Understanding Evaluation Results
Caregiver Quick-Reference
Understanding Cognitive Evaluation Results Handout
A psychoeducational evaluation reveals how your child takes in, remembers, and works with information. These scores reflect a snapshot in time—they do not define lifelong potential, but rather show where your child currently shines and highlight the exact tools that help them thrive.
Cheat Sheet: How to Read the Test Scores
Standard Scores
Average is 85 – 115
About 75% of children score here; 100 sits at the exact midpoint.
Percentile Ranks
Standing in 100 Peers
65th percentile means scoring equal to or above 65 out of 100 peers (not a 65% grade).
T-Scores
Average is 50 (Behavior or EF scales)
Under 60 is average; 65+ suggests notable concern or elevated challenge with this skill or behavior.
Confidence Intervals (e.g., 95% Band)
No test is 100% exact. This range accounts for daily factors (fatigue, focus, anxiety), showing the range where your child's true skill reliably falls.
ProFILE Patterns
Patterns matter. Big gaps between areas explain why a child may soar in reading comprehension, but struggle with math calculation.
Understanding Evaluation Results • Part 1: Cognitive Reasoning Skills
1. Verbal Comprehension & Language Reasoning
Other Report Terms: Verbal IQ, Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)
Language & Knowledge
What It Is
Understanding spoken ideas, making connections, finding the right words, and using stored vocabulary to express thoughts.
School & Home Signs
When a strength: Loves spoken discussions, rich verbal storytelling, and learning through dialogue.
When a challenge: Struggles to find words quickly, inference, write essays, expand upon ideas, or explain thoughts under pressure. Can impact reading vocabulary.
Helpful Supports
Visual vocabulary cards, sentence starter stems, word banks, speech-to-text dictation, and paired picture models.
2. Visual-Spatial Processing
Other Report Terms: Visual Processing (Gv)
Mind's Eye
What It Is
Picturing shapes in the mind, understanding diagrams, reading charts, and knowing how objects fit together.
School & Home Signs
When a strength: Strong with building toys, maps, diagrams, geometry, and learning through hands-on visual models.
When a challenge: Struggles with geometry, diagrams, lining up multi-digit math equations, or handwriting layout on unlined pages.
Helpful Supports
Grid/graph paper for math alignment, uncluttered worksheets with ample white space, verbal modeling, and hands-on blocks.
3. Fluid Reasoning
Other Report Terms: Fluid Intelligence (Gf)
Novel Problem Solving
What It Is
Solving brand-new, unfamiliar puzzles using logic and pattern-spotting without relying on memorized rules.
School & Home Signs
When a strength: Great at recognizing logical trends, seeing the "big picture", spotting patterns, and deducing rules independently.
When a challenge: Struggles to apply learned rules to new problem formats, recognize the parts that make a whole, gets stuck on novel multi-step word problems, or feels lost when directions change.
Helpful Supports
Over-teaching, step-by-step problem solving checklists, access to examples, and breaking complex problems into sub-steps.
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Understanding Evaluation Results • Part 2: Cognitive proficiency skills
4. Working Memory
Mental Note Pad
Other Report Terms: Short-Term Memory (Gsm)
What It Is: Holding information in mind while actively working with it (e.g., remembering a multi-step instruction while carrying it out, doing "mental math").
Signs of Difficulty
Forgets the middle of a 3-step direction, loses train of thought during mental math or in writing, misses important details from lessons.
Helpful Supports
Written step checklists, information chunking, visual agendas, break down tasks into smaller parts, fil-in notes.
5. Processing Speed
Brain Pacing
Other Report Terms: Speed of Information Processing (Gs)
What It Is: How quickly and accurately the brain registers, takes in (by sight or sound), and responds to information.
Signs of Difficulty
Runs out of time on timed drills, fatigues quickly when copying board notes, misses important details, takes additional think time, or doesn't finish work in the allotted time.
Helpful Supports
Extended time, shortened assignments, teacher-provided printed notes.
6. Auditory & Phonological
Sound Decoding
Other Report Terms: Auditory Processing (Ga), Phonological Processing, Auditory Memory
What It Is: Hearing, distinguishing, blending, and separating individual speech sounds (phonemes) within spoken words. Also includes storage and recall of learned sounds.
Signs of Difficulty
Sounds out words slowly, articulation errors, or struggles to distinguish between similar sounds, trouble connecting sound to symbol (reading decoding).
Helpful Supports
rhyming and phonics games, structured reading instruction
7. Executive Functioning
Brain Conductor
Other Report Terms: Cognitive Regulation, Emotional Control, Behavior Regulation
What It Is: The brain's organizational conductor: focusing and sustaining attention, planning tasks, getting started, and organizing materials. Also includes behavioral and emotional regulation.
Signs of Difficulty
Messy backpack, forgotten homework, starting paralysis, or trouble shifting gears between subjects.
Helpful Supports
Color-coded organization system, digital reminders, visual timers, teach self-monitoring strategies, goal setting.
Family Advocacy: 4 Questions for Your Feedback Meeting
Bring this list to your IEP, 504, or evaluation debrief with the school team.
Q1
How do these scores show up during class?
"When my child gets stuck during independent work, which processing area is most likely hitting fatigue?"
Q2
How can we use their top strengths as bridges?
"If verbal reasoning is high, can we use discussion and audiobooks to support weaker reading fluency?"
Q3
Which specific accommodations will help most?
"Will extended time, frequent breaks, guided notes, or specialized intervention programs be written into the plan?"
Q4
How will we measure progress over time?
"What routine checks will the teacher use to confirm that the supports are actually reducing fatigue and frustration?"
You are your child's most valuable advocate. These test results are tools to unlock their best learning environment. Page 2 of 2
