TY - JOUR
T1 - A comparison of measures for assessing the level and nature of intelligence in verbal children and adults with autism spectrum disorder
AU - Bodner, Kimberly E.
AU - Williams, Diane L.
AU - Engelhardt, Christopher R.
AU - Minshew, Nancy J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank participants and families for their contribution to this study, and Dana Barvinchak, Kristin Weisberg, Natasha Reddy, and John J. Markiewicz for their assistance in data collection. We acknowledge the support of the grant sponsor: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) , grant number: NS33355 ; grant sponsor: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) , grant number: HD35469 , a Collaborative Program of Excellence in Autism (CPEA); grant sponsor: National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), grant number: K23DC006691 to Dr. Williams; and, grant sponsor: Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust funding without which this work would not have been possible.
PY - 2014/11
Y1 - 2014/11
N2 - Previous work has suggested that the Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) are better suited for capturing the nature of intelligence for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than the Wechsler scales. The RPM measures 'fluid intelligence', an area for which it has been argued that persons with ASD have a relative strength. Given that measures of intelligence are used for establishing clinical diagnoses, for making educational decisions, and for group-matching in research studies, continued examination of this contention is warranted. In the current study, verbal children with ASD performed moderately better on the RPM than on the Wechsler scales; children without ASD received higher percentile scores on the Wechsler than on the RPM. Adults with and without ASD received higher percentile scores on the Wechsler than the RPM. Results suggest that the RPM and Wechsler scales measure different aspects of cognitive abilities in verbal individuals with ASD. For the verbal children and adults with ASD in the current study, the RPM and Wechsler scales have unique contributions that must be considered in context when establishing a baseline of cognitive function. The results of this investigation highlight the importance of thoughtfully selecting appropriate measures of intelligence consistent with clinical, educational, and research purposes, especially for verbal children and adults with ASD.
AB - Previous work has suggested that the Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) are better suited for capturing the nature of intelligence for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than the Wechsler scales. The RPM measures 'fluid intelligence', an area for which it has been argued that persons with ASD have a relative strength. Given that measures of intelligence are used for establishing clinical diagnoses, for making educational decisions, and for group-matching in research studies, continued examination of this contention is warranted. In the current study, verbal children with ASD performed moderately better on the RPM than on the Wechsler scales; children without ASD received higher percentile scores on the Wechsler than on the RPM. Adults with and without ASD received higher percentile scores on the Wechsler than the RPM. Results suggest that the RPM and Wechsler scales measure different aspects of cognitive abilities in verbal individuals with ASD. For the verbal children and adults with ASD in the current study, the RPM and Wechsler scales have unique contributions that must be considered in context when establishing a baseline of cognitive function. The results of this investigation highlight the importance of thoughtfully selecting appropriate measures of intelligence consistent with clinical, educational, and research purposes, especially for verbal children and adults with ASD.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.rasd.2014.07.015
DO - 10.1016/j.rasd.2014.07.015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84906716202
SN - 1750-9467
VL - 8
SP - 1434
EP - 1442
JO - Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
JF - Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
IS - 11
ER -
