Multivariate Analysis of the WISC Scales for Blind and Sighted Children

Abstract

St~mnary.-The purpose of this investigation was to examine the WISC verbal 1Q i n terms of subtes: scores for blind and sighted children. It was hypothesized that subtest variability would be sufficiently different to support a significant discriminant function discriminating blind and sighted groups equated on WISC verbal IQ and age. D 2 was significant at the .05 level ( F = 6.38, df = 6/107). Blind and sighzed groups were distinguished by Information, Similarities, and Digit Span. The results indicated chat future studies of the predictive validity of the WISC with blind children should use individual subtests as variables rather than the single verbal IQ measure.The verbal section of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is widely used, without modification, to assess the intelligence of blind children.As it is currently scored, the test provides a verbal IQ which is derived from the scaled scores on either !ive or six subtests. Since experience has shown that the single global measure of intelligence is often of limited value in the psychological evaluation of many blind children, Bateman (1965) and Hepfinger ( 1962), without specific reference co the WISC, have argued that a profile of abilities would be a practical alternative to a composite IQ score.The purpose of this investigation is to examine the WISC verbal IQ more closely by reference to subtest scores for blind and sighted children. Based on the comments of Bateman and Hepfinger, it is suggested that the subtest variability will be sufficiently different to support a significant discriminant function discriminating blind and sighted groups equated on WISC verbal IQ and age. METHODWISC data were obtained on 167 blind children from residential schools in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Approximately 100 children were ~ested in the Spring of 1965; the remaining WISC forms were obtained from school files. WISC data on sighted children were obtained from a current longitudinal study of the WISC which sampled small, medium, and large population centers in Georgia. ' Blind Ss included in the study relied on Braille, not large print, as an educational medium. Blindness was thereby functionally defined, not ~nferred, from acuity measures. In order : o investigate the relationship berween length of in-'This report is made as a part of the activities of

“To see or not to see: that is the question.” The “Protection-Against-Schizophrenia” (PaSZ) model: evidence from congenital blindness and visuo-cognitive aberrations

“…Better performance in higher-order cognitive abilities has, in fact, been observed in various memory span (Tillman and Bashaw, 1968; Smits and Mommers, 1976; Pozar, 1982; Hull and Mason, 1995; Roder et al, 2001; Amedi et al, 2003; Roder and Rosler, 2003; Raz et al, 2007) and auditory attention tasks (Roder et al, 1996, 1999, 2001; Roder and Rosler, 2003). Van Velzen et al (2006) investigated early and late attention indicators in congenitally blind and sighted individuals with electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings.…”

Enhanced verbal abilities in the congenitally blind

“…A number of studies have shown that congenitally blind people perform better than normally sighted controls on a range of verbal memory tasks, including tests of short- and long-term recall (Amedi et al, 2003; Pasqualotto et al, 2013a), recognition (Amedi et al, 2003; Röder et al, 2001), serial word order (Raz et al, 2007), and working memory as indexed by digit span tasks (Tillman & Bashaw, 1968; Smits & Mommers, 1976; Hull & Mason, 1995; Withagen et al, 2013). However, superior verbal memory performance in the congenitally blind could reflect either enhanced verbal abilities in the absence of vision, regardless of the kind of verbal task used, or enhanced memory abilities that might generalize across different cognitive domains.…”

“…For example, the evidence for a working memory advantage in the blind is primarily from studies of children (Tillman & Bashaw, 1968; Smits & Mommers, 1976; Hull & Mason, 1995; Withagen et al, 2013). However, although studies of adults show no significant differences between the blind and sighted (Castronovo & Delvenne, 2013; Pigeon & Marin-Lamellet, 2015) this was likely due to ceiling effects (and see Swanson & Luxenberg, 2009, for equivocal results in children).…”

Recognition memory for Braille or spoken words: An fMRI study in early blind

“…Examples include significantly greater short-term memory for sequential digit-span on the verbal section of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale in blind children (Hull and Mason, 1995; Tillman and Bashaw, 1968) or adults (Rokem and Ahissar, 2009) and better recall of rehearsed word lists (Amedi et al, 2003; Azulay et al, 2009) and the serial order of studied word lists (Raz et al, 2007), and >60% word recognition of intensely studied words after a one year delay (Raz et al, 2005). …”