The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition Essay

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition - Essay Example The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition The children that I work with are ages 11-16 which make it an appropriate test. The first version of this test was published in 1949 and today it is the "most widely used individual intelligence test for children," (Hogan, 2005, p. 306) surpassing the Stanford Binet. "The aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment" (Hogan, p. 297). He also said that intelligence was more than a childs intellectual ability; it also concluded that "the capacity to do intellectual work is a necessary and important sign of general intelligence" (Wechsler, 1952, p. 12 as quoted in Hogan, p. 297). In other words, Wechsler understood that children had the capacity to think on their own and to develop intelligence in more than one way. The original test was an extension of an adult test called the Wechsler-Bellevue test. It included three sub-sections that were not seen before on any intelligence scale: digit span, symbol search and mazes span (Gregory, 1996, p. 209). The test was revised in 1974 (WISC-R), again in 1991 (WISC-III) and in 2003, which is the current version of the WISC-IV (Niolin, 2005). As the WISC-III was being used, some researchers found that they could use Verbal and Performance IQ, and these could be supplemented by a third test that they labeled Freedom from Distractibility (Niolin, 2005).