Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – Third Edition (WIAT-III)
For
Tom Smith
Tom Smith is a first grade student who is currently receiving special education
services because of a speech/language disability. He is being re-evaluated to ensure
accurate data to determine proper placement for services.
On 2/3/2014, Tom was administered the WIAT-III to measure listening, speaking,
reading, writing, and mathematical skills. Detailed results of these assessments are
below.
The WIAT-III was administered for an in-depth assessment of Tom’s achievement in
13 academic areas: listening comprehension, early reading skills, reading
comprehension, math problem solving, alphabet writing fluency, sentence
composition, word reading, pseudoword decoding, numerical operation, oral
expression, spelling, math fluency - addition, and math fluency - subtraction. Results
were interpreted using grade-based norms.
Assessment in the area of Listening Comprehension, which has two components,
measured receptive vocabulary and oral discourse comprehension. For receptive
vocabulary, Tom listened to words and pointed to a picture that best illustrated the
meaning of each word. For oral discourse comprehension he listened to passages
and orally responded to comprehension questions. His receptive vocabulary and
oral discourse comprehension indicates below average range (4th percentile,
standard score 73, and 3rd percentile, standard score 72, respectively). Overall,
Tom’s performance in listening comprehension revealed he is in the below average
range (2nd percentile, standard score 68). Analysis of Tom’s listening
comprehension indicates he was able to answer 3/19 questions for receptive
vocabulary, and 4/27 for oral discourse comprehension.
Tom’s performance on the Oral Expression subtest, which has three components, is
in the below average range (1st percentile, standard score 68). He struggled to name
concepts shown in pictures for the expressive vocabulary, which measures speaking
vocabulary and word retrieval ability (2nd percentile, standard score 70). Tom’s
skills were slightly stronger in oral word fluency that measured how easily he could
produce words and flexibility of thought process. For this component of the
assessment he was asked to say as many words as possible in a given category
within 60 seconds (3rd percentile, standard score 72). The section for sentence
repetition that measures syntactic knowledge and short-term memory required
Tom to repeat simple sentences verbatim, he demonstrated difficulty in this area by
his raw score of 4/30 (2nd percentile, standard score 70).
In the area of reading, Tom’s scores indicate he is in the low range. His performance
in Early Reading Skills, which measures several areas in developing reading skills,
suggests this is an area of weakness (6th percentile, standard score 77). Analysis of
this subtest indicates he was able to name letters and most letter sounds, and
generate some words that rhyme. However, Tom struggled with blending sounds
together to match or form words, and isolating ending sounds in words. For Reading
Comprehension, Tom was unable to answer any questions after reading short
passages. This test was not to be considered valid as the student was observed to be
making arbitrary choices when answering comprehension questions (4th percentile,
standard score 74). The Word Reading subtest measures speed and accuracy of
decontextualized word recognition. This was an effort for Tom as he read from a
word list that became increasingly difficult (10th percentile, standard score 81),
analysis shows he was able to read the first two words on the list. Pseudoword
Decoding, which he read from a list of nonsense words, was also difficult; he was
unable to read any words and asked several times “What is this?” (5th percentile,
standard score 76).
Another area of concern is Tom’s writing ability; his composite score is in the low
range. Alphabet Writing Fluency measured his ability to write as many letters of the
alphabet as possible in 30 seconds, and this was a struggle for Tom as he was only
able to write one letter (1st percentile, standard score 63). For Sentence
Composition, which has two components, Tom had difficulty in combining two
sentences into one that mean the same thing, and writing a meaningful sentence
using a specific word (8th percentile, standard score 79). Analysis for the sentence
composition indicates Tom was unable to achieve a score on either component of
the subtest. On the Spelling subtest, which measures written spelling of letter
sounds and single words, Tom was able to write his name and the letters required,
but he was unable to write any words dictated within the context of a sentence (4th
percentile, standard score 74).
Tom’s performance in the areas of math problem solving, numerical operations,
math fluency- addition, and math fluency- subtraction were evaluated. His
mathematics composite score is in the below average range (8th percentile,
standard score 81). In Math Fluency, which were timed written and subtraction
calculations, his composite score is below average (10th percentile, standard score
81). Analysis indicates he was able to answer four addition problems and zero
subtraction problems within the given time limits. His scores in Math Problem
Solving, which required basic skills and everyday applications that were untimed,
demonstrated below average (2nd percentile, standard score 70). The Numerical
Operations subtest, which requires written math calculations that are untimed,
demonstrated a stronger area in mathematics for Tom (27 percentile, standard
score 91). Analysis of this subtest indicates Tom did well until subtraction problems
were introduced on the assessment.
In summary, the WIAT-III test results suggest relative weaknesses in all academic
areas for Tom. His composite scores are in the low range for oral language, total
reading, and written expression, and he is below average in listening
comprehension, sentence composition, oral expression, basic reading, mathematics,
and math fluency.
WIAT-III Subtest Score Summary: Tom Smith
Subtest
Listening Comprehension
Early Reading Skills
Reading Comprehension
Math Problem Solving
Alphabet Writing Fluency
Sentence Composition
Word Reading
Pseudoword Decoding
Numerical Operations
Oral Operations
Spelling
Math Fluency-Addition
Math Fluency-Subtraction
Percentile Rank Standard Score Grade Equivalent
68
2
<PK.0
77
6
K.3
74
4
<1.0
70
2
PK.9
63
1
PK.0
79
8
<1.0
81
10
<1.0
76
5
<1.0
91
27
1.0
64
1
<PK.0
74
4
K.1
85
16
1.0
80
9
1.0
WIAT-III Composite Score Summary: Tom Smith
Composite
Oral Language
Total Reading
Basic Reading
Written Expression
Mathematics
Math Fluency
Total Achievement
Percentile Rank Standard Score Qualitative Description
1
2
8
2
8
10
2
63
69
79
69
79
81
69
Low
Low
Below Average
Low
Below Average
Below Average
Low