Contrast between the WISC-IV and WIAT scores
By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q:
I am dealing with a boy who is 14 years of age. The boy
demonstrates delinquent behavior such as substance use,
picking on his suitor when she dresses up, and running away
from school.
He scored with an IQ of high average on the WISC-IV, however
on the WIAT he scored extremely low and borderline on most
tests, what does it prove? How can we explain this contrast?
A: Briefly, the WISC–IV is used
to assess general thinking and reasoning skills of children
aged 6 years to 16 years. This test has five main areas that
are; Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning
Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI), Processing Speed
Index (PSI), and Full Scale scores.
On the other hand, the WIAT-II is an achievement test for
individuals ages four through adulthood. Skills that are
tested are Reading (Word Reading, Reading Comprehension,
Pseudo word Decoding); Mathematics (Numerical Operations,
Mathematics Reasoning); Written Language (Spelling, Written
Expression); and Oral Language (Listening Comprehension,
Oral Expression).
There is a rather high correlation between the WISC-IV and
WIAT-II at the composite level. The VCI is highly correlated
with Reading and Oral
Language, the PRI is highly correlated with Math, WMI is
highly correlated with Reading, and PSI is highly correlated
to Written Language. With the rather high correlation, the
scores of the boy you are dealing with do not match.
There is a lot more information required to make interpret
reasons for discrepancy in scores. How far apart were the
tests taken? How was he feeling on the day of the test? He
does appear to have a behavioral concern – has he been
diagnosed with ADHD? I’m afraid it is a little hard to
interpret what the problem may be but I strongly advise
seeing a psychologist for a detailed interpretation based on
his individual scores.
An interesting site for tests and measurement can be found
here.
Best of luck!
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