Validity of WAIS-III performance scale subtests completed with the non-dominant hand

Many patients with hemiplegia use only the non-dominant hand to complete the WAIS-III. It is not known to what degree this administrative change alters scores on specific subtests. To answer this question, we compared scores on Digit Symbol-Coding, Block Design, Picture Arrangement, Object Assembly, and Symbol Search via standard administration (SA) with scores from non-dominant hand administration (NDA). Fifty-eight college students were assigned to either SA or NDA groups. There were 29 SAs and 29 NDAs with means for age of 19.48 years (SD=1.15) and 25.68 years (SD=7.46). Relative to the SA group, the average Digit Symbol-Coding and Symbol Search scores were reduced by 4.04 and 1.62 points by NDA. Scores on the other subtests were not adversely affected by NDA.