Larry M. Raskin

WISC-R verbal-performance IQ discrepancies: A comparison of learning disabled children to the normative sample

Compared the WISC-R Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancies of learning-disabled children (N = 100) and of the normative sample. There were frequent occurrences of statistically significant discrepancies in both groups, as well as similar mean discrepancy scores and distributions of Verbal greater than Performance and Performance greater than Verbal patterns. It was concluded that without clinical evidence to suggest otherwise, it cannot be assumed automatically that childs discrepancy score, unless of extreme magnitude, is related to the learning disability itself. The importance to clinicians of making both normative and statistical interpretations of WISC-R discrepancy scores was stressed.

The assessment of developmentally disabled children with the WISC-R, binet and other tests

Administered the WISC-R, Revised Stanford-Binet, Bender, VMI, and WRAT to 50 children referred for a multidisciplinary evaluation of developmental disabilities. The correlations among the various WISC-R measures (Standard Scores and IQs) and Binet IQ were significant, with relatively strong relationships among the Binet IQ and those WISC-R subtests that require concentration, short-term auditory memory, visual-motor integration, and the acquisition of new learning. Data showed that the Binet MA correlated as well or better with the other tests than did the various scores from the WISC-R.

IQ discrepancies between the Binet and WISC-R in children with developmental problems.

Administered the Stanford-Binet and WISC-R to 121 children with developmental problems. Twenty-eight of the children received absolute differences of 12 points or greater between the Binet and WISC-R FSIQs, with a mean difference of 16.8 and range of 12 to 28 points. While most of these discrepancies were attributable to expected differences between the tests, there were 10 instances of complete incongruence between the Binet and all the WISC-R IQs. Clinical interpretations of four Binet/WISC-R discrepancy patterns were discussed.

Relationship between Intellectual Status and Reading Skills for Developmentally Disabled Children.

The relationship between WISC-R Full Scale IQ and scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests were explored for 80 developmentally disabled children. While the childrens reading skills correlated moderately and significantly with intellectual status, abstract reading skills, e.g., word comprehension, correlated more highly with Full Scale IQ than did concrete ones, e.g., word identification. The development of concrete learning patterns by such children was discussed, with an emphasis on the emotional importance of these learning styles to the children and their families.