Within the Canadian context, the two major learning disability classification systems are arguably the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" and the Learning Disabilities Association (LDAC) of Canada's "Official Definition of Learning Disabilities." Several of the more…

The Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model is a comprehensive model of the major dimensions of individual differences that underlie performance on cognitive tests. Studies evaluating the generality of the CHC model across test batteries, age, gender, and culture were reviewed and found to be overwhelmingly supportive. However, less research is available…

This study examined whether a large group of postsecondary students participating in a support program for students classified as having learning disabilities (LD) met criteria for five objective diagnostic models for LD: IQ-achievement discrepancy (1.0 SD, 1.5 SD, and greater than 2.0 SD) models, a "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of…

This study of 182 secondary special education students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders investigated their classification by their school districts, in particular how well they were distinguished and represented by their federal categories. The districts used four classification groups (emotional disturbance, other health impairment…

This study used simulation techniques to evaluate the technical adequacy of three methods for the identification of specific learning disabilities via patterns of strengths and weaknesses in cognitive processing. Latent and observed data were generated and the decision-making process of each method was applied to assess concordance in…

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in older children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) is challenging because of overlap in symptomatology and the high comorbidity of these disorders. On the basis of a sample of 89 older children with IDs (aged 6-15 years) referred to an ASD clinic, semistructured parent interviews were used to…

This study investigated how well raters who ranged from undergraduate students to experts in the field of linguistics would agree with the scoring examples given in the WISC manual for selected Vocabulary subtest responses. (Authors)

In efforts to clarify ambiguity in the scoring directions for part of the WISC, 100 children were given the test which was scored by two sets of criteria. Four sets of data were analyzed, with significant discrepancies apparent only between Verbal-Performance correlations secured by Wechsler in his standardization of the WISC and those secured in…

Study was designed to assess the relative value of three sources of information in assigning parents to the occupational classifications employed in the standardization of the WISC. (Authors)

Interrater differences in scoring actual WISC protocols were determined for three different IQ levels. In general, differences among the 94 examiners tended to be within an acceptable range as established by the standard error of measurement; variance on two Verbal subtests occasionally exceeded their corresponding standard error of measurement.…

Because diagnostic capability of the WISC-R has remained in doubt, its diagnostic suitability was assessed by applying Kelley's method of estimating the proportion of score differences in excess of chance to the original subscales, Bannatyne clusters, and Kaufman's three factor groupings. Caution should be used when applying WISC-R diagnostically.…

Criteria were developed to assess sexual and racial item content bias for every item from six IQ tests. Each reference was judged as either stereotyped or not sterotyped. This analysis pointed out an overwhelming sexual and racial imbalance in item content. (Author/RL)

The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) was used as a screening instrument to predict Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) scores of 94 students referred for psychoeducational evaluations. Although the correlation coefficient between the K-BIT IQ Composite and the WISC-III Full Scale IQ was 0.771 for the entire…

As the new special education Title 5 regulations for eligibility criteria are implemented throughout California, a major concern is their impact on the learning handicapped student population. During the past two years, the effects of implementing criteria similar to those adopted by California have been studied in a large suburban district. The…

Examined the diagnostic utility of two patterns of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised in differentiating 64 emotionally impaired children (ages 5 to 18) from 290 controls. Data analysis showed neither the high similarities-low information or verbal-performance discrepancy patterns yielded a useful rule for diagnosing emotional…