Psychological Reporis, 1979, 44, 787-790. @ Psychological Reports 1979

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CHILDREN'S WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCORES1 JOSEPH T. KUNCE AND ROBERT C. MC MAHON University of Missouri-Columbia University of Miami Stnnmary.-The relationships of Wechsler test scores (WISC and WISC-R) to 6 neuropsychological conditions i.n one sample of children ( N = 120) were compared to those of a second sample (N = 3 6 ) . Only 6 of the 84 IQ-diagnosis correlations showed comparable relationships in both samples. These consistent correlations were: Arithmetic and Digit Span scores with auditorg perceptual dysfunction; Block Design with visual perceptual dysfunction; Verbal IQ with speech and language disability and with auditory perceptual dysfunction; and Performance IQ with visual perceptual dysfunction. The notable lack of consistency of most correlations obtained across the cwo samples for the test scores to diagnoses of minimal brain dysfunction, hyperkinesis, and learning disability suggests that ( a ) these diagnoses need greater specificity and definitiveness if they are to relate meaningfully to cognitive dysfunction or that ( b ) the Wechsler subtests are not sufficiently sensitive to these neuro-psychological conditions to have diagnostic significance for children of average intelligence.

Clinicians commonly attach diagnostic significance to various WISC and WISC-R scores even though the available research evidence fails to convincingly support the practice. Sattler ( 1974), for example, reviewed a number of studies which investigated the effectiveness of the WISC and WISC-R in differentiatingamong various types of childhood disorders (including anxiety reactions, juvenile delinquency, organic brain damage, learning and language disability, and epilepsy) and found inconsistent and sometimes contradictory results. Variations in sampling procedures and inadequacy of methods used to establish the diagnostic criteria contributed to inconsistencies in results. The present research further investigated the diagnostic significance of the WISC and WISC-R tests using two independent and comparable samples of children who were from the same ueaunent center and whose neuropsychological condition had been established from a thorough multidisciplinary evaluation.

METHOD Subjects Clinical records of children who were seen in an interdisciplinary developmental evaluation center ar a. midwestern university medical center and met the following criteria were selected age between 6-0 and 3-11, male, Caucasian, and Full Scale IQ Z 85. A total of 120 ch~ldrenmet the criteria who had been administered the WISC and 36 children who had been administered the WISC-R. Use of these criteria ensured comparable and homogeneous samples of children having similar levels of ~nrell~gence. All subjects had undergone a thorough diagnostic evaluation by an ~nterdisciplinary team including a pediatrician, psychologist, speech pathologist and education consultant. A social worker interviewed the parent(s) and obtained detailed social histories. The psychologist, speech pathologist and education consultant carried out extensive diagnostic 'This research was begun while the second author was on the faculty in the Depanments of Child Health and Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia. Requests for reprints should be sent to: Tose~hT. Kunce, 5 Hill Hall. C o l l e ~ eof Education. Universitv of Missouri-Columbia, h l t h b i a , MO 6521 1.

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J. T.KUNCE

&

R. C. MCMAHON

TABLE 1 Diagnosis Learning disability Speech & language disability Minimal brain dysfunction Hyperkinesis Auditory perceptual dysfunction Visual perceptual dysfunction

Group I

Group 2

37 33

67 33

22

19

18 19 10

31 25

17

testing with each child and the pediatrician carried out physical and neurological examinations. Consultations from the affiliated university medical center were regularly obtained in child psychiatry, audiology, and ophthalmology. At the completion of the two- or threeday evaluation, the five-member interdisciplinary team reviewed all pertinent information and jointly formulated diagnostic impressions and treatment recommendations which were included in a case summary. The diagnostic impressions in the case summaries therefore were based upon a vast amount of information from multiple sources. An analysis of the case summaries showed a wide range of social, emotional, educational and physical difficulties. The six most prevalent diagnostic categories in both samples related to neuropsychological dysfunctions. These conditions were: learning disability, speech and language disability, minimal cerebral dysfunction, hyperkinesis, auditory perceptual dysfunction, and visual perceptual dysfunction. Except for the proportion of children having a diagnosis of learning disability, the distributions of diagnoses were similar in both samples of children (Table 1 ) . Age and intelligence test scores of the two samples were similar and comparable (Table 2 ) . TABLE 2 AGE AND IQ COMPARISONS Variable

WISC Group 1

WISC-R Group 2

The presence or absence of each of the six conditions for each client was coded respectively either 0 or 1 for statistical analysis. Approximately half of the children had two or more diagnosed conditions. These scores and the Wechsler subtest scores were then correlated for each subgroup. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The number of significant IQ-diagnosis correlations ( 9 of the 84 for the

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