As we all know, healthcare professionals have different tools to assess the possible difficulties of people looking for an appointment, in the case of psychologists the most commonly used tools are standardized tests, one of the best known and most used in the case of children is WISC.
Although widely used and well-known, not everyone understands what these tests measure or how they can help in clinical and educational settings, so in this article we will try to explain what this test is and why it is one of the most used tools by psychologists.
- WISC is a test used to evaluate children’s cognitive functioning.
- Specifically brain activity can be evaluated in functions such as memory.
- Attention.
- Processing speed.
- Language and executive functions.
- Fundamental aspects for the proper development of activities.
- Both social and cognitive.
- In the childhood stage.
Therefore, one of the objectives of this test is to establish the starting point for decision-making on the educational trajectory of children, due to their ability to identify strengths and weaknesses.
Clinically, this test identifies cognitive difficulties or defects associated with certain disorders, in the case of a learning disability is critical because it identifies the main problems.
When applying, interpreting and presenting the report, psychologists must consider different aspects that improve the reliability of the results, for this it is necessary to pay attention to two areas of interest: the quantitative and qualitative data offered by the test.
To explain this aspect it is necessary to take into account different characteristics, the first is that there are several subtests and each one provides a specific score, with this score a table is created from the?Comparison? From the score obtained with the average age of the person.
All this to know if the score obtained is the one expected for age or if, on the contrary, it is higher or lower.
In the case of WISC, the average score is between 8 and 11 points, a score below 8 indicates that there are difficulties in the area in question, while a score above 11 indicates that performance is above the average of the regulatory group.
From these tests you can obtain different indexes that function as complementary scores, these indexes will help to consolidate the information into specific functions and will give greater support to the data obtained.
When scores range from 85 to 115, skills are in line with age expectations. Among the clues, we have:
We also have qualitative aspects, which are just as important for the proper use of WISC. Thanks to them, the results of the test can be more appropriately supported and customized, in this case the aspects observed during the consultation The application of the tool should be taken into account.
A first relevant aspect is the observation and recording of the child’s attitude and behavior during the activity, considering aspects such as:
In addition, it is important to consider the factors that can help with the evaluation, although they do not bring additional test results, with them, however, it is possible to find strategies that can be useful when starting the management process.
Therefore, knowing if your child is acquiring information more easily through the visual or auditory channel is an advantage for improving learning.
As part of WISC’s main educational goals, cognitive skills development is for children with special educational needs, these cases may include learning disabilities, gifted persons, intellectual disabilities, among others.
On the other hand, these skills help us evaluate both the skills and challenges that children may present, all of which will facilitate the customization of the teaching-learning process, placing us in the ideal position to optimize the efforts that motivate learning.
Finally, with WISC you can predict each child’s academic performance, which is possible because thanks to these tests you can evaluate various cognitive functions from different points of view, these functions may be related to the concepts necessary to develop certain learnings. For example, children need a good language base in order to properly develop the reading and writing process.
WISC is also widely used in the clinical field. First, it is used to collect useful information for the primary diagnosis and differential diagnosis of psychological, neurological or psychiatric disorders.
In addition, it is useful in the preparation and development of intervention processes for the child, with the results it is possible to know the strengths of the person.
Finally, it is important to note that this test is one of the most used today, this occurs for two reasons:
When evaluating different cognitive functions, it provides complete information on all the main aspects, so there is not necessarily a suspicion of pathology when applying this test to a child.