This page is a sub-page of More Talk About Mental Health containing some of the results of the testing.
If you must know…
I’ll start this by saying I feel very uncomfortable sharing this. I almost didn’t want to, but I feel like it leaves a hole in my story if I don’t. But that’s why in a separate page.
Anyone who knows me well knows I’m a humble person (yes, I know, a humble person calling themselves humble isn’t exactly humble). I don’t like bragging, and that’s NOT why I’m sharing this.
I’m sharing this because I want to show:
- How someone can get so far in life without realizing they have a deficit in vital parts of their mental capabilities, because it’s being hidden by the parts that excel.
- How we can build up coping mechanisms without even realizing that we do.
- How some people, especially women, can go completely unnoticed because their coping mechanisms are so good, but inside they’re struggling, all their life.
I’ve had a rough idea of these numbers since my mentor from middle school told me the results of testing done when I was around five (not sure why my school was testing me at that young age but it was the 80’s 
). So they weren’t a surprise, so much as a confirmation. And it kinda explains why it wasn’t caught earlier (rolling things into one number hides the deficit).
I also don’t believe these numbers are as useful as some people believe. I think they’re useful in relation to each other, but comparing across the population is less useful.
You’re interested in how the test works because you’re smart, and now I’m going to tell you how smart you are.
I’ve never felt more embarrassed. I don’t like that kind of attention.
The psychologist gave me the summary of the results of the assessment. Basically most of the it was comprised of an intelligence test. The rest was observations along the way (the testing that you don’t even realize is happening, like when a nurse or doctor takes your respiration rate).
These are “rolled up” scores from the individual assessments. They’re normalized so that they fall into a normal distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
Can you spot the hole? It’s glaringly obvious, and while the deficit is in the “average” range, relative to the others it’s a manifestation of all the aspects of ADHD that make focusing on what you want or need to focus on so hard.
It’s like having a top-of-the-line computer with bog standard RAM. It’s still functional and can get the job done, but it’s not hitting its peak potential.
| WASI-IV Index | Standard Scores - Range | Percentile | 95% Confidence Interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Scale IQ | 131 - Very Superior | 98th | 126-134 |
| General Abilities1 | 141 - Very Superior | 99.7th | 137-145 |
| Verbal Comprehension | 138 - Very Superior | 99th | 131-142 |
| Perceptual Reasoning | 131 - Very Superior | 98th | 123-136 |
| Working Memory | 102 - Average | 55th | 95-109 |
| Processing Speed | 120 - Superior | 91st | 110-126 |
Footnotes
-
The General Abilities score is similar to Full Scale but things like working memory are left out, which is why it’s higher in my case.
