PRACTICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE WISC-III WITH LANGUAGE-DISORDERED CHILDREN

Scores on the seven WISC-III IQ/Index measures and the four Mental Processing variables of the K-ABC were compared for 40 children (M age = 9.0) classified as severely language disordered. All means were depressed and ranged from 68.80 (Freedom from Distractibility Index) to 84.90 (Simultaneous Processing), which suggests cognitive deficits that extend beyond language. Correlations and t-test analyses compared the Full Scale IQ/Mental Processing Composite, Performance IQ/Nonverbal, Perceptual Organization/Simultaneous, and Freedom from Distractibility/Sequential scores. All correlation coefficients were in the .70s, although the K-ABC scores were significantly higher than the corresponding WISC-III variables. Given the critical language deficiencies of this population, it was concluded that the least biased assessment of cognitive ability would consist of nonverbal, performance-based items.