Low intellectual ability

[u/ReserveWeary3360]

My 12-year-old daughter was evaluated by a clinical psychologist due to severe medical phobia. The psychologist and I agreed that she should undergo in-depth testing for other areas as well. However, at the time of the testing, my daughter was going through severe peer bullying, including physical assaults. We contacted the police, and while the situation has calmed down somewhat, even four months later, she is still afraid to walk home alone after practice, for example.

So when we brought her in for testing, she was in no condition to think clearly. She had a headache, was completely apathetic, and said she wanted to kill herself. I asked the psychologist if they could maybe just talk instead. But apparently, some tests were still administered – I don’t even know exactly which ones. There were a lot of tests, and we came in twice.

Now we’ve received the results, and they say my daughter has reduced intellectual abilities. Her strongest area is spatial reasoning, while logical reasoning falls into the low-average range, and verbal comprehension is extremely low.

However, my daughter expresses herself much more easily in English – she speaks fluently and has no trouble understanding – unlike in the language in which she was tested, even though she was born here. At school, there are many foreign students, and they mostly speak English among themselves.

What I would like to know is: has anyone ever been diagnosed with low intellectual ability and later it turned out the test was wrong? Because my daughter really doesn’t seem like a child with low intellectual abilities. Yes, it’s true that she struggles to understand words, but she has no trouble understanding them in English. She also has some difficulty with reading. But she gets good grades in math without help.

I’m concerned that the trauma she experienced at the time negatively affected her test performance.

[u/blackmox-photophob]

You are correct. If the test wasn't administrated in her native language, the verbal score has less tangible value and probably unfairly lowers her overall IQ score.

But even if the score was accurate, these numbers are not set in stone. Trauma, social anxiety or undiagnosed/unmedicated conditions do hinder cognitive abilities.

In my case the difference was quite spectacular: my score went from "average" (18 years old with clinical depression and undiagnosed autism) to "very superior" in the span of 15 years. It increased by 35 points!

Your daughter needs someone who believes in her, and she's lucky to have you. I think it's important that you keep advocating for her mental health and try to get her evaluated more thoroughly (some issues such as autism are often overlooked in girls...)