Psychology
in
the
Schools
Volume
23,
January
1986
PROFILE ANALYSIS OF
STANDARDIZED INTELLIGENCE TEST PERFORMANCE OF
VERY HIGH IQ CHILDREN
JULIA
H.
CLARK
CECIL R. REYNOLDS
Texas
A&M
University
University
of
Texas
at
Austin
Practitioners are frequently faced with
the
need
to
evaluate the intellectual skills
of
individuals with very high levels of functioning. Due to the statistical rarity
of
these
persons, few tests have sufficient range of scores for a detailed analysis of intra-
individual differences in performance. This paper describes a method using age
equivalents and standard scores to recreate the full range of variability
in
the scores
of high-functioning individuals. The method allows for a more complete interpreta-
tion of performance that can lead to better educational and therapeutic programming.
Methods of intelligence test interpretation have progressed far beyond the turn of
the century Binet emphasis on overall levels of performance reflected in a single sum-
mary score. Recognizing that considerable variation in mental abilities within individuals
is a common phenomenon (e.g., Chatman, Reynolds,
&
Willson, 1984; Kaufman, 1979),
clinicians now routinely analyze performance on the various components of the individual
intelligence test employed. The current popularity of the Wechsler scales, and especially
their widespread use in the assessment of learning disabilities, is due in no small part
to the availability of multiple scaled scores reflecting performance on a myriad of in-
tellectual tasks. While many myths and abuses have surfaced with regard
to
the prac-
tice of interpreting fluctuations in performance across a series of mental tasks, such an
analysis can be quite helpful when conducted properly (Sattler, 1982). A careful
psychological and psychometric analysis must be undertaken to profit from profile
analysis and to avoid its abuses. Careful consideration of clinical, as well as psychometric,
considerations in profile analysis is central to the widely adopted intelligent testing
philosophy espoused by Kaufman (1979) and others (e.g., Reynolds
&
Clark, 1983),
and the principles and techniques of this analysis can be found in these and other sources
(e.g., Kaufman
&
Kaufman, 1977).
When attempting to conduct a profile analysis of the sort referred to above with
very high-functioning individuals, little variability in scores is observed. Whether this
is due to an actually “flat” profile of abilities or to an artifact of the test, i.e., not enough
ceiling, is not always apparent. Depending to a great extent on the age of the person
assessed and the particular scale employed, a large range
of raw score points may be
compressed into a single scaled score point at the upper end of the distribution. This
is a particular problem with tests like the Wechsler scales and the Kaufman Assessment
Battery for Children (K-ABC) (Kaufman
&
Kaufman, 1983a,b), where subtests of the
intelligence scale are set to a scaled score mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3.
On the WISC-R, for example,
a
six-year-old with a Full Scale IQ
of
155
has
a
mean
subtest score of
18.
It
is
extremely difficult for such
a
child to have
a
range of scores
exceeding 15 to 19. With such
a
range it is not possible to detect particularly strong
or weak areas of function relative to the child’s own mean level of performance (a
minimum range of 12 to 19 would be required on both the
WISC-R
and on the K-ABC
Requests for reprints should be sent to Cecil R. Reynolds, Dept. of Educational Psychology, Texas
A&M
University, College Station, TX
77843.
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