12 W – X
Wait-to-Fail (regarding SLD identification)
For many years, specific learning disability (SLD) determination rested largely on documenting students’ underachievement. This was established via low scores on achievement tests compared to IQ test scores. Still used, this approach is sometimes called the Discrepancy Approach to SLD identification. The approach has been critiqued, however, because it appears to require students to wait for identification (see Fuchs, Mock, Morgan & Young, 2003). This has been labeled the “wait to fail” flaw.
The logic is this: students expressing early academic problems are rarely identified because ability test scores and achievement test scores—even among obviously struggling students—seldom are discrepant until third or fourth grade. This phenomenon is easily seen if one opens an achievement test manual and looks at the conversion tables for young students. Among first and second graders relatively few raw score points (which a student might get by guessing alone) sometimes converts to average range achievement test scores. Only when demands step up during third and fourth grade do standard scores among poorly performing students become conspicuously low.
Of course, waiting to receive services is the real potential problem. Those who are forced to wait for assistance risk mounting frustration and the chance that their problems become intractable. Perhaps counterintuitively, the wait-to-fail flaw may not be unique to the SLD discrepancy approach. For instance, a study of Response to Intervention (RTI; an approach used in lieu of the discrepancy approaches to identify and serve students) may not actually lead to earlier identification (see O’Connor, Bocian, Beach, Sanchez, & Flynn, 2013).
Waxing and waning
An idiom borrowed from changes in the phases of the moon but applied to signs and symptoms (especially psychiatric symptoms). For example, mania, as a feature of bipolar disorder, may wax (increase) or wane (decrease) overtime. Similarly, tics have a waxing (intensifying) and waning (diminishing) character.
Wellbutrin® (see anti-depressant medications)
What Works Clearinghouse
A repository for research findings in education that was established by the Institute of Education Sciences. Perhaps most relevant to school psychologists is the tab entitled “Children and Youth with Disabilities.”
See the following link: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
Williams syndrome
Williams syndrome is a genetic condition caused by a random deletion in a portion of chromosome #7. It is remarkable because affected children typically evidence an overly friendly personality style and loquaciousness. Distinctive facial features are often present. Most have cognitive impairments or specific learning disabilities that bring them into contact with school psychologists. When evaluated, many are found to also experience ADHD, anxiety, or phobias. Psychometric testing may reveal visual-spatial problems.
Additional information is available from the following National Institutes of Health link: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Williams-Syndrome-Information-Page.
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/williams-syndrome
Other information can be found at the site from the Williams Syndrome Association: https://williams-syndrome.org.
Wraparound services
Services envisioned to wraparound a student and respond to his/her needs across settings. Such services are compatible with MTSS as well as campus-based clinics that provide integrated mental health and pediatric health care services.
