Application of a WAIS-R Short Form with Neurological Patients: Validity and Correlational Findings

Abstract

Investigated was the validity of the combination of the Information, Arithmetic, Picture Completion, and Block Design Subtests as an estimate of WAIS-R Full Scale IQ for 70 brain-damaged patients. The correlation between short-form and Full Scale IQwas highly significant, p < .001. A pairwise t test between the mean IQs for the two forms was significant, p < .005, and indicated that the short form yielded higher IQs than the standard form. However, the average difference between the two IQs was small (1.74 points) and lacked clinical significance since the measures agreed in terms of Wechsler's (1981) classification system 83% of the time. The short-form and Full Scale IQs were intercorrelated with scores from selected neuropsychological tests. A lack of meaningful differences emerged between the resulting correlations for the two IQs. The two ability measures behave in essentially the same manner when used as part of a neuropsychological battery. Expectations about a patient's appropriate level of functioning on neuropsychological measures will be similar whether based on the abbreviated or Full Scale IQ.