Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V)

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth Edition, Australian Standard (WISC-V) is an individually administered and comprehensive clinical instrument used to assess the general thinking and reasoning skills of children aged six years to 16 years. Test results include a Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) score as well as age-equivalent rankings and scores for Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory and Processing Speed composites.

The WISC-V can be used for purposes of identifying an intellectual disability, giftedness, specific learning disabilities, placement in specialised programs and clinical intervention. The assessment usually requires between one-and-a-half and two hours and is administered using iPads.

Our assessment scores are analysed and reported by experienced clinicians.

Skills assessed with WISC-V

The WISC-V psychometric test has been recently updated (2016) to incorporate 75 years of research and advances in the field of intellectual assessment, as well as to reflect the practical and clinical needs of contemporary society.

The WISC-V has 10 primary subtests and supplementary subtests:

• Similarities and Vocabulary are the two primary subtests that comprise the Verbal Comprehension score.
• The two primary Visual-Spatial subtests are Block Design and Visual Puzzles.
• Fluid Reasoning is measured with the two primary subtests, Matrix Reasoning and Figure Weights.
• Digit Span and Picture Span are the two primary Working Memory subtests and Coding and Symbol Search are the two primary Processing Speed subtests.

The 10 primary subtests, however, do not contribute equally to the Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient or IQ score. The Full-Scale IQ is comprised of seven primary subtests'

• Similarities
• Vocabulary
• Block Design,
• Matrix Reasoning
• Figure Weights
• Digit Span and Coding.

More About the WISC-V Measures

• The Verbal Comprehension Index measures a child’s ability to access and apply acquired word knowledge. Specifically, this score reflects one’s ability to verbalise meaningful concepts, think about verbal information and express oneself using words.
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• The Visual-Spatial Index measures a child’s ability to evaluate visual details and understand visual-spatial relationships to construct geometric designs from a model. This skill requires visual-spatial reasoning, integration and synthesis of part-whole relationships, attentiveness to visual detail, sometimes using hand-eye coordination, and working quickly and efficiently with visual information.
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• The Fluid Reasoning Index measures a child’s ability to detect the underlying conceptual relationship among visual objects and use reasoning to identify and apply rules. Identification and application of conceptual relationships requires inductive and quantitative reasoning, broad visual intelligence, simultaneous processing and abstract thinking.
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• The Working Memory Index measures a child’s ability to register, maintain and manipulate visual and auditory information in conscious awareness. These tasks measure one’s skills in attention, concentration and mental reasoning as well as visual and auditory discrimination. This skill is closely related to learning and achievement.
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• The Processing Speed Index measures a child’s speed and accuracy of visual identification, decision-making and decision implementation. Performance is related to visual scanning, visual discrimination, short-term visual memory, visuomotor coordination and concentration. This skill may be important to a child’s development in reading and ability to think quickly in general.

The Full-Scale IQ score is derived from seven subtests and summarises ability across the five areas of cognitive ability: Verbal Comprehension, Visual-Spatial, Fluid Reasoning, Working Memory and Processing Speed indexes. The WISC–V Full-Scale score is one way to view a child’s general intellectual functioning.

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