Prycholog~’
in
the
school.^
Volume
20.
July,
1983
RECATEGORIZED WISC-R SCORE PATTERNS
OF
OLDER AND YOUNGER REFERRED TLINGIT INDIAN CHILDREN
JAMES
B.
CONNELLY
Southeast Regional Resource Center. Juneau, Alaska
This study investigated patterns
of
Bannatyne’s recategorized WISC-R scores of
146
predominantly Tlingit Indian children who were referred
for
psychoeducational
testing. The students were divided into two groups, ages
6
through
10
and
I1
through
16,
in order to investigate patterns that occurred at each level and to investigate the
proportions that exhibited a typically “Indian” pattern: Spatial
>
Sequential
>
Conceptual and Acquired Knowledge. As a group, the older children displayed an In-
dian pattern, but the younger children displayed a different one: Spatial
>
Conceptual
and Sequential
>
Acquired Knowledge. Both groups, however, displayed a
significantly greater proportion
of
children with an Indian pattern than would be ex-
pected by chance. A considerable number
of
individuals from both groups attained
significant differences among scores
in
the Indian direction.
American Indians consistently demonstrate a unique pattern of scores
on
the
Wechsler Intelligence Scales, suggesting that they possess relative strengths
in
visual-
perception and relative weaknesses
in
language (Sattler, 1982). Researchers have found
that various American Indian groups attain significantly higher Performance than Ver-
bal IQ scores on these scales (Cundick, 1970; Hynd, Quackenbush, Kramer, Conner,
&
Weed, 1979; St. John, Krichev,
&
Bauman, 1976; Teeter, Moore,
&
Peterson, 1982;
Zarske
&
Moore, 1982).
Bannatyne’s (1974) recategorizations of the WISC also have been used to study the
relative cognitive strengths and weaknesses of American Indians. Bannatyne reorganized
the WISC subtests into four categories. The Spatial category (Picture Completion,
Block Design, and Object Assembly) appears to assess the ability to mentally manipulate
objects
in
space. The Conceptual category (Similarities, Vocabulary, and Comprehen-
sion) appears to assess the ability to utilize verbal concepts and to engage
in
abstract ver-
bal reasoning. The Sequential category (Arithmetic, Digit Span, and Coding) appears to
assess the ability to retain and reproduce sequences of stimuli presented visually and
auditorily. Finally, the Acquired Knowledge category (Information, Arithmetic, and
Vocabulary) appears
to
assess the ability to retain verbal information, much of which
is
obtained
in
school.
McShane (1982) used Bannatyne’s recategorizations
of
the WISC and its 1974 revi-
sion (WISC-R) and found the following pattern among more “traditional” groups of
primarily Ojibwa Indians: Spatial
>
Sequential
>
Conceptual and Acquired Knowledge.
Zarske and Moore (1982) studied the patterns of Bannatyne’s recategorized scores with
four groups of 452 Navajo children. They reported that the “recategorized scores for all
groups exhibited the
.
.
.
[same]
. . .
pattern” (p.321). Robinson, Williams, and Stevens
(Note
1)
developed norms for 220 Inuit Eskimo children. They reported that the
students’ “scores were lower than the original norming group on the Verbal section of
this [WISC-I?]
test.
.
.
,
They
were
about
equal
on
the
Digit
Span subtest.
,
. .
The
Inuit
were stronger
in
Picture Completion, Block Design and Object Assembly” (p. 18). This
also strongly suggests a Spatial
>
Sequential
>
Conceptual and Acquired Knowledge
pattern among these Eskimo children. It has been suggested that patterns with stronger
visual-perception abilities may emerge because of poor knowledge
of
English linguistic
Requests for reprints should be sent
to
James
B.
Connelly, Southeast Regional Resource Center,
538
Willoughby Ave., Juneau, Alaska
99801.
27
I