We point out the significant limitations in adapting the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) to assess the intellectual-cognitive functioning of Spanish-speaking adults, and we seek to familiarize practitioners with the Spanish version of the WAIS, the Escala de Inteligencia Wechsler Para Adultos (EIWA). To do the latter, we systematically examined both the EIWA and the WAIS and identified the exact differences between the two tests in regard to administration, content, scoring, and standardization sample characteristics. The most significant difference was found in the conversion of raw scores to scale scores. On several subtests, the equivalent raw score was converted into very different WAIS and EIWA scale scores. Other significant differences were noted in the content of the tests and in the social demographic makeup of the standardization samples. The administration and assignment of scores for both tests were generally found to be similar. On the basis of these findings, we offer specific recommendations for the testing of Spanish-speaking adults and for further research in this neglected area of study. The growing population of linguistic minorities in the United States calls for a closer investigation of the appropriateness of using psychological instruments with these groups (Olmedo, 1981). Accordingly, there is an increasing number of researchers who are evaluating the reliability validity, and utility of Wechsler scales in the assessment of Hispanics, the largest linguistic minority group in this country. A close examination of this research reveals that it almost exclusively addresses the assessment of children. In a recent review of the literature, McShane and Cook (1985) identified more than 70 empirical studies in which the Wechsler scales for children were used and only two studies in which a Wechsler scale for adults was used (
