The Criterion-Related Validity of the WISC-R Performance Scale and Other Nonverbal IQ Tests for Deaf Children

Despite the popularity of nonverbal IQ tests for psychoeducational assessment of deaf children, criterion-related validity is lacking. This may be because nonverbal IQ tests lack criterion-related validity, or because inappropriate scaling attenuates IQ achievement correlations. Two studies used samples of deaf children to test these hypotheses. The first study (N- 33) correlated WISC-R PIQs with Stanford Achievement Test-Hearing Impaired Edition (SAT-HI) grade equivalents and age-based percentiles (rs < .37, NS). The second study (N = 64) correlated nonverbal IQs from many tests with SAT-HI scores (rs .05 to .42). The results implicate the hypothesis that criterion scale affects IQ-achievement correlations. The role of nonverbal IQ in the psychoeducational assessment of deaf children is discussed.