The appropriateness of selected subtests of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition for hearing impaired children

This study proposed to evaluate the appropriateness of selected subtests of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SB:FE) for use with severely to profoundly hearing impaired children. The subjects used in this study were enrolled in a residential/day school for the deaf whose educational methodology was Total Communication. The subjects were tested on both the SB:FE nonverbal selected subtests and the Performance Scale of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R PIQ). To assess appropriateness, several procedures were employed comparing data gathered from the hearing impaired sample with data reported for the standardized population of the SB:FE. Correlations were computed between the WISC-R and the SB:FE and comparisons of the total composite scores for each measure were made to detect any systematic differences. The results indicated that the correlations reported for the hearing impaired sample are generally similar to the correlations reported for the standardized sample of the SB:FE. The analysis performed between the Area Scores of the SB:FE and the WISC-R PIQ to detect systematic differences revealed a difference of one standard deviation between these two instruments, with the. SB:FE results being lower than the WISC-R PIQ results. It was concluded that the selected subtests of the SB:FE and the WISC-R PIQ could not be used interchangeably. Further research into this area was advised before using this measure to estimate general cognitive ability for hearing impaired children whose levels of language development may be delayed. Further research was also encouraged to confirm the suggestion of greater predictive validity of the SB:FE with academic measures. It was suggested that these findings indicated that the use of language as a cognitive tool may be important in acquiring certain problem solving skills.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat