Development of an eight-subtest short form of the WISC-IV and evaluation of its clinical utility in children with traumatic brain injury

Abstract

This study evaluated the degree to which an 8-subtest short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition would yield acceptable estimates of the long-form Full-Scale IQ index while clarifying the underlying factor structure in a sample of 100 children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury. The short-form Full-Scale IQ had sufficient (i.e., at least two thirds) nonerror covariance with its full-length counterpart. In addition, a sufficient proportion (i.e., > 80%) of these short-form estimates fell within the 90% confidence interval of the respective full-length scores. Importantly, the elimination of 2 subtests, and in particular the Picture Concepts subtest, resulted in a factor structure where each remaining subtest was fairly specifically associated with its intended scale. It is concluded that this short form can be used clinically in children with traumatic brain injury without sacrificing reliability and with more straightforward interpretability at the level of the factor index scores.

• Assessment
• Intelligence
• Psychometrics
• Short form

This research was supported by a grant from the Campbell Foundation (#1.1099.0014).