PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT REPORT
Date of Assessment : 08.01.2019
Chronological age : 9 years 7 months
Emmanuel was referred by Dr.
Fauziah (Gleneagle Hospital) due to his learning difficulties and to ascertain
his cognitive functioning and whether he is dyslexic.
He is able to read one-syllable
simple English words and a few of two-syllable Malay words. He is also slow in
writing and when asked to copy, he made mistakes easily. However, he is good at
memorizing. With regard to his academic activities, Emmanuel is easily bored,
but he can spend many hours playing the computer games.
My comment: I was a little disturbed when the father told me
he could not read in Malay. However, I had that cleared when he told me that
the first language Emmanuel learned was English. If Emmanuel had learned Malay
as his first kindergarten language he will not have a problem in reading in
Malay.
I don’t expect anything other than being easily bored. How
would he feel when all his classmates can read but not him?
In the recent school examination,
he failed in most of the subjects except for subjects that did not require
reading, such as Art, Physical Education, or oral test.
He speaks well in English with the
examiner as it is his usual language of communication with his father. His
speech was clear and fluent.
My comment: I told the father that I will get Emmanuel to
read in less than 4 months of 3 hour tuition per week simply because I have
taught more than 70 such kids. I don’t have any scientific method of
assessment. The fact that he spoke good English and read out the sounds of
alphabets wrongly was all I needed to be confident I can teach him.
Emmanuel was assessed using the
Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI), Child Behaviour Checklist
and Dyslexia Screening Test.
Emmanuel scored 129 for Nonverbal
Intelligence Quotient (NIQ). He is categorized as superior in nonverbal
intellectual ability involving spatial relationship and nonverbal symbolic
reasoning. He scored 124 for the Pictorial Nonverbal Intelligence Quotient
(PNIQ), which indicates that his problem-solving and reasoning in
representational pictures of familiar objects used in the test formats is superior.
He scored 130 for the Geometric Nonverbal Intelligence Quotient (GNIQ), which
indicates his problem-solving and reasoning for an unfamiliar design that was
used as stimuli is also superior. Summary of CTONI Emmanuel has superior
performance in the spatial relationship and nonverbal symbolic reasoning,
discriminating, sequencing, detail recognition, problem-solving and pattern
completion as tested using the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence
(CTONI).
My comment: When the father came to see me he said that he
was looking into getting an OKU (Orang kurang upaya) or disability card so that
he may send his son to a school having dyslexic kids. I replied to him that
Emmanuel is a very intelligent kid and it would be wrong to admit him into such
a school.
An IQ of 130 is very intelligent as proved by the
assessment.
The Dyslexia Screening Test is a
screening instrument to profile the strengths and weaknesses that are often
associated with dyslexia.
The overall 'At risk Quotient' was
2.2 This is in the lowest 2 percent for children
of this age and is considered a 'Strongly at risk' score.
There are five signs of dyslexia,
namely: - At Risk Quotient (ARQ) is 2.2 - Strongly at risk; - Spiky skills
profile; - Weak literacy (mean 1.25 - in the lowest 5 percent). - Discrepancy
of 2 points between fluid IQ and phonological skills - Weak phonological skill
(mean 1 - in the lowest 5 percent).
My comment: As I have mentioned many times, I don’t like the
term dyslexia as it means nothing to me. It is of no help to any parent who has
his child diagnosed as a dyslexic or a slow learner.
Conclusion Based on the information
obtained from the current evaluations, Emmanuel is functioning at a superior
level of intelligence with strongly at risk of having dyslexia.
My comment: It is the intelligence in my first student in
2004 which aroused my curiosity. He could not read a single sentence when he
first came to me in 2004. Today, he is doing a double degree in accounting and finance in Adelaide.
With the information obtained from
this assessment, the recommendations are as listed: 1. He may remain in the
current school, but to discuss with the school if Emmanuel can choose not to
take the Chinese subject and to observe his academic performance. If he is
still struggling, might consider a special school with dyslexia classes. 2.
Regular tuition/coaching by a special education teacher to train his fluency in
spelling, reading, and comprehension skills.
My comment: I recommended to his father to remove him from
the Chinese school and place in an ordinary school where he does not have to
learn Chinese. He can always pick that language up like I did.
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