A Study of low scores in Canadian children and adolescents on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)

Abstract

Knowing the prevalence of low neurocognitive scores for the WISC-IV Canadian normative sample (WISC-IV^CDN) is an important supplement for clinical interpretation of test performance. On the WISC-IV^CDN, it is uncommon for children and adolescents to have 4 or more subtest scores or 2 or more Index scores ≤ 9th percentile when all scores on the battery are considered simultaneously. As the level of the child's intelligence increases or the number of years of parental education increases, the prevalence of low scores decreases. These results are consistent with existing studies of the base rates of low scores in children and adolescents on pediatric cognitive batteries, including the WISC-IV American normative sample. Tables provided are ready for clinical use.

Keywords:

• Neuropsychology
• Base rates
• Cognitive
• Misdiagnosis
• Pediatrics
• Children
• Abnormal score

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Emily Tam for assistance with manuscript preparation. Standardization data from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV^CDN). Copyright © 2004 NCS Pearson, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

The author has no known, perceived, or actual conflict of interest with this research. Data were provided to the author by NCS Pearson, Inc. but this study was unfunded.