A Comparison between the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence-2 with Mexican-American Secondary Students

This study compared the performance of a sample of 37 Mexican-American secondary students with learning disabilities on two ability measures. The TONI-2 and the WAIS-R were used to determine whether students performed better on tasks that require abstract/complex reasoning skills as opposed to verbal skills. Moderate correlations between measures were found, and results of a multivariate analysis indicated significant differences between the TONI-2 quotient and all three quotients of the WAIS-R. Findings are discussed in terms of (a) implications for culturally different populations and (b) considerations for assessment personnel who are searching for alternatives to cognitive measures that are based on verbal skills.