Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1976,42, 125-126. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1976
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WISC VERBAL-PERFORMANCE DISCREPANCIES AND MOTOR AND PSYCHOMOTOR ABILITIES OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES BRIAN D. WENER Waterford H o s ~ t a l St. John's, Newfoundland
AND
DONALD I. TEMPLER Waterford Hosfiital and Memorial University of Newfoirndland
Summary.-Thirty 9- to 14-yr.-old boys with learning disabilities were divided into three WISC 1Q groups: High Verbal-Low Performance, Verbal equal to Performance, and High Performance-Low Verbal. All Ss were given a battery of motor and psychomotor tests. WISC IQ Verbal-Performance discrepancy was not a good predictor of motor and psychomotor learning disabilities. The present study was similar to a prior one ( 9 ) which examined the relationship between the performance upon motor and psychomotor tasks of 9- and 14-yr.-old boys with learning disabilities and discrepancy berween Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) Verbal-Performance IQs. They had three groups of subjects: one group with Performance IQs 1 0 or more points higher than Verbal IQs; a group with Verbal and Performance 1Qs within 4 points of each other; and another group with Verbal IQs 10 or more points higher than Performance IQs. In general, the performance of the three groups was in the predicted respective descending order, with 31 of the 75 possible comparisons being significant by the Newman-Keuls procedure. However, the authors of the present study regard the Rourke and Telegdy results as not amenable to conclusive inferences. For one thing, the Newman-Keuls is a rather lenient test for rejecting the null hypothesis (11). In addition, analyses of variance were not performed before the Newman-Keuls comparisons. Such seems inappropriate in view of the fact that 15 of their differences were not in the predicted direction and that previous research demonstrates equivocal evidence with respect to the predictive capacity of discrepancies berween Verbal and Performance IQs of children with learning disabilities (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ) . In fact, a subsequent study ( 8 ) of 5 to 8-yr.-old boys did not replicate Rourke and Telegdy's findings with 9- to 14-yr.-old boys. Further, the former study used a 10-point discrepancy criterion which seems small in view of the fact that 39% of the general population of children have a 10-point discrepancy in one direction or the other (10). In the present research, as in the Rourke and Telegdy study, the subjects were boys from 9 to 14 yr. of age with Full Scale WISC IQs from 85 to 115. All 30 children had previously been referred for neuropsychological assessment because of learning disabilities in which cerebral dysfunction was thought to be a contributing factor. Ten subjects were allocated to each of the three groups using the WlSC criteria employed by Rourke and Telegdy. As in their research, this study employed the Smedley Hand Dynamometer, the Maze Test ( 4 ) , the Grooved Pegboard Test ( 4 ) , the Finger and Foot Tapping Test ( 4 ) , and the Tactual Performance Test ( 7 ) . The Graduated Holes Test ( 4 ) was omitted. In the current statistical treatment, analyses were carried out for the five tests rather than for the 23 individual measures provided by the additional use of subtest scores. This was done to decrease the chance of Type I error by reducing the number of analyses and for the purpose of increasing the statistical power by using essentially composite scores for the five tests. On all measures, T scores were used. Separate two-factor analyses of variance with repeated measures were performed for the Smedley Hand Dynamometer ( F = 1.92, df = 2 / 2 9 ) , the Maze Test ( F = 1.48, df
126
B. D. WENER
&
D. I. TEMPLER
= 2/29), .86, df =
the Grooved Pegboard Test ( F = .87, d f = 2 / 2 9 ) , the Tapping Test ( F = 2/29), and the Tactual Performance Test ( F = 4.73, d f = 2/29, p .05). For the Tactual Performance Test, the group having high performance and low verbal IQs scored higher ( F = 1.34, df = 1/19) than the group having equal verbal and performance IQs and higher ( F = 9.18, d f = 1/19, p .01) than the group having high verbal and low performance IQs. Scores for the group with equivalent IQs were significantly higher ( F = 5.90, d f = 1/19, p .05) than those for the group whose verbal IQs were higher than their performance IQs. The present findings are quite different from those of Rourke and Telegdy ( 9 ) . Of rhe five tasks, only scores on the Tactual Performance Test yielded significant differences. It is noteworthy that in the Rourke and Telegdy study the Tactual Performance Test provided the least discrimination, with only 1 of 18 Newman-Keuls comparisons being signif.05) and 8 of 18 comparisons being in a non-predicted direction. It is thereicant ( p fore apparent that the relationship between the WISC patterns described above and performance on the five selected tasks for 9- to 14-yr.-old boys with learning disabilities is equivocal and perhaps more complex than is immediately apparent from the Rourke and Telegdy article. Greater caution of a more general sort is suggested with respect to the use of discrepancies in verbal and performance IQs of children with learning disabilities.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WISC VERBAL-PERFORMANCE DISCREPANCIES AND MOTOR AND PSYCHOMOTOR ABILITIES OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES BRIAN D. WENER Waterford H o s ~ t a l St. John's, Newfoundland
AND
DONALD I. TEMPLER Waterford Hosfiital and Memorial University of Newfoirndland
Summary.-Thirty 9- to 14-yr.-old boys with learning disabilities were divided into three WISC 1Q groups: High Verbal-Low Performance, Verbal equal to Performance, and High Performance-Low Verbal. All Ss were given a battery of motor and psychomotor tests. WISC IQ Verbal-Performance discrepancy was not a good predictor of motor and psychomotor learning disabilities. The present study was similar to a prior one ( 9 ) which examined the relationship between the performance upon motor and psychomotor tasks of 9- and 14-yr.-old boys with learning disabilities and discrepancy berween Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) Verbal-Performance IQs. They had three groups of subjects: one group with Performance IQs 1 0 or more points higher than Verbal IQs; a group with Verbal and Performance 1Qs within 4 points of each other; and another group with Verbal IQs 10 or more points higher than Performance IQs. In general, the performance of the three groups was in the predicted respective descending order, with 31 of the 75 possible comparisons being significant by the Newman-Keuls procedure. However, the authors of the present study regard the Rourke and Telegdy results as not amenable to conclusive inferences. For one thing, the Newman-Keuls is a rather lenient test for rejecting the null hypothesis (11). In addition, analyses of variance were not performed before the Newman-Keuls comparisons. Such seems inappropriate in view of the fact that 15 of their differences were not in the predicted direction and that previous research demonstrates equivocal evidence with respect to the predictive capacity of discrepancies berween Verbal and Performance IQs of children with learning disabilities (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ) . In fact, a subsequent study ( 8 ) of 5 to 8-yr.-old boys did not replicate Rourke and Telegdy's findings with 9- to 14-yr.-old boys. Further, the former study used a 10-point discrepancy criterion which seems small in view of the fact that 39% of the general population of children have a 10-point discrepancy in one direction or the other (10). In the present research, as in the Rourke and Telegdy study, the subjects were boys from 9 to 14 yr. of age with Full Scale WISC IQs from 85 to 115. All 30 children had previously been referred for neuropsychological assessment because of learning disabilities in which cerebral dysfunction was thought to be a contributing factor. Ten subjects were allocated to each of the three groups using the WlSC criteria employed by Rourke and Telegdy. As in their research, this study employed the Smedley Hand Dynamometer, the Maze Test ( 4 ) , the Grooved Pegboard Test ( 4 ) , the Finger and Foot Tapping Test ( 4 ) , and the Tactual Performance Test ( 7 ) . The Graduated Holes Test ( 4 ) was omitted. In the current statistical treatment, analyses were carried out for the five tests rather than for the 23 individual measures provided by the additional use of subtest scores. This was done to decrease the chance of Type I error by reducing the number of analyses and for the purpose of increasing the statistical power by using essentially composite scores for the five tests. On all measures, T scores were used. Separate two-factor analyses of variance with repeated measures were performed for the Smedley Hand Dynamometer ( F = 1.92, df = 2 / 2 9 ) , the Maze Test ( F = 1.48, df
126
B. D. WENER
&
D. I. TEMPLER
= 2/29), .86, df =
the Grooved Pegboard Test ( F = .87, d f = 2 / 2 9 ) , the Tapping Test ( F = 2/29), and the Tactual Performance Test ( F = 4.73, d f = 2/29, p .05). For the Tactual Performance Test, the group having high performance and low verbal IQs scored higher ( F = 1.34, df = 1/19) than the group having equal verbal and performance IQs and higher ( F = 9.18, d f = 1/19, p .01) than the group having high verbal and low performance IQs. Scores for the group with equivalent IQs were significantly higher ( F = 5.90, d f = 1/19, p .05) than those for the group whose verbal IQs were higher than their performance IQs. The present findings are quite different from those of Rourke and Telegdy ( 9 ) . Of rhe five tasks, only scores on the Tactual Performance Test yielded significant differences. It is noteworthy that in the Rourke and Telegdy study the Tactual Performance Test provided the least discrimination, with only 1 of 18 Newman-Keuls comparisons being signif.05) and 8 of 18 comparisons being in a non-predicted direction. It is thereicant ( p fore apparent that the relationship between the WISC patterns described above and performance on the five selected tasks for 9- to 14-yr.-old boys with learning disabilities is equivocal and perhaps more complex than is immediately apparent from the Rourke and Telegdy article. Greater caution of a more general sort is suggested with respect to the use of discrepancies in verbal and performance IQs of children with learning disabilities.
