Cute ten-year-old fourth grader. Accompanies the examiner readily. He is personable, friendly and soft spoken. Initially slightly ill at ease; relaxes significantly with familiarity. Becomes significantly more animated. Smiles readily relates vignettes about himself and his experiences. Demonstrates sense of humor. Often verbally mediates his problem solving. Enjoys a challenge in arias if strength. More worried when tasks prove difficult; grabs hair in his hand when concentrating. Mild lisp, does not effect intelligibility. Appears to toe in mildly when walking;shoelaces untied.

Significant variation in scores, ranging from approximately the tenth to ninety-fifth percentile. Most consistent strengths are in visual perceptual areas. Excellent attention to visual detail. Able to separate essential from non-essential detail. Able to use the information in problem solving. Strong spatial perception, good conceptual understanding of part/whole relationships. Strength in verbal areas as well. Strong verbal reasoning. Able to categorize and make verbal associations. Able to explain the reasons behind common events and behaviors. Good general information base and good vocabulary knowledge. Greater difficulty with rote tasks, both auditory and visual. Visual scanning within the lower end of the average range. Extremely slow copying speed. Difficulty shifting visual focus and frequently loses his place. Difficulty maintaining task set. Able to recall the symbols copied but limited memory for the association between items. Variability evident in active working memory. Limited oral arithmetic skills. Difficulty recalling the oral question; often required repetition. Limited knowledge of math facts, used fingers for equations such as six plus eight or three times eight. Even with the aid of fingers computations were often inaccurate. Good ability to repeat information vibatim; able to consistently repeat a series of six digits. Significantly poorer ability to simultaneously hold and use auditory input, unable to reverse a series longer than three digits.

Borderline teacher ratings on thought problems, social problems, withdrawn and anxious/depressed. Multiples items endorsed in attention problems scale, although overall rating within normal limits. Specific teacher endorsed behaviors of concern include: Shyness, withdrawal, fearfulness, immature behavior, preference for younger peers, poor task completion, daydreaming, difficulty following directions, confusion, lack of personal responsibility, messy work and under achievement. Specific behaviors rated as sometimes or somewhat true include preference for being alone, sadness, crying, feeling unloved, nervousness, self-consciousness, sensitivity to criticism, fear of making mistakes, mental preoccupations poor concentration, clumsiness and tardiness.

Subject is sensitive and caring. I am diffident from other kids because "They always play sports and I don't like sports. They chase girls, which I think is mean. Most of the boys in my class get into trouble, I don't get into trouble." the nicest thing about me is "I wouldn't hurt a fly and I wouldn't chase a girl." He shows concern about global issues. I wish people "Wouldn't hurt endangered animals." Sees himself as different from his peers, but not necessarily in a negative way. People think I'm "Weird. I can be a little weird sometimes. But I say that weird is a compliment." Highly creative, sees this as a characteristic valued by the family. What does your mother like best? "Things that are creative - and chocolate!" Introspective. Socially oriented Talked a great deal about friends he knew in Fryeburg as well as friends in his class. Identified a particular classmate to whom he feels particularly connected. Included him in his family drawing. "It feels like he's part of the family." Described himself as playing on the computer and engaging in elaborate fantasy game with friends. "I made up a super secret guy, his name is Superkangaroo. He hops all over the place!"

Very aware of the impact of personal issues. Discussed the difficulty of his parents' divorce; described himself as torn between both situations. "I like my mom, but I like my dad. I miss my dad but I miss my mom. So I don't know which on I should live with." (Which school do you like better) "I like the school better there, but I like my friends better here." Concluded: "I wish my father would be with my mother again."

Aware of his academic difficulties. School is: "Okay." What do you like about it? "To read." What don't you like? "Math, they say my hardest is writing." What do you think? "Yes and no. Penmanship and spelling are hard." Aware of the homework issue. Why don't you get your homework done? "Sometimes the cat plays with it." I'm sure the cat doesn't always play with it. "Sometimes I forget about it. I spend time doing other things, like going to a cookout or do all kinds of stuff. Sometimes I do the homework and forget to bring it in. Usually it doesn't get to my backpack. Sometimes I even lose the pencils and can't find one."

Discussed the issue of the need for pullout services. "I only go to cursive. My mom doesn't want me to go to extra things. I like being in class because the teacher is nice and I get to see my friends more. Plus the math teacher is strict, I don't like strict teachers."

Eric is a ten year old fourth grader of average-high average intellectual ability. who demonstrates strength in both visual and verbal areas. Eric's attention to visual detail and spatial perception are excellent. Verbal reasoning, either abstract orapplied, vocabulary knowledge and general information are also good. On a personal level, Eric is insighful and creative. Eric experiances greater difficulty with rote tasks. Auditory manipulation of rote information is difficult for him. For example although he can repeat information verbatim, he struggles to hold and use that information. Oral arithmatic is poor, Eric struggles with processing as well. Visual scanning speed is relatively slow, copying is slow and fine motor control is poor.

What remains unclear is the degree in which attention my have played a role into these findings. Although Eric appeared behaviorally attentive in the one to one setting his ability to sustain concentration on tasks of a rote nature may be inconsistent. Attention is reported to be an issue in the classroom at times. Although Eric becomes readily engrossed in conceptual and creative activities his frustration with rote repetition and frustration is limited. Eric is a youngster who tends to deal with stress by internalizing it. Social and emotional concerns my further exacerbate his inattention. withdrawal and internal distraction. An interactive cycle is created in which difficult tasks prompt increased avoidance and avoidance results in widening of skill gaps.

PS - and than the cute ten year old boy grew into this.