Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

• DATE: 1949 forward
• TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Intelligence and intelligence testing

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is an individually administered test battery developed to measure the intellectual ability of children aged six years through sixteen years, eleven months. The WISC is commonly used for the psychoeducational, neurological, and clinical assessment of school-age children and for the diagnosis of intellectual and learning disabilities, brain injury, and giftedness.

Introduction

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) was published in 2003. It retained the essential content and structure of the original Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), published in 1949. The fourth edition, however, provided more current representative normative data, updated test items that attempted to minimize culture bias and gender bias, more contemporary and visually appealing testing materials, and clearer administrative procedures, factor structure rules, and scoring rules. These improvements made the test more interesting and fairer for the child, and more user-friendly for the examiner. In 2014, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V) was made available. This version, emphasizing flexibility, included altered and new subtests as well as options that catered more to children who are English language learners. Additionally, children had the option to take the test digitally rather than on paper.

History of Development

David Wechsler defined intelligence as the overall capacity of an individual to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment. He believed intelligence to be a general concept that is multidetermined and multifaceted, rather than a specific trait or type of intellectual ability. An intelligence test is a device that assesses an individual’s potential for purposeful and useful behavior. To measure intelligence at the adult level, he selected eleven subtests from a wide range of existing standardized tests and published the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale in 1939. This assessment became the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale in 1955 and then the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), published in 2008.

In 1949, to provide an instrument to measure the intelligence of children as young as five years old, he developed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children by designing easier items appropriate for children and adding them to the original scales. Due to suspected ethnic and socioeconomic bias in the , the test was revised in 1974 to establish normative data that were more representative of ethnic minorities and children from lower socioeconomic levels. The present form, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition, was published in 2014.

Description of the Test

The WISC-IV consisted of ten primary subtests and five supplementary subtests. The WISC-V added three new primary subtests (visual puzzles, figure weights, and picture span) as well as five new complementary subtests involving naming speed and symbol translation. There are five primary indexes to the WISC-V test: Verbal Comprehension, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory, Visual Spatial, and Processing Speed. The verbal subtests assess the takers ability to listen to a question and to draw on knowledge to come to a conclusion and verbalize an answer. The Visual Spatial Index stresses visualization, requiring the test taker to use motor and spatial skills to create and test solutions. The Working Memory Index tests the child's short-term memory and his or her ability to process the information. The Fluid Reasoning Index tests a child's ability to abstract conceptual information from visual details. The Processing Speed Index assesses how quickly a child can order visual information. Each of these indexes is given a score to highlight the overall intellectual capabilities of the test taker. The results also produce a Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), which ranges from 40 to 160.

In an effort to provide further information regarding a child's cognitive performance if necessary, the WISC-V also added five ancillary index scores (quantitative reasoning, auditory working memory, nonverbal, general ability, and cognitive proficiency) as well as three complementary index scores (naming speed, symbol translation, and storage and retrieval).

Standardization, Reliability, and Validity

The WISC-V was standardized on groups considered representative of the United States population of children according to 2012 census data. A stratified sampling plan was used to select children in representative proportions according to age, gender, race/ethnicity, geographic region, and parent education. A total of 2,200 children in eleven age groups ranging from six years to sixteen years, eleven months of age were selected, with an equal amount of male and female children in each group. Both public and private schools were sampled, and students receiving special services in school settings were included if they could speak and understand English. The test represented five levels of the children's parental education and four US geographical areas.

Applications of the WISC-V

The WISC-V is commonly used for the psychoeducational assessment, neurological assessment, and clinical assessment of school-aged children. As a psychoeducational tool, the WISC-V is often part of the assessment battery used for the diagnosis of intellectual disability and giftedness and for the appropriate placement in special school-based programs. Moreover, the separation of verbal and performance subtests allows the examiner to select portions of the test that can be successfully completed by children with hearing impairments, visual impairments, and orthopedic handicaps. Studies have shown that responses to WISC-V subtests have provided information useful for the diagnosis and remediation of learning disabilities, brain injury, and other cognitive deficits.

Bibliography

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