Chapter 3: What is intelligence
Contents
1. 180 when asked what he believed it meant to be intelligent answered that it was to see the world in a different way 43 Conclusions implications of the study and future research The research carried out firmly supports Galton s Theory and the latest studies about genetics and cognition of the existence of a general intelligence factor the g factor which assimilates intelligence strictly speaking and is involved in all mental activity or human thought Intelligence would thus be a diffuse or global quality of the mind i e not modular Fluid intelligence Gf and crystallised intelligence Gc have a common origin in the g factor or general intelligence This g factor is hereditary in accordance with the correlation found between the Mental Age in the SBL B Stanford Binet Form L M and the equivalent age of Visual Memory linked to the neurological development of the brain in the BVRT Benton Visual Retention Test r 0 83 Contrary to the theories maintained previously our research seems to demonstrate that fluid intelligence Gf is not the basis of human intelligence and neither is it the factor that has most to do with the hereditary nature of intelligence Equally we corroborate the findings of Vandenberg 1969 who demonstrated that when moving on from the capacity factors of high heritability to those which have low heritability the order of classification was the following word fluency verbal a2. Spain Member of Executive Committee of World Council for Gifted and Talented Children 1997 2001 Organizer 14th World Conference for gifted and talented children Barcelona 2001 54 countries represented EDITOR Ideacci n 29 Edited by the Spanish Center of support for gifted children s development from 1994 ISSN 1134 1548 Spanish Ministry of Education ISSN 1695 7075 internet Spanish Ministry of Education The Ideaccion Journal doesn t expressly line up with the opinions of the collaborators who sign their papers it doesn t necessarily identify itself with them whose responsibility is exclusiveness of the authors The total or partial reproduction of this publication is not allowed without the written authorization from the editorial IDEACCION journal is included in the database of ISOC the State Council of Scientific Research Spanish Ministry of Education e Bibliographical Bulletin of the documentation service of CIDE from the Spanish Education Ministry e PSICODOC database from the State Association of the Spanish Psychologists INDEX What is intelligence Validity of the WISC IV test for measuring intelligence Correction criteria for intellectually gifted children Summary Introduction 1 Is the new WISC IV effective for measuring intelligence The effectiveness of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence Validation study in relation to the Stanford Binet Form L M Res
3. and capacity for abstraction when it comes to forming concepts is what differentiates the most intelligent children Spearman 1927 wrote about the formation of concepts or neo genesis as the most typical of intelligent behaviour Yuste 2002 14 Foster 1986 33 37 suggested an emergent theory of intelligence in the same way that water changes its properties to different degrees intelligence may change its properties when it reaches a critical point Leta Hollingworth thought that this critical point would be at IQ 145 46 Taking all this into consideration it is interesting to know what would happen if we considered the different ranges of giftedness in the SBL M gifted IQ 130 144 highly gifted IQ 145 159 exceptionally gifted IQ 160 174 and profoundly gifted IQ 175 in the correlation between the WISC IV and the SBL M Some questions which we could pose are will the correlation between the TIQ of the WISC IV and the SBL M be found in all the ranges of giftedness Will this correlation increase or decrease according to the ranges of giftedness Another possible question is will a correlation be observed between the indices of the WISC IV and the SBL M Will this possible correlation of the different indices VC PR WM and PS of the WISC IV increase or decrease as the range of giftedness of the children in the SBL M becomes greater Which of these indices will be significant Finally will the subtests of the WISC IV whic
4. M according to the study carried out by Wechsler with 108 children was r 0 73 Wechsler 1974 51 The correlation found in the present study between the WISC IV and the SBL M is of the order r 0 83 in 84 children That is to say that the new test of the Wechsler scale performed using the very latest techniques and based on the most up to date theories on intelligence created to be used throughout the world in order to measure pupils intelligence is more similar to the old SBL M rather than the previous editions of the tests of the Wechsler scale This means that the new theoretical approaches based on the new theories of intelligence which support the theoretical foundation of the WISC IV and all the present international intelligence tests for the psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence which have a clear theoretical approximation to the theory known as CHC Cattell Horn Carroll this new theory and the sophistication of the techniques used have resulted in the fact that the new WISC IV is more similar to the old SBL M than the previous tests of the Wechsler scale It should be remembered at this point that the old SBL M is based on the monolithic theories about intelligence from the beginning of the 20 century The old SB Stanford Binet appeared in 1904 when the Minister of Public Education in France created a commission to find a way of distinguishing mentally defective children f
5. Reclaiming lost giftedness in girls En Understanding our gifted 2 7 Silverman L K 1992 Desarrollo emocional de los superdotados a trav s del ciclo vital En Benito Y Desarrollo y educaci n de los ni os superdotados Amar Ediciones Salamanca Silverman L K 2005 An overview of issues in assessing gifted children Gifted Development Center Colorado Silverman L K y Kearney K 1989 Parents of the extraordinarily gifted In Advanced development 1 Spearman C 1904 General intelligence objectively determinated and measured In American Journal of Psychology 15 Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale Stanford Binet Terman Merrill Forma L M Stanley J C 1990 Leta Hollingworth s contributions to above level testing of the gifted Roeper Review 12 3 Sternberg R J 1997 Inteligencia Exitosa C mo una inteligencia pr ctica y creativa determina el xito en la vida Paid s Barcelona 49 Sternberg R J amp Davidson J E 1985 Cognitive development in the gifted and talented In Horowitz F amp O Brien M The gifted and talented Development perspectives American Psychological Association Washington Wechsler D 1974 Manual for the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence San Antonio Texas Edici n espa ola Escala de Inteligencia Wechsler para Preescolar y Primaria TEA Ediciones 1976 Wechsler D 1991 Manual for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children T
6. Silverman and Moran 2004 suggests that the cut off point which should be used is the TIQ total IQ of 123 in the WISC IV The authors consider that this is an adequate alternative Their study shows that when individuals with a TIQ in the WISC IV of 123 or higher are selected the distribution of the scores of the VC index verbal comprehension and the PR index perceptual reasoning is above 130 Moreover a TIQ score of 123 or more includes 75 of the subjects who obtained scores of 130 or above in the SBL M According to our data the cut off point of the TIQ Total IQ in the WISC IV which should be considered would be slightly highly TIQ 125 That is to say that we can infer that if a child has 125 in the WISC IV he she could be gifted in the SBL M and their score in the SBL M will be 130 with a margin of error If we consider the GAI General Ability Index the cut off point which should be taken into account is GAI 130 e Table 6 1 Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV Cut off point for selecting gifted children with the WISC IV TIQ e Table 6 2 Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV Cut off point for selecting gifted children with WISC IV GAI In the study carried out by Flanagan and Kaufman 2004 and in accordance with the recent information of the Psychological Corporation Harcourt Assessments they suggest that if the GAI a combination of the VR verbal reasoning and PR perceptual reasoning indices is con
7. assessment Hoboken NJ John Wiley amp Sons Flanagan D P y Kaufman A S 2006 Claves para la evaluaci n con el WISC IV Tea Ediciones Madrid Foster W 1986 Giftedness The mistaken metaphor In Maker C J Ed Critical issues in gifted education Vol 1 MD Aspen Rockville Gilman B amp Falk R F 2005 Research based guidelines for use of the WISC IV in gifted assessment Gifted Development Center Colorado Guerra S 2002 Procesamiento de informacion Memoria Visual y Edad Mental Suficiencia Investigadora Universidad de Valladolid 48 L pez lbor J J 2002 DSM IV TR Manual diagn stico y estad stico de los trastornos mentales Masson Barcelona Diagnostic and statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM IV TR 2000 OMS 1992 CIE 10 Trastornos Mentales y del Comportamiento Criterios diagn sticos de investigaci n D cima revisi n Meditor Madrid OMS 1992 CIE 10 Trastornos Mentales y del Comportamiento Descripciones cl nicas y pautas para el diagn stico D cima revisi n Meditor Madrid P rez L y Beltr n J 2006 Dos d cadas de inteligencias multiples Implicaciones para la Psicolog a de la Educaci n en Papeles del Psic logo vol 27 3 Pichot P 1995 DSM IV Manual diagn stico y estad stico de los trastornos mentales Masson Barcelona Plomin R y DeFries J C 1998 Gen tica y cognici n En Investigaci n y Ciencia Julio Silverman L K 1989
8. intellectual activity and would therefore appear in all the items and all the intellectual tests although in a varying proportion It appears that when Wechsler offered his own definition of intelligence he accepted the ideas that prevailed then regarding the g factor and the concept of intelligence as a global entity congruent with what Terman Binet Spearman and others had proposed According to Wechsler intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully to think rationally and deal effectively with his environment He concluded that this definition avoided alluding to a specific capacity even though it is primordial e g abstract reasoning with something crucial or extremely important and it implies that any intelligence test is interchangeable with another Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 8 and 9 Later Wechsler often swings between the concept of intelligence as a singular entity first theory or as a meeting of mental aptitudes This is the moment when he published the WISC In the second period his WAIS scale for adults appeared the revisions of the WISC the WISC R and the WISC III At that time the new technologies computers and statistical programmes which facilitated the interpretation of the intelligence tests allowed the appearance of what Kamphaus and his collaborators called the third wave in the interpretation of tests the psychometric profile analysis Flanagan and
9. of the test with the exception of the PS index processing speed Such a high relationship between one test and another is more striking when the theoretical foundation is distinct As we have previously observed the WISC IV is based on the CHC theory Carrol Horn Carrol on which all present day intelligence tests are based while the SBL M is based on the monolithic theories of intelligence from the beginning of the 20 century This approach was the first theoretical approximation to intelligence carried out From this monolithic conception three principal concepts are derived mental age IQ and the g factor also known as general intelligence Spearman believed that the g factor general intelligence was the one which best represented and defined intelligence Spearman 1904 201 293 32 The author estimated that all intelligence tests measured to a large extent a general factor g which strictly speaking assimilated intelligence and although intelligence varied from one individual to another it remained unalterable for the same individual with respect to other correlated aptitudes and another much smaller specific factor s which was characteristic of the test used The s factors are multiples of each individual and they not only vary from one individual to another but they can also vary in a single person and for distinct aptitudes In some way the g factor would be involved in every
10. than 1 5 standard deviations lt 23 points If the difference between the VC and the PR is greater than 23 points then neither will this index be interpretable Therefore the TIQ should be considered with caution since a strong variability exists between the four indices which comprise it 30 Consequently intelligence should be estimated from the interpretation of the four indices separately i e verbal comprehension perceptual reasoning working memory and processing speed Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 135 143 31 7 Which of the definitions of intelligence throughout history is nearest to the reality of the concept of intelligence in accordance with research results and new theories If anything has surprised us in the course of our research it is the high correlation found between the WISC IV and the SBL M when it comes to assessing children with average intelligence which makes us consider both tests equally effective for measuring the intelligence of this group of students With regard to the validity of the new WISC IV considering the relationship with the average of the SBL M it appears to be effective for calculating children with a high average and low intelligence the present relationship between both scales being greater than in the previous versions of the Wechsler scale The correlation of the WISC IV with the SBL M in these children is evident in both the TIQ total IQ as well as the rest of the indices
11. the sample of gifted children continue to be observed The effectiveness of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence for evaluating highly gifted children IQ equal to or higher than 130 Given that the new test should serve to correctly assess all pupils a concern to know the answer to the following question has arisen up to what point is the WISC IV adequate for assessing gifted children two typical deviations above the average IQ equal to or higher than 130 In the American assessment study the normative group of gifted school children collected in the Manual is strikingly lower in the WISC IV than in previous IQ tests Falk Silverman and Moran 2004 The WISC IV allows substantially more time for the answers than the WISC III which benefits gifted students but adds time on to the administration of the test It also adds items of greater difficulty in order to obtain a greater distinction between the highest IQs There are now 15 subtests 10 compulsory and 5 optional The American validation study for observing the effectiveness of the WISC IV for measuring the intelligence of gifted children was carried out with 63 school children who had been previously diagnosed as gifted since they presented two standard deviations above the average in a standardised measurement of cognitive aptitude No information is available about the specific measurement of intelligence used in the American study Our stud
12. 002 30 and 31 This consideration in the theoretical base both in the monolithic theories and the present CHC theory of the g factor may be the reason for the high relationship existing between the WISC IV and the old SBL M and the fact that both are equally effective for determining the intelligence of children with average levels of intellectual capacity 35 8 Which is the best intelligence test for identifying gifted children It would appear that we can explain the relationship existing between the old SBL M and the new WISC IV but how can we explain that this relationship is much less when it comes to assessing the intelligence of gifted children Which is the best test for identifying the gifted A correlation has been observed between the WISC IV and the SBL M the TIQ Total IQ the GII General Intelligence Index and the VC Verbal Comprehension Index in the measurement of the intelligence of gifted children but unlike that which happens with children of average intelligence this is not high The WISC IV is a useful test for the population of gifted children due to its capacity for measuring verbal and perceptual reasoning However it has serious gaps which negatively affect the identification of gifted children for special programmes The WISC IV is not as effective for accurately measuring those children with intellectual giftedness in consideration of the correlations found with the SBL M a
13. AUTHORS YOLANDA BENITO Dr in Psychology JESUS MORO Dr in Medicine JUAN A ALONSO Dr in Education Sciences What is intelligence Validity of the WISC IV test for measuring intelligence Correction criteria for intellectually gifted children CI 4 50 6 70 80 90 110 1 5 do 20 3040 60 60 70 80 90 95 99 Percentil Eneatipo EDITOR Dear friends and subscribers to Ideacci n the Spanish journal dedicated to giftedness This number of Ideacci n is the result of an in depth study by Yolanda Benito Jesus Moro and Juan Antonio Alonso The research was presented at the August 2007 World Conference World Council for gifted and talented children University of Warwick U K The work received such a quantity of feedback from the five continents that it was necessary to write it up as an article for publication and nothing better than to devote a special number to it in this Journal The tile is sufficiently suggestive and we are sure the reader will find it interesting from start to finish of the eight sections of which it is comprised What is intelligence Validity of the WISC IV test for measuring intelligence Correction criteria for intellectually gifted children am convinced that this special number due to its quality will help towards a greater and deeper understanding of the Assessment and Diagnosis of these pupils Juan A Alonso Programme Coordinator for the Huerta del Rey Centre Valladolid
14. Kaufman 2006 11 33 Although the third wave of the interpretation of intelligence tests did not achieve much success in terms of a valid a priori proof regarding profile analysis the psychometric approach provided the bases necessary for launching the fourth present wave in the interpretation of intelligence tests Kaufman commented that the problems of interpreting the intelligence tests could be attributed to a large extent to the lack of a specific theory to orientate this practice Without taking into account the initial criticisms the years following the publication of the WISC III could be described as the calm before the storm That is to say the WISC III remained the dominant intelligence test for examining children from 6 to 16 years old providing along the way diverse critical analyses and revisions Nevertheless with the arrival of the 21 century the CHC storm burst onto the scene and the instrument has continued unchanged up to the present In the last 5 years the revisions of three principal intelligence tests have been published and all had the CHC theory as their foundation these are WJ III the SB5 and the KABC II Never before in the history of the intelligence exam has there been a single theory clearly no one theory that has had such a prominent role in the development and interpretation of the tests Among the publications of these instruments based on the CHC theory was the publication of the WISC IV F
15. alidity of tests for measuring intelligence is the key to assisting the progress of school children given that the psychometric concept of intelligence forms part of the diagnostic and prognostic both in the DSM IV TR The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association 2000 as well as in the ICD 10 The Classification Manual of Mental Disorders and Behaviour published by the World Health Organisation 1992 Intelligence tests provide a profile of the child as a pupil and they offer a precise global picture of their skills They highlight the strong and weak points of each student and make it possible to use different sources of assessment in order to observe their progress and give useful information for learning and to tackle the question of processes and products This empirical research which deals with the validity of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical means for measuring intelligence has concentrated on the following questions 1 Is the new WISC IV effective for measuring intelligence 2 Is the WISC IV effective for the intelligence of children with a high medium or low average IQ between 70 and 130 3 Is the WISC IV equally effective for measuring the intelligence of children at the higher end of the scale IQ equal to or higher than 130 Is the WISC IV effective for the identification and assessment of gifted children 4 Which of the indices of the WISC IV are m
16. and the aptitude for remembering and recovering information extracted from school and the environment In this test the subject can employ other abilities such as perception and listening comprehension verbal conceptualisation abstract thought and verbal expression The subtest of the WISC IV that differentiates the most intelligent children is the Similarities subtest which tells us about the capacity to form concepts Similarities is one of the principal subtests of the VC index verbal comprehension and consists of a child having to discover how two words which are shown to him related to common objects or concepts are similar It attempts to measure above all verbal reasoning and concept formation but it is also related to listening comprehension memory capacity to distinguish between essential and secondary characteristics and verbal expression Corral and others 2005 25 and 26 In fact some of the earliest things to be learnt and something which has been empirically confirmed as linked to intellectual giftedness are the different colours at 18 months of age independently of the culture and social class Information and Similarities are the subtests which differentiate the most intelligent children and more specifically it is the Similarities subtest which is linked to the formation of concepts i e of understanding and comprehending the world around us The essence of human beings is thought in order to form concepts The depth of
17. bilities grammar and handwriting spatial visualisation numerical capacity reasoning memory and finally speed and accuracy in secretarial tasks Buss and Poley 1976 212 On the basis of our research human intelligence is determined by verbal comprehension semantic relationships and the formation of concepts and information in general Gc crystallised intelligence and this investigation shows moreover that Gc is that which has the greatest hereditary character 44 The differences found in the study of the WISC IV between more intelligent children is due to the higher scores in the VC index verbal comprehension which is considered to be linked to specific aptitudes of crystallised intelligence It should be pointed out that within the 5 subtests of the VC index verbal comprehension 3 of the subtests which are most saturated in the g factor of the WISC IV are to be found Information 0 92 Similarities 0 91 and Vocabulary 0 92 Saturation is an important indicator of the degree to which a test measures general intelligence The saturation of the g factor in Information Similarities and Vocabulary is greater the older the child Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 329 Empirical evidence exists to show that gifted children develop distinctly from normal children and this is similar in different countries It should be pointed out that within the empirical observations regarding the learning characteristics of gif
18. ct a better execution in the SBL M In our research the subtests which are related and which best predict the execution of the SBL M considering both gifted and non gifted children i e the total sample of the investigation are V vocabulary information M matrix reasoning and A arithmetic with a high correlation of r 0 87 The subtests of the WISC IV which are related and which best predict the SBL M score of non gifted children are the same if the total of the sample is considered V vocabulary information M matrix reasoning and A arithmetic with an equally high correlation of r 0 892 The subtests of the WISC IV which best predict the SBL M score of gifted children and therefore those which best predict giftedness are information and S similarities although the correlation is not high r 0 466 e Table 5 1 Subtests of the WISC IV which best predict the execution in the SBL M Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV ALL Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV NON GIFTED Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV GIFTED 27 It is curious to note that in an analysis of 10 studies with the WISC R Harrison 1990 observed that those individuals with mental deficiency had the greatest difficulty that is their lowest scores in the crystallised intelligence subtests which included Vocabulary Information Arithmetic and Word Reasoning Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 222 Arithmetic Vocabulary and Info
19. d by Terman in assessing more than 1 500 individuals with IQ levels of over 130 the majority being 140 Perhaps his rigorous creation and selection of the sample has meant that the SBL M continues to be a test which accurately assesses the intelligence of children not only of average ability but also those children at the extreme ends of the curve 38 On the other hand the SBL M better differentiates the higher levels of intelligence since the children who achieve high scores in the SBL M show greater learning capacity and development of their reasoning and language ability as well as considerable maturity in the processing of information It is important to highlight in this respect the research carried out by Susana Guerra at the University of Valladolid Spain Susana Guerra carried out an empirical investigation with a group of 25 students of high intelligence whose ages ranged from 5 to 8 years with an IQ of between 123 and 170 in the SBL M and found a correlation of r 0 83 between the Mental Age obtained in the SBL M and the equivalent age in Visual Memory in the Benton Visual Memory Test It should be pointed out that visual memory is linked to the neurological development of the brain and has much to do with information processing There has always been more uncertainty about the assessment of gifted children than other members of the population due to the surprising discrepancies in the scores from the intelligence tests which the g
20. d to provide for their need for very advanced work If we had no way to know the real level of their abilities we would be incapable of finding them truly intellectual equals If their true abilities were neither recognised nor developed they would probably develop intellectual habits considerably below their possibilities 41 There is a higher number than expected of gifted children among those who abandon their studies Seeley 1998 Motivation and erudition depend on recognition It would be debilitating for these individuals their families and our understanding of intelligence to lose the only tool that we have for measuring the highest levels of potential Silverman 2005 10 Terman 1925 and many other researchers observed that there were more children with scores of above IQ 160 in the population than the normal curve predicted Silverman 1989 If we want to help them correctly it is incumbent upon us to find them The adaptation problems of a wrongly diagnosed child whose true IQ is 180 are tremendous The further away from the average a child is the greater is the potential of suffering alienation and the more need there is for early detection and intervention Silverman 2005 10 We consider that it is always advisable to apply the SBL M in the diagnosis of a gifted child although in the international field it is recommended that this test be applied when the child obtains the maximum score on the scale PT 19 in two or mo
21. d word reasoning The optional subtests serve to provide greater information about the student evaluated or to substitute with a justified cause some of the obligatory subtests of the WISC IV In accordance with the suggestions of the Application and Correction Manual the optional tests can be used to substitute some of the main tests when certain conditions are fulfilled For example the Coding subtest can be replaced by the Cancellation subtest in the case of a student with motor deficiency Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 107 e Table 3 4 Comparison of the highest and lowest scores obtained by the gifted students in the American study and in ours The highest and lowest scores from the technical manual of the WISC IV and from our study into gifted children Gifted children Gifted children TIQ 123 5 n 63 TIQ 133 n 51 Highest subtests scaled scores Vocabulary 14 6 Vocabulary 16 57 Arithmetic 14 2 Information 16 47 Similarities 14 1 Matrix reasoning 15 78 Comprehension 14 1 Word reasoning 15 59 Lowest subtests scaled scores Digit span 12 0 Symbol search 12 22 Coding 11 5 Coding 11 35 Cancellation 11 0 Cancellation 11 29 WISC IV tables 5 22 Note Result of the investigation 23 To obtain the TIQ of the WISC IV we would point out that of the 10 obligatory subtests we find digit span coding and symbol search Among the 5 optional subtests of the WISC IV we find information ar
22. dren with ages ranging from 6 to 16 as we have indicated from all parts of Spain and from state private and state aided schools e Table 1 1 Statistical description of the total sample The full WISC IV was applied to all the children in the sample including the complementary tests together with the SBL M The evaluation and correction of the tests was performed separately by two persons trained to that end The results obtained regarding the relationship between the SBL M and the WISC IV showed a high significant correlation r 0 823 which implies that both tests are very similar rather as if the contents overlapped e Table 1 2 Correlation of the SBL M and WISC IV tests Correlations Pearson Correlation Sig bilateral N WISCIV Pearson Correlation Sig bilateral N The correlation is significant at the 0 01 level bilateral 12 On analysing the results it seems surprising that from the correlation studies carried out with other intelligence measurements for the validation of the WISC IV it is the SBL M with which it has a greater correlation with the exception of the Total IQ of other Wechsler scales in which similar correlational levels are observed WISC III 0 89 WPPSI IIl 0 89 WAIS III 0 89 WASI 0 86 Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 41 On the other hand it should be pointed out that the correlation with the WISC IV is greater than with the version of the WISC R whose correlation with the SBL
23. dual differences and to make it possible to give within their education individualised designs as well as diversified and stimulating teaching in accordance with the learning capacity of the pupil It is a matter of seeking academic excellence by adapting the programme in keeping with the students way of learning It is important in education not only to consider the production and work of the children in the academic and or family environment which at times may be in line with their capacities but also to know their capacities as such since for many reasons these capacities may not be clearly apparent in the academic performance of the child or impossible to observe by the parents Despite the criticisms of the bias and limitations of the intelligence tests they continue to be the most useful and are the best measurements of intellectual ability as well as being the most accurate method of identifying children for special programmes For the reasons previously outlined and because of the need to know which is the best definition of intelligence and what it is that differentiates the capacity of the most intelligence children it is important to carry out empirical research into the new tests for the psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence We believe that this research may help to clarify and understand the human mind We know that the ends of the intelligence curves provide valuable heuristics 1 Is the new WISC IV
24. earch Methodology 2 Is the WISC IV equally effective for the entire range of intelligence The effectiveness of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical measure of intelligence A validation study in relation to the Stanford Binet Form L M in children with high average and low normative intelligence IQ range between 70 and 130 3 Will the same relationship between the WISC IV and the SBL M with the sample of gifted children continue to be observed The effectiveness of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence for evaluating highly gifted children IQ equal to or higher than 130 4 Which of the indices of the WISC IV are the best measurements for predicting intellectual capacity taking the SBL M as a reference 5 Which of the subtests of the WISC IV predict a better execution in the SBL M 6 Which cut off score should be used to determine that a pupil is psychometrically gifted 7 Which of the definitions of intelligence throughout history is nearest to the reality of the concept of intelligence in accordance with research results and new theories 8 Which is the best intelligence test for identifying gifted children Conclusions implications of the study and future research What is intelligence Validity of the WISC IV test for measuring intelligence Correction criteria for intellectually gifted children Summary To understand what intelligence is its concept and to determine the v
25. effective for measuring intelligence The effectiveness of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence Validation study in relation to the Stanford Binet Form L M The WISC IV is the latest revision marketed in Spain in August 2005 of the Wechsler scale for pupils whose practical and clinical usefulness is supported by more than 60 years of research in very different fields and with very diverse aims As Beres Kaufman and Perlman indicate the Wechsler scales have consistently demonstrated their clinical usefulness in detecting mentally handicapped children and those with learning difficulties for assignment to specialised programmes for clinical intervention and neuropsychological assessment As Wechsler said What we measure with the tests is not what the tests measure information spatial perception and reasoning capacity These are only a means to an end What intelligence tests measure is something much more important the capacity of an individual to understand the world about him and his resourcefulness to cope with the challenges Corral and others 2005 16 The WISC IV is structured significantly differently to its processors WISC WISC R and WISC III The verbal and performance sections have been replaced by four indices Verbal Comprehension Perceptual Reasoning Working Memory and Processing Speed The subtests of Object Assembly Picture Arrangement and Mazes have been removed Likewise some n
26. ew subtests have been added which are Word Reasoning Matrix Reasoning Picture Concepts Letter Number Sequencing and Cancellation The Arithmetic subtest which is now a supplementary test has been changed so that subjects have only 30 seconds at their disposal to answer each item and none of the items for the children is presented visually It is grouped with the Working Memory tests although it also has a great importance in fluid reasoning Falk Silverman and Moran 2004 10 In our research regarding the validation of the WISC IV we have chosen the SBL M Stanford Binet Form L M because this test had not been previously used to validate the WISC IV in relation to other measures and because the SBL M is one of the tests which has the least ceiling and can measure extreme scores on the curve i e it can measure extremely low intellectual levels for example an IQ of 20 and also extremely high IQ levels of for instance 200 The Stanford Binet Scale Form L M was published in 1960 and revised in 1972 The strength of this test lies in measuring the unitary concept of intelligence The SBL M evaluates high level abstract reasoning as well as mathematical and spatial reasoning Research Methodology The research was carried out by selecting 84 children with ages ranging from 6 to 16 who attended the Huerta del Rey Centre in the period between 2005 the year in which the WISC IV was published in Spain and 2007 The Huerta de
27. for evaluating the intelligence of children with mental deficiency two studies were performed considering the level of retardation of the child slight mental deficiency n 63 and moderate mental deficiency n 57 e In the research it is concluded that significant differences exist in favour of the gifted with respect to a control group in all the main and optional subtests except the significant difference in the Cancellation subtest The Cancellation subtest was only given to 24 children in the sample We consider that these observations regarding the validation of the WISC IV for assessing intellectually gifted children are worrying given the international importance which the Wechsler scales have in the assessment diagnosis and guidance of the pupils In the case of the validity of the scale for assessing gifted students it does not appear that they have proceeded with enough care Unfortunately this group of students due both to prejudices of a differing nature and an erroneous search for equality are usually groups of school children who are most abandoned to their luck and given that these children are from every social class it is the ones from the underprivileged classes who suffer most 37 In the underprivileged classes it is the instruments such as intelligence tests which make it possible to detect these children The intelligence tests are very useful for identifying under performing gifted children and yo
28. h have the most correlation in all the ranges of giftedness in the SBL M continue to be those of Information and Similarities or perhaps will these vary according to the degree of giftedness of the child in the SBL M 47 REFERENCES Benito Y 1990 Problem tica del ni o superdotado Amar Ediciones Salamanca Benito Y 1997 Inteligencia y algunos factores de personalidad Amar Ediciones Salamanca Benito Y 1999 Existen los superdotados Barcelona Praxis Monograf as Escuela Espa ola 2001 2 edici n actualizada y ampliada Bilbao Benito Y y Moro J 1997 Proyecto para la Identificaci n Temprana de Alumnos Superdotados Ministerio de Educaci n y Cultura Madrid Benito Y Moro J amp Alonso J A 2007 What is intelligence The effectiveness of the WISC IV for measuring it 2007 WORLD CONFERENCE August 2007 University of Warwick U K World Council for gifted and talented children Buss A R y Poley W 1976 Diferencias Individuales Rasgos y Factores El Manual Moderno M xico Traducci n 1979 Corral y otros 2005 Adaptaci n espa ola de TEA Ediciones del WISC IV Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Technical and Interpretative Manual 2003 Harcourt Assessment San Antonio Texas Falk R F Silverman L K amp Moran D M 2004 lt lt www gifteddevelopment com pdf files WISC IV indices pdf gt gt Flanagan D P amp Kaufman A S 2004 Essentials of WISC IV
29. hird Edition WISC III San Antonio Texas The Psychological Corporation WIAT II 2001 Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Second Edition The Psychological Corporation Williams P E Weiss L G amp Rolfhus E 2003 WISC IV Technical Report 1 Theoretical Model and Test Blueprint The Psychological Corporation a Harcourt Assessment Company June 1 Yuste C 2002 BADYG E1 Manual T cnico CEPE Madrid 50 Research carried out by Yolanda Benito Doctor in Psychology Jesus Moro Doctor in Medicine and Juan A Alonso Doctor in Education Sciences Research presented at the 2007 WORLD CONFERENCE World Council for gifted and talented children August 2007 University of Warwick U K What is intelligence Validity of the WISC IV test for measuring intelligence Correction criteria for intellectually gifted children
30. ifted obtain in the different tests Children with average intelligence and those with retardation in their development normally obtain fairly consistent IQ scores in the different tests However in gifted children a discrepancy of more than 50 points can be observed in two psychometric intelligence tests For example the same child may obtain an IQ of 144 on the Wechsler scale and that same child and at the same age may obtain an IQ of 175 on the SBL M When gifted children obtain scores in two different IQ tests which are extremely discrepant some experts tend to believe that the lower score is the more accurate one This is strange because the opposite assumption occurs with children with retarded development If such a child obtained a score of 50 in one test and 65 in another the majority of the people would suppose that the higher score were more accurate Why Because innumerable reasons exist to explain why a child might not have performed well as many reasons as were possible in the test which gave the lower score It is unlikely that a child with retarded development would obtain an IQ score higher than his capacities Shouldn t the same logic be applied to the scores of the gifted Let us hope this is so 39 According to Linda Silverman 2005 5 and 6 another of the problems which arises in assessing the intelligence of a gifted child is the ceiling effect of the tests The majority of people are aware to what extent the low ceil
31. imilar definitions regarding the concept of intelligence but in contrast to the theoretical approaches of Binet and Simon and those of Wechsler and of the theoretical foundation of intelligence and its conceptualisation they do not enjoy the empirical evidence to back them up as is the case with Gardner s theory of multiple intelligences MI which enjoys great popularity This theory has more to do with talent than intelligence as such and fundamentally offer the possibility to observe performance more than capacities P rez and Beltran 2006 147 163 We should highlight that the inter correlations between the indices of our study agree with the inter correlations concerning the validity of the internal structure of the WISC IV Therefore we can consider our research data valid at the same level verbal comprehension VC perceptual reasoning PR working memory WM and processing speed PS 14 e Table 1 3 Correlation of the WISC IV test and indices according to an internal validity study Corral and others 2005 63 e Table 1 4 Correlation of the WISC IV and indices according to our research data To conclude we would suggest that the new WISC IV appears more similar than its previous editions to the old SBL M confirming the latter s validity for measuring students intelligence On the other hand they confirm the existing theories about intelligence based on empirical research A tangible reality
32. ings of the tests can reduce the IQ scores in the gifted band The ceiling effect occurs when the child s knowledge is greater than the limits of the test To assess all the abilities of a gifted child the sections of a test should be sufficiently difficult Imagine if you try to measure a person who is 2 metres tall with a one metre tape measure Stanley 1990 The size of the problem increases with age the older the child the more likely it is that he she exceeds the capacity of the measuring tool The ceiling effects vary according to the different types of tests The School Aptitude tests and the group Intelligence Tests have low ceilings They are designed to compare pupils of a specific course level Thus they do not contain elements much beyond that level For the purpose of these tests it is sufficient to know that the child is in the number 95 percentile The highest percentile that a child can obtain in this type of test is 99 9 The highest score possible on the Wechsler scales is an IQ of 160 The classrooms also have ceiling effects Very often the gifted know more than what the teacher is teaching or what the tests measure and the children have no possibility to show their advanced knowledge The Talent Searches provide an excellent view of what happens when we eliminate the ceiling effects in the intelligence tests In the Talent Search programmes the American pupils in Middle School who achieve a percentile of 95 or 97 in the
33. is evidenced between what the tests measure the development of the pupils the method of learning the speed of learning the abstract capacity and understanding of the environment The WISC IV has demonstrated the significant relationship with academic performance The relationship of the TIQ total IQ of the WISC IV with the total score of the WIAT II is r 0 87 This correlation is among the highest published regarding total IQ and academic performance Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 41 15 2 Is the WISC IV equally effective for the entire range of intelligence The effectiveness of the WISC IV as a psychometric clinical measure of intelligence A validation study in relation to the Stanford Binet Form L M in children with high average and low normative intelligence IQ range between 70 and 130 The question which we pose in this section is can the same correlation level be observed for the WISC IV and the SBL M if we leave the intellectually gifted children out of the sample In the tests performed to identify a school child as intellectually gifted the international psychometric criteria have been maintained for obtaining an IQ equal to or higher than 130 in the WISC IV and the SBL M which is considered to be the most accurate for measuring higher intelligence The number of pupils in our sample with an IQ of under 130 was 33 e Table 2 1 Statistical description of the sample The results obtained concerning the relationshi
34. is significant to level 0 05 bilateral 17 e Table 2 4 Correlation of the WISC IV test and indices sample of children with high average and low intellectual capacity IQ range between 70 and 130 Correlations Pearson correlation 1 5 28 84 4479 Sig bilateral 000 000 005 N 33 IVCV Pearson correlation 392 Sig bilateral 024 N 33 IVRP Pearson correlation 353 Sig bilateral f 044 N Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N The correlation is significant to level 0 01 bilateral The correlation is significant to level 0 05 bilateral As a conclusion we suggest that the new WISC IV in the validation study carried out with the SBL M is appropriate for measuring the intellectual capacity of children with high average and low intelligence and we confirm its validity for measuring the intelligence of school children IQ range between 70 and 130 We would point out that both in the research carried out with the total sample as well as with the sample which excludes the gifted children the greatest correlation was given with the TIQ total IQ followed by the VC verbal comprehension index the PR perceptual reasoning index and to a lesser extent the WM working memory Correlation with the PC processing speed index was not observed Tables 2 3 and 2 4 18 3 Will the same relationship between the WISC IV and the SBL M with
35. ithmetic and word reasoning 24 4 Which of the indices of the WISC IV are the best measurements for predicting intellectual capacity taking the SBL M as a reference In our investigation three of the four indices of the WISC IV appear to be related to the SBL M considering the gifted and non gifted students that is to say the total of the sample investigated these are the VC verbal comprehension PR perceptual reasoning and PS processing speed indices with a high correlation of r 0 830 The WM index working memory is not related to the SBL M The index of the WISC IV which best predicts the SBL M score of the non gifted students is the PR index perceptual reasoning where the correlation is equally high r 0 784 The index of the WISC IV which best predicts the SBL M score of the gifted pupils is the VC index verbal comprehension although the correlation is not high r 0 440 e Table 4 1 Indices of the WISC IV which best predict execution in the SBL M Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV ALL Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV NON GIFTED Comparative study SBL M and WISC IV GIFTED In the study carried out in Colorado Falk Silverman and Moran 2004 with 36 cases Histogram of the sample of children above 130 in the SBL M 27 small correlations were found of the WISC IV with the SBL M in the different indices VC verbal comprehension r 0 233 PR perceptual reasoning r 0 169 WM working me
36. l Rey Centre was founded in 1989 In 1990 the Centre published the book The Problems of Gifted Children the first Spanish book written on the subject and which in our country developed the concept of the gifted student a concept that has deeply affected society The majority of the families who attend the Huerta del Rey Centre are advised by different experts teachers paediatricians neurologists psychiatrists counsellors etc and belong overwhelmingly to the middle and upper middle classes Children from all the provinces of Spain and even from other countries attend the Centre Equally parents also attend the Centre following the advice of different experts to obtain a diagnostic assessment of their children with the aim of knowing their psychological development and to seek educational family and socio affective advice which might be necessary to guarantee the correct development of their children although a priori they may not consider that their child is intellectually gifted and knowing equally that the Huerta del Rey Centre is specialised in the education and assessment of this type of child We consider that this is the case because the Centre has a staff which is highly qualified in the knowledge of infant juvenile clinical psychology and recognised as such at the national and international level 11 In the sample chosen no criteria of exclusion have been applied The sample is comprised of 84 chil
37. lanagan and Kaufman 2006 15 Carroll 1993 in a reanalysis of more than 461 factorial studies performed in 19 countries among them one carried out in Spain by Mariano Yela profiles what he denominates as the three stratum theory His theory provides a hierarchical model but this hierarchy is not necessarily tree shaped Porfirio tree type but is clearly hierarchical depending on a general factor or general intelligence which subsumes the fluid and crystallised factors of intelligence described by Cattell and Horn as well as other less important factors 34 Unlike crystallised intelligence Gc which has been of a cultural type fluid intelligence Gf has been considered more of a hereditary type fluid intelligence alludes to the mental operations or approaches to problem solving that a person uses when he faces relatively new tasks both deductive as well as inductive reasoning are considered aspects close to this field and it has been thought up to this moment that it is the one which has a greater relationship with the general intelligence factor or g factor among all the factors of CHC in the broad strata or level II Carroll 1993 McGrew and Flanagan 1998 Carroll finds a General Intelligence factor factor g in the third level eight group factors in a second strata and in the first strata a multitude of factors are found although not all of the same importance for intellectual competence Yuste 2
38. mory r 0 249 and PS processing speed r 0 058 The authors affirm on the basis of their results that the VC index verbal comprehension is the best of the four indices for predicting intellectual giftedness Therefore the VR index verbal reasoning of the WISC IV is the best of the indices for predicting giftedness The Verbal Reasoning index which measures different aspects of crystallised intelligence according to the CHC theory Carroll Horn Carroll is considered a cultural indication the type of intelligence which indicates the breadth and depth of the knowledge acquired by a person as well as an effective application of that knowledge Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 135 The verbal comprehension index comprising the Vocabulary Similarities and Comprehension tests allows us to evaluate specific aptitudes of Cl crystallised intelligence including word knowledge WK language development LD and general information Gl The other two tests which are also included in the Verbal Reasoning index Information and Word Reasoning also form part of the specific aptitudes which are included in the crystallised intelligence Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 316 We should also point out that the VC verbal comprehension of the WISC IV is the index which has the best capacity for predicting academic performance correlation of the VC in the WIAT II r 0 80 Corral and others 2005 79 26 5 Which of the subtests of the WISC IV predi
39. n 1985 37 74 express the opinion that gifted children use different methods to resolve problems and for learning Another aspect that has been considered regarding the validity of the WISC IV for measuring higher intelligence is that when the 15 subtests were distributed from the highest to the lowest in the sample it was observed that five of the six subtests where the lowest scores for the gifted group were obtained were required in order to obtain the TIQ while four of the five optional subtests which were more difficult to administer due to time restrictions gave scores which were among the highest in the gifted group Flanagan and Kaufman 2004 14 In our study four of the six subtests which produced the lowest scores for the gifted group were required to obtain the TIQ while three of the five optional subtests which are more difficult to administer due to time restrictions gave scores among the highest in the gifted group 22 That is to say the tests in which the students most stand out are not considered for the evaluation these being optional and rarely administered given that they are not necessary for obtaining the TIQ The 10 obligatory tests of the WISC IV are block design similarities digit span picture concepts coding vocabulary letter number sequencing matrix reasoning comprehension and symbol search The 5 optional tests of the WISC IV are picture completion cancellation information arithmetic an
40. nd they both show that they measure different aspects for this group of children This lack of effectiveness of the WISC IV for measuring intelligence in gifted children may be due among other things to the following reasons eln the first place the absence of any description in the American Technical Manual and interpretation of the WISC IV in the sample of gifted children In this respect it only states that it was a group comprised of 62 school children of between 6 and 16 years who had been identified as gifted without specifying what original measurement or measurements were used to identify these children as gifted 36 e Reference is made in the Manual to the fact that they were previously identified as gifted as they had a score which was higher than the two standard deviations above the average of cognitive aptitude It is not clear if individual or collective tests were applied to initially identify these pupils e Nor is the range of giftedness described that existed between the gifted children previously selected For example whether all of them had a specific IQ or whether there was any difference between them e The initial sample in the WISC IV is of 62 children The number of children in the sample in which the TIQ is given is 59 On the other hand the heterogeneity of these pupils was not considered taking merely a single group In this respect it should be pointed out that in the study regarding the validity of the WISC
41. on and the theory is the result of rigorous investigation Note research carried out by Yolanda Benito Doctor in Psychology Jesus Moro Doctor in Medicine and Juan A Alonso Doctor in Education Sciences Research presented at the 2007 WORLD CONFERENCE World Council for gifted and talented children August 2007 University of Warwick U K Introduction Every time that a new revision of a test for the psychometric clinical measurement of intelligence is carried out it is necessary to determine its effectiveness for measuring intelligence given that as we have said this measurement is considered in the diagnostic and prognostic of the pupils as well as making it possible to draw up educational proposals in accordance with the academic needs of each student What has been most highlighted from the revisions or from the new intelligence tests is generally their clear approximation to a theoretical base and in particular to that known as CHC Cattell Horn Carroll Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 6 The Wechsler scale is one of the scales recommended in the DSM IV TR and one of the possible assessment scales according to the ICD 10 for determining the general intellectual capacity of the pupil It is therefore very important to know up to what point the WISC IV is capable of differentiating those students with a particular capacity for learning in order to offer to both the parents as well as the teachers an accurate explanation of indivi
42. ore significant for measuring higher intelligence That is which of the four indices of the WISC IV predicts intellectual giftedness 5 Which subtests determine and differentiate the intelligence of gifted children 6 What is the cut off score which should be used as significant in the WISC IV for determining that a student requires special education because of intellectual giftedness 7 Which of the definitions of intelligence throughout history come closest to the reality of the concept of intelligence in line with the research results and the new theories 8 Which is the best intelligence test for identifying gifted children The specific and difficult to repeat characteristics of the sample of pupils used in the research means that this is relevant and useful The sample is comprised of 84 children from 6 to 16 years of age of whom 33 are non gifted and 51 are gifted It is equally noteworthy that the WISC IV represents the most significant revision of any of the Wechsler scales in the history of the series of tests principally because of its clear alignment with the CHC theory Cattell Horn Carroll The WISC IV is the most widely used measurement of intelligence in the world On the other hand the WISC IV has demonstrated its validity in relation to school performance The future of education must be built on solid theoretical and research foundations The assessment procedures lend themselves to scientific validati
43. p between the SBL M and the WISC IV in the sample of non gifted children is r 0 828 Therefore given that both tests are similar to the same degree they can be used for the assessment and diagnosis of non gifted children 16 e Table 2 2 Correlation of the SBL M and the WISC IV test on children with a high average and low normative average IQ between 70 and 130 Correlations Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N WISCIV Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N The correlation is significant to level 0 01 bilateral On the other hand we should point out that the inter correlations between the indices of which the WISC IV is comprised VC verbal comprehension PR perceptual reasoning WM working memory and PS processing speed are similar both in the total of the sample gifted pupils plus non gifted pupils as when the sample is composed of only students with an IQ range of between 70 and 130 Tables 2 3 and 2 4 e Table 2 3 Correlation of the WISC IV test and indices according to the study of the total sample Correlations UA IVCV IVRP IVMT Ce ee Pearson correlation H es a Sig bilateral N IVCV Pearson correlati 712 234 Sig bilatera re aa Pearson correlati 73 712 279 N 84 Pearson correlati A a 246 Sig bilateral 024 N 84 i Pearson correlati m za E Sig bilatera N The correlation is significant to level 0 01 ERE z 7 1 84 The correlation
44. re subtests in the WISC IV The SBL M is the only scale which makes it possible to measure extreme scores from children or people with mental retardation to adults or gifted children up to the age of 11 From that age the SBL M also has a ceiling If we understand that the best test on the basis of the empirical evidence for measuring the intelligence of gifted children is the SBL M why do we also use the WISC IV for assessing gifted pupils The CHC theory Cattell Horn Cattell which supports the theoretical foundation of the WISC IV makes an ipsative or intra subject analysis possible by means of the observation of the results of each of the 15 subtests which are included in the four indices of the WISC IV VC verbal comprehension PR perceptual reasoning WM working memory and PS processing speed The intra subject analysis allows us to observe a student s strong and weak points at a given moment and help in the diagnosis of infant and adolescent disorders The SBL M also provides exact knowledge of the overall intellectual capacity of the child and the Mental Age 42 The most intelligent children have deeper and more sophisticated thoughts their replies are more elaborate and they show a greater ability for abstraction They have better cognitive capacities such as attention and concentration greater emotional maturity and greater control and handling of their capacities Rafael 9 years and four months old with an IQ
45. reading level or arithmetic tests are allowed to do the exams for early entrance to University for example SAT 1 or ACT These exams were designed to identify the best high school seniors who might be capable of going to university When such a difficult exam is given to children of 12 or 13 years those who a priori in the tests appear to have similar abilities in fact have enormously different ability levels For example two students who were chosen to do the university entrance exam with a percentile of 95 in mathematics may obtain scores ranging from 200 the lowest possible score to 800 the highest possible score in the SAT Math The Talent Searches give gifted adolescents the opportunity to demonstrate their total capacities perhaps for the first time and it is clearly shown that they are ready to do considerably advanced work 40 The Individual IQ Tests also present problems given that the scores which they generate for the gifted are not comparable The new IQ scales are probably excellent for 95 of the population but they are inadequate for assessing both the gifted and the profoundly retarded The children in the highly gifted IQ 145 159 exceptionally gifted IQ 160 174 and profoundly gifted bands IQ 175 obtain considerably lower scores with the new instruments This inclines us to think that the best way to measure the highly gifted levels is with the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale Form L M SBL M Silverman and Kea
46. rmation are the subtests which best predict academic performance according to the correlation observed of these subtests in the scores which comprise the WIAT II Given that the Information subtest is significant both for gifted and non gifted children it would appear that it is the Similarities subtest which best differentiates the most intelligent children from those who are a little less so The Information subtest has much to do with what the child has been able to learn up to a given moment and therefore reflects well his her learning capacity It thus appears to be significant in all the children independently of their intellectual ability On the other hand the Similarities subtest appears to have more to do with the capacity for thought and language which is a basic human ability and which most differentiates us from other species On the other hand the Similarities subtest is one of the tests which together with Information and Vocabulary are the ones which most saturate the g factor Similarities 0 91 Information 0 92 and Vocabulary 0 92 Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 329 The saturation of a subtest is an important indicator of the degree to which the subtest measures general intelligence and the ability which is involved in all intellectual activity 28 6 Which cut off score should be used to determine that a child is psychometrically gifted In response to this question the Colorado study Falk
47. rney 1989 and 1992 Given that it goes up to Adult Superior III the SBL M acts as a measurement above that level similar to the SAT for the participants in the Talent Search According to the words of Stanley founder of the Talent Searches The Binet style age scale could be considered the original exam appropriate for extensive above level testing Stanley 1990 167 The strongest objection that has been made to the use of the SBL M is its antiquated norms but it would appear that this is not true given that this version correlates more with the WISC IV than the previous tests of the Wechsler scale as we have seen in this investigation According to Silverman the SBL M continues to be the only tool which can measure extreme verbal abilities Unfortunately due to its age this valuable instrument may be lost as a means of discovering the most brilliant minds in society What will happen to these children if we only rely on the lowest calculations which the current tests provide The majority will be misunderstood due to their inability to relate to their peers and the need to follow the study plans governed strictly in accordance with the norms of age Some will be wrongly diagnosed and receive medication and others will languish in the courses corresponding to their age when what they desperately need is a radical acceleration And some will sink into life long depression There will be no way to record the extent of their differences an
48. rom those who did not have good academic results for other reasons Binet and Simon 13 The work of Binet and Simon appeared in 1916 from the desire to help and protect the children and not to penalise them The school teachers who considered certain pupils very troublesome had an option which for them was a great relief to recommend that they be placed in classes for retarded children Thus there was no clear difference between those children with behavioural problems and the mentally handicapped children Binet and Simon referred to the nucleus of intelligence in terms of judgement also called common sense practical sense initiative and the faculty to adapt to circumstances To judge well to understand well to reason well these are the essential activities of intelligence Binet designed a test which a physically handicapped person could adequately satisfy He is known above all for his test but he also had a solid theory of intelligence Sternberg 1997 Binet suggested that intelligent thought had three distinct elements which he called direction adaptation and criticism Direction involves knowing what one has to do and how to do it Adaptation refers to the creation of a strategy for performing the task and then maintaining the path to the strategy and adapting it at the same time that it is applied Criticism is the ability to criticise our own thoughts and actions It is striking how other modern theories point to s
49. s of this sample previously reviewed were less than expected The average TIQ of the validation study of the WISC III was 128 7 Wechsler 1991 210 20 The fact that the average falls from the original critical point of 130 in the gifted group examined with the new instrument has been attributed to the Flynn Effect and the average regression effect However according to Flanagan and Kaufman the TIQ average of the WISC IV in gifted children is too low to be due only to these factors There are various alternative explanations according to Flanagan and Kaufman One of these is that it is possible that the average or original averages for identifying the gifted students were excessively varied or perhaps little related to the WISC IV It is not clear whether the individual or collective tests were applied to initially identify these subjects If these were initially identified with a collective test this could explain the difference Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 241 and 242 The average score in our sample in the WISC IV is TIQ 133 number of children 51 that is to say that the low score obtained by the gifted children in the American study TIQ of the WISC IV 123 5 number of children 59 is due to the sample choice On the other hand and taking up again the question posed as to whether the same relationship between the WISC IV and the SBL M with the sample of gifted children will continue to be observed we can see Table 3 2
50. sidered the test increases its capacity to identify gifted children Barbara Gilman and Frank Falk 2005 4 give the following guidelines for using the WISC IV for identifying gifted children e They recommend the inclusion of educational programmes for the gifted on the basis of obtaining scores above 139 in VC verbal comprehension or PR perceptual reasoning These scores are an excellent indicator of high reasoning capacity e Alternatively we should consider the General Ability Index GAI with a score of 130 or slightly less for example 125 which is a more prudent option e If the TIQ of the WISC IV is used as a requisite for admission to special programmes for the gifted a score of 123 is sufficient On the other hand to determine if the TIQ of the WISC IV can be considered a reliable estimate of the intellectual capacity of a child independently of their intellectual capacity the variability of the indices VC PR PS and WM that compose it should be studied If the difference between the lower and higher index is very large gt 22 points the TIQ can not be considered as a single unit and therefore is not interpretable When the TIQ is not interpretable it is advisable to use the GAI abbreviated index of the WISC IV which is composed of the VC verbal comprehension and PR perceptual reasoning indices for describing the intellectual capacity of the child as long as the difference between the VC and the PR is less
51. ted children is the ability to identify colours at 18 months to solve a jigsaw with at least 25 pieces at 2 and a half and to read a story with ease at 4 years A qualitative difference between children with an IQ of 130 and children with an IQ of more than 145 is the significant difference between them in their early learning 2 and a half years of the alphabet in those children whose IQ is equal to or over 145 Benito and Moro 1997 24 The differences in the mental performance of gifted children can be observed from a year and a half The differences in receptive and expressive linguistic abilities are consistently found from infancy In our research the subtest of the WISC IV which turned out to be most significant in determining intelligence independently of the intellectual capacity of the child is the Information subtest general knowledge questions which clearly exemplifies what a child has been able to learn up to a certain age It is curious that being one of the most significant subtests for determining intelligence this is optional in the WISC IV 45 The Information subtest is an optional subtest of the VC index verbal comprehension The child has to answer questions which refer to diverse general knowledge subjects It aims to assess the capacity of the individual to acquire conserve and recover knowledge linked to general events and is therefore related to crystallised intelligence cultural knowledge long term memory
52. that the correlation existing between the WISC IV and the SBL M is much lower than with children who are not gifted The relationship between the SBL M and WISC IV with gifted pupils is r 0 408 Therefore the SBL M and the WISC IV cannot be substituted for evaluating a gifted child The WISC IV is reaffirmed as being bad for measuring the intelligence of a gifted child e Table 3 2 Correlations of the SBL M with the WISC IV Correlations Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N WISCIV Pearson Correlation Sig bilateral The correlation is significant to level 0 01 bilateral 21 Equally if we observe Table 3 3 we can see that the correlations between the SBL M and the different indices of the WISC IV are much lower than that observed in the non gifted e Table 3 3 Comparative study of the SBL M with the indices of the WISC IV Correlations Ll Q O CV IVRP IVMT IVVP Pearson correlation 1 440 224 202 033 Sig bilateral j 155 820 N IVCV Pearson correlation bi 1 257 124 Sig bilateral i 069 387 N Pearson corre Sig bilateral N Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N Pearson correlation Sig bilateral N The correlation is significant to level 0 01 bilateral The correlation is significant to level 0 05 bilateral It seems clear that in the case of the evaluation of gifted children the WISC IV and the SBL M do not measure the same thing Sternberg and Daviso
53. ung school age children and gifted children with associated disorders If we carry out the tests without due care we are taking away from these pupils one of their fundamental rights the right of children to receive an education which makes it possible to develop their capacities to the maximum With regard to the SBL M we would highlight the most important contributions performed by Binet in his study into intelligence e That intelligence was measurable e That intelligence was manifested as learning speed e That intelligence was related to performance Binet also reached the conclusion that the tests which included more complex tasks and which presented a greater similarity to mental activities of everyday life turned out to be more promising The tasks in the Binet test were based principally on language and gave importance to judgement memory comprehension and reasoning Some later studies of the Binet type tests above all those performed by Terman in his Stanford Binet led to the appearance of an elaborate technology for this type of scale studies which included the careful selection and collocation of tasks in the scale with the aim of producing measurements and standard deviations approximately constant for the IQs of the different ages This was the factor that made it possible for the scale to be applied not only to normal children and those with deficiencies but also to higher levels of ability The Stanford Binet was use
54. y has been performed with a total of 51 gifted children who were previously diagnosed as gifted in line with the psychometric criteria for obtaining a score of two standard deviations above the average in the SBL M i e children with an IQ equal to or higher than 130 19 e Table 3 1 Statistical description of the sample The American study showed significant differences in favour of the gifted children with respect to a control group in all the main and optional tests except the non significant difference in the Animal Test Flanagan and Kaufman 2006 241 Although it is noteworthy that according to the WISC IV Manual Corral and others 2005 86 the Cancellation Test was only applied to 24 of the 63 pupils in the total sample Like the American validation study of the WISC IV carried out with gifted children in our investigation with gifted pupils in the first place significant differences were observed in favour of the gifted children in all the principal and optional tests with significant statistics in non parametric tests except in the Symbol Search subtest Both in the validation study of the WISC IV as well as in our study we would highlight in the second place that the intellectually gifted pupils also scored significantly higher in the TIQ and in the four indices in relation to the data of the control group However the average TIQ of the WISC IV in the American study is 123 5 number of children 59 and the indice
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search