Comparability of slosson and S-B estimates of intelligence

The Slosson Intelligence Test and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Form L-M) were administered to 44 children. The Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) correlated .92 with the Stanford-Binet (SB), suggesting agreement in the ordering of individuals. A comparison of measured IQs indicated that the Slosson Intelligence Test overestimated IQ, when compared with the Stanford-Binet, for 39 of the 44 children. The results of the study also suggest that although a high degree of correlation was attained with the Stanford-Binet, the Slosson Intelligence Test does not produce comparable IQs for certain chronological age and intellectual functioning levels.     

Relationship of the Wechsler pre-school and primary scale of intelligence and the Stanford-Binet (L-M) in lower class children

Using 72 lower class children, concurrent validity of the WPPSI was studied employing Form L-M of the Stanford-Binet as the criterion. Correlations between SB and WPPSI were moderately high (.86 for FS, .81 for VS, .73 for PS), but the WPPSI appeared a somewhat more difficult test for the sample employed. Mean SB IQ (94.61) was higher than the mean FS (90.71), VS (89.38) and PS (93.68) IQs; it exceeded WPPSI IQ in 72% of all cases. On the WPPSI, PS IQ was significantly greater than either VS or FS IQs. Amont the WPPSI subtests, Vocabulary was significantly lower than all other subtests and Comprehension lower than Picture Completion, Mazes, and Block Design. The only significant sexual difference favored females on Similarities. For subjects whose FS IQ was below the group median IQ, relationships among each of the WPPSI scales and subtests were lower than for those subjects who scored above the median. This was particularly true for the Vocabulary, Animal House, and Picture Completion subtests.     

A validity study of the slosson intelligence test for use with educable mentally retarded students

The validity of the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) was investigated with two age groups of EMR children. The Stanford-Binet and WISC served as concurrent validating criteria. The SIT correlated significantly with the Binet although the SIT mean IQ was significantly higher. No significant differences were found between standard deviations or mental ages of the two tests. The SIT correlated significantly with WISC verbal and full scale with no significant differences found between standard deviations. The SIT mean IQ was significantly below that of WISC verbal, performance, and full scale. Implications for school psychologists are given.     

Assessment of the global intelligence and selective cognitive capacities in preterm 8-year-old children

The aim of this study was to assess various cognitive abilities such as attention, IQ, reasoning, and memory related to academic achievement in 8- and 9-year-old preterm children. A total of 141 children were assessed. The preterm group (=37 weeks) comprised 63 children and was compared to 78 full-term children. Attention was evaluated using the d2 Selective Attention test, and the IQ by the L-M form of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, establishing a profile of abilities: perception, memory, comprehension, reasoning, and verbal fluency. Significant differences in IQ were found between the preterm and full-term children. Of the cognitive abilities assessed, the only significant differences were found in verbal fluency, with preterm boys showing lower verbal fluency scores than full-term children. In conclusion, all preterm groups have attention ability similar to that of full-term children. However, preterm children obtain lower scores in intelligence measures. In addition, preterm boys have verbal fluency difficulties. Taking into account the increase in preterm births, suitable intervention programs must be planned to attend the difficulties found.     

The effect on the test behavior of children, as reflected in the I.Q. scores, when reinforced after each correct response

This experiment studied the effect on intelligence test scores of a probable reinforcer given for correct responses. Eleven pairs of 5- to 7-yr-old children were matched on the basis of a strong liking of candy, no physical problems associated with eating it, parent permission to receive and eat the candy, age, sex, and a revised Stanford-Binet Scale Form L IQ score. The control group was given the revised Stanford-Binet Scale Form M, as prescribed in the test manual. The experimental group was also given Form M according to the manual, except M&M candy was given for each plus or correct response. There was an appreciable, statistically significant difference between the resulting IQ test scores of the two groups.     

Test of the definition of learning disability based on the difference between IQ and achievement

A learning disability is commonly defined as a discrepancy between IQ and achievement. This has been criticized for identifying too many children as having a learning disability who have high IQs and average academic achievement. Such overidentification as actually occurred was assessed in 473 referred children (8-16 years, M= 10, SD=2) with normal intelligence. Learning disability was defined as a significant discrepancy (p<.05) between predicted and obtained achievement in reading, mathematics, or written expression on the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test. Predicted achievement was based on the child's WISC-III Full Scale IQ. Overidentification was considered to occur when a child scored at or above age level in reading, mathematics, and writing but still had a significant discrepancy between predicted and obtained achievement by virtue of a high IQ. Learning disability was diagnosed in 312 (66%) of the children. There was no overidentification because all children had one or more WIAT scores below the normative level for their age, i.e., < 100. Further, only 7% of the children were identified with a learning disability based on a WIAT score in the 90s. These children had a mean IQ of 123 and were rated by their teachers and parents as having learning problems.     

Assessment of cognitive deficiency with the McCarthy Scales and Stanford-Binet: a correlational analysis.

The present study tested matched samples of 15 retarded and 15 normal children on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Pearson correlations between Stanford-Binet IQs and the six McCarthy Scale Indexes for retarded subjects were lower than coefficients obtained from the normal subjects and from previous research. While the General Cognitive Index may be interchangeable with IQ in the Normal range of intellectual functioning, this relationship was not found for the retarded subjects in the present study. The "venerable" Stanford-Binet retains its position as the most broadly applicable measure of intellectual functioning. Implications of the study as well as an outline for future research were included.     

A parent-offspring adoption study of cognitive abilities in early childhood

Do cognitive abilities in early childhood relate genetically and/or environmentally to isomorphic abilities in adulthood? Are specific cognitive abilities diffentiated in early childhood in terms of their prediction of adult cognitive abilities? The present study, the first behavioral genetic analysis of specific cognitive abilities in early childhood, explored these questions using parent-offspring data for 186 adopted children and 151 nonadopted children tested in the longitudinal Colorado Adoption Project at 3 years of age and 162 adopted children and 138 nonadopted children tested at 4 years. The children's Stanford-Binet IQ and scores for four specific cognitive abilities (verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory) were correlated with corresponding measures for their parents—the biological and adoptive parents of the adopted children and the natural parents of the nonadopted children. Significant correlations were found between biological mothers' IQ and the IQ of their adopted away offspring at 3 and 4 years of age, suggesting genetic influence for IQ. However, specific cognitive abilities yielded no significant correlations between biological mothers and their adopted-away offspring. These results suggest that substantial genetic continuity exists for IQ from early childhood to adulthood, but not for specific cognitive abilities.     

Analysis of the piat with Anglo and Mexican-American children

This study analyzed the utility of the PIAT when administered to separate samples of Anglo and Mexican-American children using the WRAT and WISC-R as comparative measures. Thirty-one Mexican-American and 31 Anglo-American children were matched on the basis of sex, age, SES, educational placement, and reason referred for psychological assessment. All children were administered the PIAT, WRAT, and WISC-R. Partial intercorrelations (CA held constant) among the PIAT subtest raw scores and subtests of the WRAT purporting to measure the same construct were performed. Adequate concurrent validity was found for the PIAT Mathematics, Spelling, and Reading Recognition subtests for both Anglo and Mexican-American children. Analysis of subtest means and concurrent validity between ethnic groups showed general equivalence with the exception of WISC-R Verbal IQ means, which was significantly lower for the Mexican-American group. Implications for assessing Mexican-American children are discussed.     

Diagnostic implications of McCarthy scale general cognitive index/binet IQ discrepancies for low-socioeconomic-status preschool children

This study compared McCarthy Scale General Cognitive Index (GCI) and Stanford-Binet IQ discrepancies for both normal and handicapped preschool children of low socioeconomic status (SES). Both tests were administered in counter-balanced order to a total of 70 children. The results of these comparisons yielded a significant positive relationship between GCI and IQ, as well as a significant discrepancy between the two scores, favoring IQ, of a relatively small magnitude (3.9 points). There were significant discrepancies favoring IQ for the subgroups of learning-disabled, speech-impaired, and mentally retarded, those for all but mentally retarded being of relatively small magnitude; thus, the learning-disabled group was not uniquely characterized by a large discrepancy. In contrast to results consistently favoring IQ over GCI, when age groups were compared, the younger, 3 year olds, showed the reverse, though nonsignificant, trend.     

The Mozart effect: questions about the seminal findings of Rauscher, Shaw, and colleagues

Seminal evidence for the Mozart effect was presented by Rauscher, Shaw, and colleagues in 1993 and 1994. A critical evaluation of their methodologies and interpretation of findings raises questions that must be answered before this evidence can be regarded as valid. We discuss issues such as their scoring of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, the experimental design used in their 1993 study, the validity of their 1993 IQ measure, the duration of the Mozart effect, their choice of experimental tasks in relation to predictions of the trion model of neural functioning, and the statistical analyses and interpretation of results in the 1993 and 1994 studies.     

Children's cognitive ability from 4 to 9 years old as a function of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence

This study examined the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence on children's cognitive ability. Gender and age were examined as moderators of potential cocaine exposure effects. The Stanford-Binet IV intelligence test was administered to 231 children (91 cocaine exposed, 140 unexposed) at ages 4, 6, and 9 years. Neonatal medical risk and other prenatal exposures (alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana) were also examined for their unique effects on child IQ. Mixed models analysis indicated that prenatal cocaine exposure interacted with gender, as cocaine-exposed boys had lower composite IQ scores. Age at assessment did not moderate this relation, indicating that cocaine-exposed boys had lower IQs across this age period. A stimulating home environment and high maternal verbal IQ also predicted higher composite IQ scores. Cocaine-exposed boys had lower scores on the Abstract/Visual Reasoning subscale, with trends for lower scores on the Short-Term Memory and Verbal Reasoning subscales, as exposure effects were observed across domains. The findings indicate that cocaine exposure continues to place children at risk for mild cognitive deficits into preadolescence. Possible mechanisms for the Exposure x Gender interaction are discussed.     

The Relationship Between the WISC-III and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test with Students Referred for Gifted Evaluation

A tolal of 29 students (mean age = 7.96 yrs) who were referred for gifted evaluation in an affluent suburban school district in Western Pennsylvania were administered the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) and the WISC-III. Paired t-tests comparing the K-BIT mean IQ (120.59) with the WISC-III Verbal (123.65), Performance (118.86) and Full Scale (122.86) IQs yielded no statistically significant differences (t (28) = 1.49, p = .15; t(28) = -0.74, p = .47; t(28) = 1.35, p = .19, respectively). Correlational analyses indicated that the K-BIT and WISC-III Verbal (r = .35. p < .05), Performance (f = .35, p < .05), and Full Scale IQs (r = 53, p < .01) correlated significantly. The limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

Validity of the motor observation questionnaire for teachers as a screening instrument for children at risk for developmental coordination disorder

This study investigates validity of the Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers (MOQ-T) in 182 children aged 5-10years, 91 children referred for motor problems to a rehabilitation center and 91 comparison children. Performance on the MOQ-T was compared to performance on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) and the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCD-Q). Significant correlations were obtained between the MOQ-T and the DCD-Q (r=-.63), and the MOQ-T and the M-ABC (r=.57). The MOQ-T discriminated between children at risk for DCD and comparison children. Sensitivity of the MOQ-T was 80.5%, specificity 62% with the M-ABC as 'gold standard'. These results support the validity of the MOQ-T as a screening instrument for identification of children at risk for DCD.     

Stanford-Binet and WAIS IQ differences and their implications for adults with intellectual disability (aka mental retardation)

Stanford-Binet and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) IQs were compared for a group of 74 adults with intellectual disability (ID). In every case, WAIS Full Scale IQ was higher than the Stanford-Binet Composite IQ, with a mean difference of 16.7 points. These differences did not appear to be due to the lower minimum possible score for the Stanford-Binet. Additional comparisons with other measures suggested that the WAIS might systematically underestimate severity of intellectual impairment. Implications of these findings are discussed regarding determination of disability status, estimating prevalence of ID, assessing dementia and aging-related cognitive declines, and diagnosis of ID in forensic cases involving a possible death penalty.     

Implicit learning differences: a question of developmental level?

A. S. Reber's (1992) proposition that the implicit learning system should demonstrate invariance of intellectual level (IQ) was examined by comparing 20 children with intellectual disability (mean mental age [MA] = approximately 5.8 years) with 20 intellectually gifted children (mean MA = approximately 12.4 years) of similar chronological age (CA; approximately 9.5 years). Implicit learning was assessed using a task involving covariation of 2 incidental cues. Explicit learning was assessed using a task of similar logical structure. Contrary to the IQ-invariance proposition, implicit learning as well as explicit learning varied with intellectual level. A secondary aim was to distinguish the contributions of CA, IQ, and MA to implicit learning. This was done by combining the samples of children in the present study with 2 samples of younger and older children of average ability from a study by M. Maybery, M. Taylor, and A. O'Brien-Malone (1995). Analyses showed that MA is critical to implicit learning.     

Adult smoking in the home environment and children's IQ

In a sample of 3- and 5-yr.-old children, smoking in the home was found to be significantly and inversely related to IQ. Children of normal birth weight and without neurological impairment had been enrolled in a longitudinal study of child development. Analyses were conducted with sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, educational stimulation in the home, day care, and mother's intelligence controlled. Significant results were obtained for scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised at age three years and on the major Stanford-Binet Fourth Edition scales at ages three and five years. All effects were for the mother, not the father, smoking in the home.     

Do the Wechsler scales underestimate the difference between verbal and performance abilities in children with language–related disorders?

The present paper examines the validity of the Wechsler scales with children with language-related disorders, with whom the scales were not originally normed. The general question is whether we can take measures of IQ, normed with a normal sample, and then validly use them as indicators of the same constructs with samples significantly different from the normed sample. In previous papers it was pointed out that the pattern structurally simple > moderately complex > complex tests can be observed in their IQ profiles within both the Verbal scale and the Performance scale. In this paper, it is hypothesized that this scatter of scores leads to an underestimation of the global V-P IQ differences for children with language-related disorders because there are more structurally complex tests on the Performance scale than on the Verbal scale. To test this hypothesis, "purer" V-P IQ differences were calculated by comparing the scores on Verbal and Performance tests of equal structural complexity. WPPSI and WISC-R data from four groups of children were analyzed: language-impaired children (n = 128), reading-impaired children (n = 112), children from dyslexic families (n = 51), and normal children (n = 49). When the effect of the difference in structural complexity was controlled for, it was found that the distribution of the revised V-P IQ difference was significantly more toward the negative end of the spectrum than the traditional V-P IQ differences for language-impaired and reading-impaired children, and approaching a significant level for children from dyslexic families. As hypothesized, there were no significant differences between the two distributions of V-P IQ differences for normal children. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Rater agreements in assigning stanford-binet items to Guilford's structure of intellect operations categories

Nineteen school psychologists assigned the 142 items in the Form L-M of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale to the five Operations categories of Guilford's Structure of Intellect model, following flow charts prepared for this purpose by Meeker (1965). On the average, one rater agreed with another on about half the items, and their modal assignments agreed with Meeker's (1969) assignments on only 81 (57%) of the items. These levels of agreement are judged not to be high enough to justify classifying Stanford-Binet items in accordance with the Structure of Intellect Operations categories.     

Feasibility and validity of the structured attention module among economically disadvantaged preschool-age children

Rooted in the theory of attention put forth by Mirsky, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, and Kellam (1991), the Structured Attention Module (SAM) is a developmentally sensitive, computer-based performance task designed specifically to assess sustained selective attention among 3- to 6-year-old children. The current study addressed the feasibility and validity of the SAM among 64 economically disadvantaged preschool-age children (mean age = 58 months; 55% female); a population known to be at risk for attention problems and adverse math performance outcomes. Feasibility was demonstrated by high completion rates and strong associations between SAM performance and age. Principal Factor Analysis with rotation produced robust support for a three-factor model (Accuracy, Speed, and Endurance) of SAM performance, which largely corresponded with existing theorized models of selective and sustained attention. Construct validity was evidenced by positive correlations between SAM Composite scores and all three SAM factors and IQ, and between SAM Accuracy and sequential memory. Value-added predictive validity was not confirmed through main effects of SAM on math performance above and beyond age and IQ; however, significant interactions by child sex were observed: Accuracy and Endurance both interacted with child sex to predict math performance. In both cases, the SAM factors predicted math performance more strongly for girls than for boys. There were no overall sex differences in SAM performance. In sum, the current findings suggest that interindividual variation in sustained selective attention, and potentially other aspects of attention and executive function, among young, high-risk children can be captured validly with developmentally sensitive measures.