Wexler's tests for children and adults: interpretation. Wexler's test: a children's version (for preschoolers)

It is pleasant to communicate with an intelligent person who can support any topic, joke in time and become serious. These people are said to have a high level of intelligence. What is this concept and what are its levels?

The level of intelligence - what is it?

Intellect is characterized as a certain quality of the human psyche, which allows it to adapt to the changing conditions of life. It also consists in the ability to learn something new, to understand and apply your knowledge and experience. The level of intelligence is a certain coefficient, expressed in a quantitative assessment of a person's ability to adapt to new conditions of life.

Wexler test

The determination of the level of intelligence was carried out by many scientists, but Veksler's scale has recently been particularly popular. Developed in 1939, it allows you to determine the aspects of the intellectual characteristics of the child and adult in the range of three to seventy-four years. Wexler's tests are based on a hierarchical intellectual model, the vertex of which is verbal and practical (non-verbal) intelligence.

The history of the emergence of criteria for determining mental development in the test

In 1939, the first version of the scale appeared - Bellevue, where "Bellevue" is the name of the clinic. Wexler's proposed tests were designed to diagnose the intellectual abilities of people from the age of seven to 69 years of age. D. Veksler criticized the tests used at that time, the main one of which was the Stanford-Binet test. He considered them unfit for researching the adult category of people, since they have a high-speed direction, which is difficult for the elderly. Also in the existing tests there were primitive operations aimed more at children's age.

Its features

A characteristic feature of this method of testing is the ability to cover a large range of ages, and a separate Wexler test is a children's version that gives a specific characterization of the child's intellectual instincts and reveals the patterns of development of the intellect. In addition, the results obtained during testing are considered by psychiatrists for the correct diagnosis.

What are the modifications of this technique?

Wexler made a union of subtests in content and difficulty levels. A mental IQ redirected to the age.

WB (Wechsler-Bellevue Adult Intelligence Scales) - it was rather an intellectual scale for adults. She was twice edited. As a result, in 1949, the light saw Wexler's tests WAIS, that is Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. This was already a standardized method, which is distributed according to sexual and age characteristics. Of these, 1,700 studied had ages from 16 to 64 years, and 475 from 60 years and above. When standardizing, not only age was taken into account, but also professional status and education. The final scale is designed for a range of ten to sixty years. The main criteria for subtests are:

• High correlation with other tests;
• The difference in functions, which excludes the specific influence of certain abilities or their absence;
• The possibility of certain conclusions according to the test results.

Today, three types of diagnostics are used: the WAIS test (adults from 16 to 64 years old), WISC (children and adolescents 6,5-16,5 years) and WPPSI (children 4-6,5 years). For the Russian Federation only the first two were adapted: WAIS and WISC.

Blocks of dough

This technique includes 2 blocks:

• Verbal, consisting of 6 subtests;
• Nonverbal - 5 subtests.

In the first block, general competence (awareness), intelligence (comprehension), arithmetic, similarity (similarity), repetition of figures, a dictionary are explored. And non-verbal studies include missing parts, consecutive pictures, using Kos's blocks, adding figures, using encryption. All tasks are given in order of increasing complexity from level to level. By time, testing takes one hour per ward and another one - to process the results. At carrying out the age category is taken into account, since there is a separate Wexler test - a children's version, and a separate one for adults.

What is considered in the test results?

To summarize, it is necessary to implement three levels of processing and interpretation of the results. The first level is the analysis of marks of general, verbal and nonverbal intelligence. The second is the study of the results with the calculation of the corresponding coefficient, the estimated profile of the completed tasks. At the third stage, an individual profile is interpreted taking into account the behavior of the patient during the survey and other diagnostic data. Similarly, an adult is treated with a Wexler test for preschool children, analyzing the results of the tasks assigned.

Using the classical version to obtain the result, the specialist calculates the first "wet" estimates of each study. After that, he sums up the estimates from the tables that correspond to the task, translates them into typical ones, and displays them in the form of a profile. Verbal estimates and non-verbal estimates need to be combined separately, then determine the indicators based on the general IQ tables.

Description of Scales of Wechsler's Methodology

The methodology includes verbal and non-verbal scales. The first includes such indicators:

1 . The scale of general awareness consists of 29 interrogatory tasks, which must be answered. This is the diagnosis of the level of simple knowledge, without special theoretical preparation. Correctly - one point, incorrect answers are not taken into account.

2. The scale of understanding contains 14 problems of exploring the semantic load of expressions and the ability to reason. Estimates for the level of correctness - from zero to two points.

3. Arithmetic consists of 14 tasks from the course of the arithmetic science of primary education. The test is oral, the attention of a specialist who conducts a survey is important here. He looks at the ease of operating the data and the time interval.

4. Find the similarity of objects - 13 tasks to identify the general category of objects. In this block conceptuality is important. Estimates from zero to two.

5. Remember the numbers - rows of 3-9 digits (listen and orally repeat) and 2-8 digits, which are reproduced in reverse order.

6. The stock of words consists of 42 concepts. At the same time, verbal experience, conceptuality, and meaningfulness are studied. Ten words in this block are taken from the everyday language of communication, twenty - have an average level of complexity, 12 of them - abstract and theoretical concepts. Estimates here are set from zero to two for one option.

Wexler's test is an adult - a variant of non-verbal assessment of intelligence. It includes 5 actions:

1. Character data (encryption) - 100 digits for 1.5 minutes.
2. Execution of drawings - 21 pieces (20 minutes).
3. Hexahedrons of Koss (40 cubes) - to collect from the cubes a drawing.
4. Sequence - 8 series of cards.
5. Collection of objects from the figures - 4 tasks.

The result of intelligence testing using a technique such as Wexler's test for children depends on the overall culture of the child and his progress at school. The success of the tasks is related to the level of general IQ, but also determined by genetics. From this it follows that the speed of acquiring verbal skills and knowledge will determine its success and level of education.

Explanation of results

The most interesting moment in any test is the time for deciphering the results. This applies to all methods, because a person is interested in knowing why he spent so much time and what he is like within the chosen subject.

Wexler's test for intelligence also assumes a certain gradation of the results. This characteristic of mental development is considered here in the following ranges:

• More than a high intellect is an estimate of 130.
• High - 120-129.
• A good one is 110-119.
• The average is 90-109.
• Bad - 80-89.
• The boundary zone is 70-79.
• Low (mental defect) - up to 69.

Features of the child test version

The diagnostic scale for school-age children (6,5-16,5 years) includes twelve subtests corresponding to WAIS, but with introduced easier and similar tasks and a labyrinth subtest.

Wexler tests for preschoolers differ in that "understanding" is replaced by "memorizing figures", and "labyrinth" is replaced by "coding". During the experiment, the verbal and non-verbal parts alternate so that the child can easily absorb the tasks and perform them. For the calculation of IQ, additional studies are not taken into account.

The subtest "labyrinth" consists of tasks that gradually increase in difficulty performance. For this purpose, a certain time is provided (find a way out), after which errors are calculated.

In 1967, the WPPSI version was released, consisting of 11 subtests, one of which is an auxiliary one. Eight of them are lightweight and have been adapted to WISC, and the other three are completely new. Diagnosis using this technique can be carried out in two stages.

The verbal block includes: competence, word stock, arithmetic abilities, similarity, awareness and suggestions.

The scale of action of this modification of the test includes: a house for an animal, completion of drawings, labyrinths, geometric patterns, construction of blocks - Koss's hexahedra.

"Suggestions" in this block were replaced with "remembering symbols", which are taken from WISC, they either replace any verbal test, or apply additionally.

The subtest "house for an animal" is taken instead of "coding" from WISC and consists of cards with images of a dog, a chicken, a fish and a cat. The child arranges the houses in accordance with the key.

Terms of holding it

In the procedure for studying the intellectual sphere of children, testing begins only after the motivation of the ward. Then only a child test of Wexler will show real results. At the same time, it is necessary to try to adjust positively the child, using a smile and creating a positive attitude.

The child should not feel like in the exam. The entrance to the testing should be in the form of a game. Questions are formulated with a clear pronunciation and for sure. All answers, except for those that are clearly negative, should be encouraged. Unsuccessful answers are amortized, and when the child is silent, the specialist should stimulate him to an answer. The next task does not go until you get an answer to the previous one. In the case of contradictions, it is necessary to choose the correct version of the guiding question "how?". Additional questions in this case are inappropriate, since they put children in a difficult situation.

It is also possible that the child will perform the task incorrectly. Then the testing psychologist should pretend as if he did not notice this, and invite the child to start thinking about the answer to the next question. After good luck in the next answer, the subject is asked to return to the previous question.

The approach to young people from the age of 16, when they pass the Wexler test adult, is absolutely identical to the child, with minor amendments to the age.

Interpretation of non-verbal indicators of a child's test case

IQ (Wexler test) is analyzed using the coefficients. It is important to pay special attention to improving the nonverbal components in the child. Many scientists believe that nonverbal diagnosis is much broader in possibilities.

It should be borne in mind that the result of testing in childhood can significantly change if the conditions of life, upbringing and education of a child change. The template technique is not able to fully show the intellect of the individual, since it does not take into account the dynamic aspects of the development of mental abilities. It's fair to say that high IQ is not yet a genius. It often happens that people of high intelligence are invisible to the society, with the average - they achieve great professional success. The fact is that success depends on the specific intelligence, originality of thinking, the strength of aspiration to the goal and other things. You can not say categorically on the basis of the test of intellectual potential, the limit of the child's development. This is unacceptable from the point of view of morality.

Correctness in the description of test results

It is for this reason that the psychologist requires some kind of softness in describing the results showing a low intellectual level. Interpretation of the Wexler test assumes the existence of a different outcome of the passage of the methodology. When it comes time to disclose the results, a specialist should do this without hinting at a low level of intelligence, giving hope to a person, advising him, not stopping at what has been achieved, to develop further.