The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: assessment purposes and structure

Psychology

WISC-IV: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition

WISC-IV or WISC 4 is the shortened name for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition. Prifitera, Saklofske, and Weiss (2004, p. 4) refers to the WISC test as "the most widely used assessment of intellectual functioning of children." It is a general test of intelligence, which measures children based on a definition of intelligence that includes the ability to act purposely, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with their environment. The test is designed for children aged from six years and zero months to 16 years and 11 months. The test is administered individually to children by a psychologist or a trained examiner and takes about 60 to 90 minutes.

Purpose of WISC-IV

The general purpose of the test is to assess the intellectual ability of children. There are also several specific purposes. The first specific purpose is to identify potential learning disorders in children. This is used for children who are performing poorly academically or for children who show signs that they have a learning disorder. The WISC-IV test helps to identify and understand the problem. This information can then be used to take corrective actions. This includes determining if children will benefit from special education or other actions. The second specific purpose is to identify and understand intellectual giftedness. This can be completed for any student who is suspected of being gifted in some area. The test helps to identify the level of giftedness and the nature of the giftedness. This information can then be used to plan programs that assist the student in making the most of their abilities and developing their talents. The third specific purpose is to help identify and diagnose both physiological and psychiatric disorders in children. This includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), mental retardation, and others. The test is not able to definitely diagnose these conditions, but it can be used to help determine the likelihood of the disorder being present, with additional tests then used to confirm the diagnosis. The test can also be used on children who are known to have such disorders to assess how their learning abilities are impacted. This information can then be used to help determine an effective program for improving learning abilities.

Case Study of WISC-IV

A case study provided by PsychCorp (2005) shows how the test is used to assess the verbal abilities of students. The case study describes a grade five student named Aaron. Aaron has performed poorly in class, gaining particularly low scores on reading and language arts tests. Due to the poor performance, Aaron was in programs to improve his abilities, but these were not showing any improved performance. To gain further information on Aaron's learning ability and to identify learning problems, Aaron was administered the WISC-IV integrated test. Aaron scored poorly on the verbal comprehension and working memory subtests, but quite well on the perceptual reasoning and the processing speed subtest. The verbal comprehension index shows that Aaron scored poorly on four of the subtests: similarities, vocabulary, comprehension, and information. The similarities subtest requires children to identify and explain similarities between two objects. The vocabulary subtest requires children to explain the meaning of words. The comprehension subtest requires children to explain the reasons for various social actions or behaviors. It was also noted that Aaron scored quite well on the word reasoning subtest of the verbal comprehension index. This subtest involved listening to a series of clues and identifying the common concept that the clues were describing. This high score on word reasoning showed that Aaron was capable of applying reasoning to verbal content, while the low scores on the other subtests of the verbal comprehension category showed that he had difficulty with expressing himself verbally. Aaron's high score on the perceptual reasoning also showed that he did not have a problem with reasoning skills. This information was used to conclude that Aaron's problem might be related to difficulty expressing himself and difficulty reading. A series of additional tests were used to understand this further and they confirmed that these were Aaron's two problems. Based on these findings, action was taken to assist Aaron. This included the provision of speech services to Aaron to help him learn to express himself in class, the provision of remedial reading instruction, providing Aaron with books on tape so that his reading skills could be used to help him learn, and having Aaron tested in class via verbal test questions. This example shows how WISC-IV is used to identify the reasons that a student is underperforming, to diagnose problems, and to design actions to assist the student.