What Is WISC Testing? Which Children Is It Applied To?
The Wechsler Children’s Intelligence Scale, or WISC test, is a tool designed to assess IQ in children under 16 years of age.
Since the first edition of the test in 1949, the test has been improving and being updated. Today it is in the WISC-V version, which appeared in 2014. Below, we will present the most important features of the WISC test.
What exactly is the WISC test?
The Wechsler Children’s Intelligence Scale is an intelligence test applicable to children and adolescents aged between 6 and 16 years. Therefore, it mainly covers the educational levels of primary and secondary education.
Wechsler-Bellevue.
What is rated?
In general, the WISC test allows the assessment of four aspects or indices of intelligence:
- Verbal understanding. As the name suggests, it reflects the child’s ability to reason verbally. In this case, this aspect is closely related to the child’s semantic knowledge.
- Visuospatial Index. It reflects the ability to understand visual details and relationships to solve puzzles and build geometric designs.
- Fluid reasoning. It reflects the ability to detect the relationship between visual objects.
- Working memory. It reflects the ability to retain and manipulate information that has been heard or seen.
- Processing speed. It reflects a child’s ability to make decisions accurately.
After measuring the different aspects, the score obtained is compared with the results of the standard average of the child’s age. In this sense, age is a determining factor in the final result, since it will be the comparison with the average that determines it.
Precisely for this reason, although it can be applied to any child, the WISC test is generally applied to individuals whose IQ, for various reasons, must be determined. So, for example, the test is often used to diagnose high abilities, learning disabilities, or intellectual disabilities.
What types of tests does WISC include?
The WISC test consists of 15 tests. In them, we find ten types of fundamental assessments:
- Similarities and vocabulary for the assessment of verbal comprehension.
- Visual cubes and puzzles for the assessment of the visuospatial index.
- Matrices and scales for evaluating fluid reasoning.
- Digits and drawings for working memory.
- Keys and symbol search for processing speed.
On the other hand, the different tests are also classified according to the format of the items, that is, according to the type of response they admit or the stimulus they present. Below are some examples:
- Free Reply Items. These are tests in which, for example, the child must explain similarities between two things, explain concepts, puzzles, etc.
- Symbol Search. The child must indicate whether the given symbols correspond to a certain model.
- Models that must be imitated. The child must reproduce a model figure proposed in the handout with cubes. In addition, another type of test of this type is to complete a matrix (complete a series) or indicate which option of the proposals is the one that completes an incomplete figure.
- Arithmetic problems. Mentally solve simple math problems.
- Reorganization stimuli. The child should arrange a series of unorganized letters, numbers or digits, from the largest to the smallest, alphabetically, etc.
- Stimuli to be associated : the images must be related to numbers, keys and symbols, etc. For example, a characteristic test is finding a particular animal on a page full of images of other things or animals.
Depending on the nature of the tests, some of them are verbal, others must be done with pencil and paper, and finally, others are manual.
How is the WISC test applied?
The WISC test can be given to any child between 6 and 16 years of age. Of course, it must be performed by a qualified professional. Thus, it can be done in public or private schools, individually or collectively, or on the initiative of parents with the supervision of a professional in a private center.
In this case, parents should be aware that the cost of taking the test is high. This is due to the price of the material itself and the specific training that the professional must follow.
On the other hand, the duration of the test will depend on the child’s response speed. However, it usually lasts from one to one and a half hours. In turn, the result is usually immediate, except when applied to many children at the same time.
How are the results?
As indicated above, the score obtained is compared to the standard average for the age of the child who took the test. Thus, the result can be classified into one of the following classifications:
- Below average
- low average
- Medium
- Above average
- Higher
- much superior
As we said earlier, the WISC test is especially suitable for children whose IQ, for various reasons, must be measured. In this sense, its application is especially useful in cases of high intellectual capacity, intellectual disability, learning disorders, neuropsychological disorders or attention deficit disorder, among others.
