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Pantomime administration of the WISC-III and SB:FE to hearing and otitis prone Native Indian students

University of British Columbia

Administration of nonverbal tests of intelligence to deaf or hard of hearing and Native Indian children has been problematic. Communication difficulties between examiner and examinee have resulted in modifications to the administration of the test. A standard method of test administration has not been reported in the literature. The current study investigated the use of pantomime instruction to administer performance scales of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-IlI) and the Stanford Binet: Fourth Edition (SB:FE). Subjects included a group of otitis prone Native Indian children (n=87) and hearing peers (n=80). Subjects in the hearing peer group were randomly assigned to verbal (n=40) or pantomime instruction (n=40) to compare verbal and pantomime administration of the tests. T-test and ANOVAs were used to investigate comparisons between verbal administration method (hearing peer) and between groups receiving pantomime instruction (otitis prone and hearing peer). Multiple regression analyses were used to determine whether nonverbal tests of intelligence were predictors of academic achievement. Results demonstrated pantomime instruction gave subjects information required to complete test and subtest tasks of the WISC-lll and SB:FE. There was not a significant difference between verbal and pantomime instruction for the hearing peer group. When the otitis prone group and the hearing peer group were compared there was no significant differences between groups for the WISC-lll. Item analysis provided additional support to pantomime instruction giving adequate information to understand tasks. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that nonverbal measures of intelligence should not be used to predict math or reading achievement for this population. Language measures administered yielded very low scores across all three groups. Although this was expected for the otitis prone group, low scores were not expected for the hearing peer group. The short term memory subtests for the SB:FE were also very low indicating another area of weakness for all three groups which was not expected. Results of the present study provides evidence to indicate pantomime instruction is a viable method of administration when used with otitis prone and hearing Native children. Further research is necessary to determine if standard pantomime administration can be utilized to administer nonverbal measures of intelligence to other groups of children with delayed language skills or communication difficulties.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-06-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8834

Special Education

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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