STUDENT was earning mostly average grades in 2nd grade. STUDENT is not
currently involved in any interventions through the RTI process, as she is not yet comfortable talking with the
intervention staff. Beginning of year DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy) data indicates she
may benefit from targeted support to develop phonetic decoding and reading fluency skills.
TESTING OBSERVATIONS
During the first day of testing (10/7/15), STUDENT appeared nervous and was visibly shaking. She did not
attempt any nonverbal activities for roughly 30 minutes. STUDENT appeared more comfortable when her
general education teacher joined the examiner and was able to complete verbal tasks by whispering answers to
Miss TEACHER1 or by speaking into a recording device with the examiner out of the room. Eventually,
STUDENT appeared more comfortable, completed additional nonverbal activities with the examiner alone, and
began responding in writing to examiner questions. Getting STUDENT to cooperate with the examiner alone
was somewhat challenging at times; she would refuse to do some writing and math tasks, as indicated by
writing “No!” repeatedly on her paper. She refused to continue working alone with the examiner after lunch, so
testing was discontinued for the day.
On the second day of testing (10/8/15), Miss TEACHER1 was present throughout the session. STUDENT was
cooperative and completed all activities without protest.
Given STUDENT’s level of effort and observed anxiety during achievement testing, result may not fully reflect
her academic skill levels and should be interpreted with some caution.
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION
STUDENT was observed in her general education classroom (Miss TEACHER1) and gym class (Mr.
TEACHER2) on 9/30/15 for two 15-minute sessions. General education instruction included morning centers
and small group reading instruction. STUDENT and a random peer were observed to be on task 97% of the
time. In gym class, STUDENT was observed to be on task 87% of the time; a random peer was observed to be
on task 100% of the time. STUDENT’s off task behavior included showing an eraser to peers and her teacher,
however she did not talk to her teacher. She seemed hesitant at times to chase after the ball during the soccer
game, but otherwise displayed age- and context-appropriate behavior.
ACHIEVEMENT
STUDENT was administered the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – 3rd Edition (WIAT-III) to obtain an
estimate of her overall academic achievement in the areas of oral language, reading, written expression, and
math. It should be noted that standardization was altered in the following ways: (a) Nonverbal subtests were
attempted first, (b) STUDENT was permitted to whisper answers to her general education teacher who then
repeated answers verbatim to the examiner (c) for Word Reading, Pseudoword Decoding, and Oral Reading
Fluency subtests the examiner left the room and STUDENT spoke into a recording device with her general
education teacher present; items on the device were reviewed and scored post-administration by the examiner.
The average range of standard scores is 85-115. Results should be interpreted with some caution, given the
alterations to standardization, and STUDENT’s level of effort and anxiety during testing, especially for test
components involving oral reading. STUDENT’s scores on the WIAT-III are discussed below:
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
Standard
Score
95%
Confidence
Interval
Qualitative
Description
Total Reading*
N/A
N/A
N/A
Basic Reading*
N/A
N/A
N/A
Reading Comprehension
and Fluency
81
74-88
Below Average
Written Expression
83
75-91
Below Average
Mathematics
91
84-98
Average
Math Fluency
86
77-95
Average
Composite
Qualitative
Description
Standard
Score
95%
Confidence
Interval
Listening Comprehension
98
86-110
Early Reading Skills
81
68-94
Below
Average
Reading Comprehension
84
75-93
Below
Average
Math Problem Solving
94
84-104
Alphabet Writing Fluency
110
94-126
Sentence Composition
80
71-89
Below
Average
Word Reading
78
74-82
Below
Average
N/A
N/A
Numerical Operations
91
82-99
Oral Reading Fluency
87
79-95
Spelling
71
64-78
Below
Average
Math Fluency-Addition
84
71-97
Below
Average
Math Fluency-Subtraction
89
79-99
Subtest
Pseudoword Decoding*
Average
Average
Average
N/A
Average
Average
Average
*Pseudoword Decoding was invalidated due to inability to hear STUDENT’s responses on the recording device.
As a result, the Total Reading and Basic Reading composites were not calculated.
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
Mathematics
STUDENT’s overall math skills fell in Average range (Mathematics) for all assessed areas. Her performance
suggests little to no difficulty with math-related tasks compared to her peers.
Math Fluency
STUDENT’s overall math fluency skills fell in the Average range (Math Fluency) with slight variability. She
performed in slightly Below Average range when asked to quickly solve simple addition (Math FluencyAddition) problems, but in the Average range when asked to quickly solve simple subtraction (Math FluencySubtraction) problems under specified time restraints (Math Fluency-Multiplication). Her performance suggests
little to no difficulty completing math timed tests compared to her peers.
Reading Skills
STUDENT’s ability to read words presented in isolation (Word Reading) was Below Average, but should be
interpreted with caution given alterations to standardization and difficulty hearing STUDENT on the recording
device. Her ability to read passages fluently and efficiently (Oral Reading Fluency) was Average, while her
ability to demonstrate understanding of what she has read (Reading Comprehension) was Below Average. Her
performance suggests she may struggle with reading unfamiliar words and understanding what she has read
compared to her peers.
Written Expression
STUDENT’s overall writing skills fell in the slightly Below Average range (Written Expression) with some
variability. It should be noted that STUDENT did not appear to put in her best effort on sentence writing tasks,
which may influence low scores. She performed in the Average range on a task requiring her to write letters of
the alphabet (Alphabet Writing Fluency). She performed in the Below Average Range on a task requiring her to
write simple and compound sentences, and at the low end of the Below Average range when demonstrating
spelling skills (Spelling). Her performance suggests she may struggle slightly with grade level writing tasks
compared to her peers, especially when correct spelling is a factor.
Listening Comprehension
STUDENT’s basic receptive language skills or ability to listen for details (Listening Comprehension) was
Average, suggesting she should have little to no difficulty listening to and following directions compared to her
peers.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL FUNCTIONING
Miss TEACHER1 and Mr. PARENT completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children- 2nd Edition
(BASC-2), a rating form that measures behaviors and emotions that may affect a child’s functioning at home
and school. Scores are reported as T scores and ranges for inappropriate behaviors are as follows: Average (59
or lower), At-Risk (60-69), Clinically Significant (70+). Ranges for adaptive behaviors are as follows: Average
(41+), At-Risk (31-40), Clinically Significant (30 or lower). Ratings are discussed below
Parent Rating Scale
Mr. PARENT noted Clinically Significant concerns for hyperactivity, aggression, conduct problems, atypicality,
withdrawal, and attention problems, adaptability, activities of daily living, social skills, and functional
communication. He noted At-Risk concerns for leadership.
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
Teacher Rating Scale
Miss TEACHER1 noted Clinically Significant concerns for anxiety and somatization. She noted At-Risk
concerns for withdrawal, adaptability, social skills, and leadership.
Discussion: Mr. PARENT indicated more behavioral and emotional concerns for STUDENT compared to Miss
TEACHER1. STUDENT may be displaying different concerns at home versus school due to different
behavioral expectations, level of familiarity or comfort with people at home, and other factors. STUDENT’s
father may also have based his ratings on knowledge of STUDENT’s past behavioral concerns that Miss
TEACHER1 may not be aware of or have observed in the classroom. In addition, it should be noted that Miss
TEACHER1 indicated more concerns for internal difficulties, rather than for external or acting-out behaviors.
Parent Score Tables:
Teacher Score Tables:
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR ASSESSMENT
Please see report from Mrs. SPED, Special Education Teacher.
SUMMARY
At the time of evaluation, STUDENT was a 7-year, 11-month old female attending 2nd grade at SCHOOL
Elementary in Miss TEACHER1’s class. She was referred for an initial evaluation by the school psychologist
intern and special education director upon reviewing her move-in file. STUDENT was previously evaluated for
Emotional Disability at OLDSCHOOL Elementary; all assessment components were completed but a case
conference was not held before STUDENT moved to SCHOOL. This evaluation examined the possibility of an
Emotional Disability using data from gathered from her previous school and current data from SCHOOL.
STUDENT’s previous school reported concerns including inappropriate touching of other students, refusal to
change her pull-up after toileting incidents, refusing to talk to staff, refusing to comply with staff requests,
leaving assigned areas (e.g. seat, playground boundaries), and lying. She had crisis management and positive
behavior intervention plans in place. At the time of this report, SCHOOL staff did not observe these same
concerns, other than refusal to speak to certain staff and peers (selective mutism), and occasional instances of
staff refusals (e.g. refusing to enter the classroom on one occasion, refusal to complete testing without her
general education teacher present). Social-emotional ratings completed by her father indicated Clinically
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
Significant concerns for hyperactivity, aggression, conduct problems, atypicality, withdrawal, and attention
problems, adaptability, activities of daily living, social skills, and functional communication, with At-Risk
concerns for leadership. Ratings completed by her general education teacher indicated Clinically Significant
concerns for anxiety and somatization, with At-Risk concerns for withdrawal, adaptability, social skills, and
leadership.
STUDENT has not been involved in any interventions for academic skills through the RTI process at the time of
this report. She demonstrated Below Average reading and writing skills and Average math skills. Testing had to
be modified to accommodate STUDENT’s selective mutism, anxiety, and level of effort, and as a result, should
be interpreted with some caution. Test components involving oral reading may not fully reflect STUDENT’s
true skills given the aforementioned factors and difficulty hearing STUDENT when a recording device was
used.
In consideration of a possible Emotional Disability, the Indiana Article 7 criteria for eligibility are as follows:
Sec. 7. (a) “Emotional disability” means an inability to learn or progress that cannot be explained by
cognitive, sensory, or health factors. The student exhibits one (1) or more of the following characteristics
over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance:
(1) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
(2) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
(3) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships.
(4) Inappropriate behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances.
(5) Episodes of psychosis
While at the beginning of the evaluation, teachers reported low levels of concerns for STUDENT, updated
data from social-emotional ratings forms, FBA/PBIP data, and reports from teachers suggest STUDENT
presents with significant emotional/behavioral issues that affect her ability to learn. Fears and anxiety at
school, inappropriate behaviors/feelings under normal circumstances, and an inability to build satisfactory
interpersonal relationships with staff and peers suggest the presence of an Emotional Disability. However,
this conclusion is the responsibility of the Case Conference Committee.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The Case Conference Committee should meet to discuss the results of this evaluation.
2. The following strategies may assist with concerns related to selective mutism.
a. Begin pairing familiar peers/adults with unfamiliar peers/adults STUDENT (e.g. gradually
introduce additional peers to STUDENT’s existing small groups in classroom).
b. Allow STUDENT to replace verbal components of class activities with nonverbal alternatives.
i. E.g. Calling on STUDENT in class – allow her to write answers
ii. E.g. STUDENT gives a presentation – allow her to draw pictures and use visual aids
while the teacher reads a script of her verbal responses
c. Consider using video modeling to facilitate communication with unfamiliar staff members.
d. Praise STUDENT when she speaks with staff/peers for the first time to encourage further
communications.
e. Encourage staff members (especially males) to communicate with STUDENT without expecting
a response at this time (e.g. “Hi STUDENT!” in the hallway, “STUDENT, I really like your
backpack!”).
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CONFIDENTIAL
Psychoeducational Report
STUDENT
10/12/15
f. Do not pressure STUDENT to give responses or speak when she is uncomfortable. Provide
alternative means of communicating (e.g. drawing, writing, demonstrating, etc.).
3. Given testing data, reports from her teacher, and curriculum-based measurement data, STUDENT would
likely benefit from interventions through the RTI process to address concerns in the following areas:
a. Phonetic decoding.
b. Sight word reading.
c. Reading fluency.
d. Sentence writing and spelling.
4. STUDENT would likely benefit from additional assistance at home to develop reading and writing
skills:
a. Nightly reading with parent.
b. Decoding practice.
c. Sight word drill and practice.
d. Practice writing words and sentences.
_________________________
Nick Marchi, M.A.
School Psychologist Intern
________________________
Joe Sinnott, Ed.S
School Psychologist
1005485
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