Cognitive Characteristics of Learning-Disabled and Immature Children as Determined by the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Test

Abstract

One hundred fifteen Israeli-born nursery school boys were divided into four groups- two experimental and two control groups. One experimental group consisted of children referred for immaturity to the school psychological center. The other experimental group consisted of children referred for learning disability. Each experimental group was compared to its matched control group for Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence pro files, sub test scatter, Verbal-Performance discrepancy, and Bannatyne categories. In this way, the two experimental groups were also compared. The results showed that the intellectual functioning of learning-disabled (LD) and immature (IM) children is different from that of their control groups. For Arithmetic, Mazes, and Geometric Design, we found that LD children have lower scores than IM children. Scatter indices on all the scales - Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ - were found to be significantly greater for the LD group than for its matched group and for the IM group.