Can Someone Interpret what the tests actually mean?

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Does anyone know how to interpret WAIS-IV tests and stuff?

I need to know what this means. I got handed a sheaf of papers, was asked to read them and let him know if I had any questions. (I cannot read something right there and then do questions with some stranger I don't even know. I have to take them home and think about stuff for a while, and THEN I'll have questions.) But even after a few re-reads I don't know what the big picture is here. Does any of this actually tell me what parts of my brain are functioning best or least well? Do the ranges in the scoring mean anything? After all those tests, it's gotta say something more than numbers?!? Why would my matrix reasoning be 25 points lower than all verbal comprehension/subtest scores? And what the bleep is matrix reasoning?

Verbal comprehension – percentile 99.9 with an IQ rating of 147
subtests all 99% or better, except comprehension which was 98%

Perceptual reasoning – percentile 87, with an IQ rating of 117
block design 91
matrix reasoning 75
visual puzzles 84

Working memory – percentile 93, with an IQ rating of 122
digit span 91
arithmatic 91

Processing speed – percentile 91, with an IQ rating of 120
symbol search 84
coding 91

And the CPTII test.

It says CPT II non-clinical score of 55.39 (supposedly I've got better than a 50/50 chance of NOT being ADD? I think that's what it means. (?))

So I understand about the percentiles, and they don't matter much to me. I don't really care where I am in relation to others. What I care about is the way my brain functions. And what I don't get is how these various scores interplay. What does it actually MEAN, overall, to my functioning? (Please don't say "oh, it mean's your pretty smart". That was not helpful from the guy. I need to know how these things interpret what my brain is doing to me. If I'm "so smart", why the hell am I still a lower-level white collar type after 40 years in the workforce, and not doing some sort of advanced rocket-scientist research?)

and then there's the GADS:

social interaction 91st percentile
restricted patterns 84th percentile
cognitive 91st percentile
pragmatic skills 63rd percentile (Report identifies this as a strength. Does that mean the scale is a reverse - the higher the worse performing? or is it a typo?)

Vineland II

Communication 50 percentile (apparently in the expressive sub-domain my age equivalent is 12 years 3 months and everywhere else I'm an adult?)
Daily living skills 68 percentile
Socialization 14 percentile
Composite 27 (how do you get a composite of 27 from 50+68+14?) And what does the composite mean?


I was always told that I didn't speak until I was 3 years old, and then they couldn't shut me up. I always thought that late speech was associated with HFA, but the guy says "Aspergers." And there was nobody but me to answer the GADS and Vineland II. Anybody who knew me 55 years ago is pretty much deadski. Would that not invalidate the test, having me answer the questions (and I could only really address about half of them)?

Has anyone reading this got a clue as to how to interpret the scores? If so, thanks in advance.

Last edited by Nan on 05 Mar 2013, 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Those are good scores. You're high average in terms of perceptual IQ (spatial visual stuff) and genius level for Verbal IQ. Your overall IQ would probably be classed as superior but you don't have an overall score bcs there's too much discrepancy between your verbal and perceptual IQ. You're better at verbal stuff (vocab, reading comprehension, logic, math ect.) than spatial things( puzzles involving spatial visual sense etc).People with ASDs often have a large split between verbal and perceptual IQ. I have it too and my verbal IQ is also higher.

The AS/HFA distinction doesn't matter. In two months it'll all be called ASD. Doctors can't reliably distinguish between the kinds of ASD which is why they're lumping them all together.

The test is as valid as it can be for you and I believe it still has validity. It's harder to diagnose adults without input from teachers and parents but not impossible and sometimes necessary. There's nothing you can do about it anyway so don't worry.

you'd be a good writer if that interests you.

Thank you for taking the time. They did give me an overall score, I just didn't put it there. It's just a number. (An average, I assume. And given the differences in each of the sub-tests, it doesn't seem as if it would really mean much.)

Not quite sure I follow - no more Aspergers in two months? Ey?

It's odd, though. I have a really, REALLY tough time with numbers and have taken many math classes two or three times just to end up barely scraping by a "pass". I did a stint as a bookkeeper for a while when I was younger and it was just a disaster. In high school I sat through a probabilities and statistics class I never should have been put in and I think the most I ever got written down on a test was my name. None of the rest EVER made sense. The only way I passed any of the classes was by rote memorization. I never knew what I was doing. [They gave me a "D-" in the prob and stats class, which is a grade that did not exist, because I was a graduating senior and had to have a grade in the class other than an F or I could not graduate.]

Logic, well I do "either/or" very well. And I am a puzzle freak, I used to take small machinery items apart and put them back together again as a kid to see how they worked. When I was younger I was great with jigsaw puzzles, but now I find I have a tough time with them. Word puzzles, no, they are a snap. And I've been the one person out of all the people around me who does "spatial" stuff well. I can look at the items in a room, see how they'd look packed up and then almost to a box know how many would be able to fit inside, say, a moving truck of any given size (once I saw it). (Is it just that others are worse?) I'm also the one who, as a three year old, could talk my parents back through the numerous streets of a city we were visiting when they got lost - I could say, no, turn here, turn there, go straight, and get us back to our motel. Every time. I have a "map" sense - once I have been somewhere, even decades later, as long as the basic landmarks (big tree, blue house, long hill, etc.) are still there I can get around. I went back to my childhood home after 30 years away (we left when I was and knew precisely how to get around.

So, anyway, thanks for that information, Daydreamer. It was kind of you to respond so quickly.

If anyone has anything more in depth, it would be helpful to me. I had rather hoped the person who administered the tests would have given me a bit more to go on than a series of numbers. I'm really, REALLY bad at reading between the lines, so if someone else can, I would greatly appreciate it. I know I'm a verbal person - except that I really have trouble with speaking communication. Typing/reading, fine. Face to face, often a disaster. Does that tie in with the numbers thing?

And yes, writing is good. I love to write. It's the only way I can really communicate. I'm functional, don't mis-understand, when I have to talk to people, but only in set environments with predictable answers. I've got most of them memorized, after all these years, and I'm pretty good at seeing which ones they want. But I could never have a career as a writer, I suspect, for the same reason I'm a clerk with a "genius" verbal IQ. Which has more to do with the GADs, etc., I think.

I don't know. I just want to know why I can't get my brain out of second gear. Thanks for listening.

Last edited by Nan on 05 Mar 2013, 11:39 pm, edited 4 times in total.

^^^

Well you being good with jigsaws as a kid and having a map sense makes sense because you do have above average score for perceptual IQ too. The problems with speaking might be the way your ASD manifests itself (social communication demands of speaking face to face). I don't see how that would tie in with numbers.

Thanks, again, Daydreamer. Perhaps I'd better consult Dr. Google. I'm not quite comfortable with the terminology, and that would seem to be the first step.

ok, i'll take that thundering silence as "no".