Relationship between WAIS-R subtests and language measures after blunt head injury

Abstract

The relationship between language performance (Multilingual Aphasia Exam: MAE) and WAIS-R subtests was examined in 79 head-injured patients using multiple stepwise regression analyses. As expected, WAIS-R Verbal subtests are more highly correlated with basic language skills than are WAIS-R Performance subtests. The Verbal subtests demonstrated significant relationships with the Visual Naming, Controlled Oral Word Association, and Sentence Repetition subtests of the MAE. Most Verbal subtests were more strongly correlated with MAE Visual Naming; however, Digit Span and Arithmetic were more strongly related to MAE Sentence Repetition. WAIS-R Performance subtests also correlated with MAE subtests, primarily the Token Test and Controlled Oral Word Association. In general, premorbid education was not a significant factor in these correlations. Although severity of injury did not impact correlations between language measures and Verbal subtests, it was a factor in the correlations with some Performance subtests. Results argue that WAIS-R profiles of head-injured persons can be interpreted most accurately when knowledge of more basic language skills is available.