Intellectual patterns of conduct problem children on the WISC-R

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the WISC-R profiles of 42 conduct problem children attending public school classes for the emotionally handicapped. This analysis was done to generate hypotheses concerning the children's intellectual strengths and weaknesses, using a variety of subtest groupings to interpret ability patterns. No attempt was made to differentiate between various categories of emotional disturbance, between disturbed and normal children, nor between different kinds of handicapping conditions. The statistical procedures consisted of Analysis of Variance Repeated Measures for comparisons across three or more subtest groupings, and t-tests for dependent samples when only two subtest groupings were being compared. In general, the findings revealed relative strengths in perceptual organization skills, and weaknesses in skills that involve sequencing, memory, and attention. Specific verbal and nonverbal patterns emerged and are discussed, along with implications for practice and directions of future research.