Relatively late mastery of scalar implicatures has been suggested to correlate with children's immature processing capacities, such as their limited working memory. Yet, many studies that tested for a link between children's working memory and their computation of scalar implicatures have failed to find any correlation. One possible reason is that…

Research on secular trends in mean intelligence test scores shows smaller gains in vocabulary skills than in nonverbal reasoning. One possible explanation is that vocabulary test items become outdated faster compared to nonverbal tasks. The history of the usage frequency of the words on five popular vocabulary tests, the GSS Wordsum, Wechsler…

We examined the associations between 5-year-old children's private speech, behavioural self-regulation, and cognitive abilities. Behavioural self-regulation was assessed using parental and preschool teacher questionnaires. Cognitive abilities (i.e., language, inhibition, planning and fluency, and memory) were assessed with neurocognitive tests,…

This article provides a 24-year update on the 10 standardized tests used most frequently with children and youth by school psychologists. Data were acquired from 64 countries through an international survey, with one respondent from each country. The informants were solicited due to their expertise in the area of assessment. The data from the…

In this article, the authors review the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition Spanish (WISC-IV Spanish), a Spanish translation and adaptation of the WISC-IV. The test was developed to measure the intellectual ability of Spanish-speaking children in the United States ages 6 years, 0 months, through 16 years, 11 months. These…

Used the national standardization sample (n=2,200) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Third Edition (WISC-III) to investigate differential item functioning (DIF) in 6 WISC-III subtests. Detected both uniform DIF and nonuniform DIF, finding DIF for about one third of the items studied. Discusses implications for use of the WISC-III.…

Investigated the overlap between the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R) and the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (HRNB) in light of their use in diagnosing children's learning problems using scores for children (N=1,181) on the WISC-R and the HRNB. Results showed primary overlap between measures was attributed to…

Two structural laws for intelligence tests are discussed: one law concerns the sign of correlation coefficients and gives conditions under which all correlations between test items will be positive; and one law concerns the relative sizes of the correlation coefficients between intelligence items. A cylindrical structure extends these laws. (SLD)

Examined cultural bias of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) for Anglo-American, Black, and Mexican American children. Minority children responded in the same way as Anglo-American children. No clear pattern to items on the test that were more difficult for minority children appeared. The WISC-R appears to be nonbiased.…

Findings indicated that the judges were not able to determine accurately which items were more difficult for minority students and that there was no significant difference in accuracy between judges of the different ethnic backgrounds. (Author)

Two kinds of WISC-R short forms, item reduction and subtest reduction, are reviewed in terms of their ability to meet these criteria of adequacy: a significant correlation between the full scale IQ and the short form IQ, a non-significant difference between the full and short form mean IQ, a low percentage of IQ classification changes resulting…

Several items from the Information and Comprehension subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were cited by Judge Grady in his opinion in the PASE (Parents in Action in Special Education) case as being culturally biased against Black children. Error analysis showed no significant "cultural" differences between White and…

A study to develop a short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) for the intellectually gifted showed the Vocabulary and Block Design comprise the best two-subtest short form. The Similarities, Vocabulary, Block Design, and Object Assembly tetrad could be most useful in time and reliability. (Author)

Analysis of performance data of American Indian children on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) confirms prior results regarding the verbal and perceptual motor skills of that population. Because so many items did not contribute significantly to the total test variance, clinicians should interpret test results with caution.…

The issues of construct validity, predictive validity, and item content bias on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) are examined. The review concludes that most objective data have not supported the issue of bias of the WISC-R when used with children of different ethnic backgrounds. (JDD)