Patterns of intellectual ability in children with verbal deficits

Patterns of intellectual ability were examined in 81 children with verbal deficits identified by a Low Verbal/High Performance WISC profile. The results of verbal and nonverbal tests of intellectual functioning were factor-analyzed, and three groups of children were defined based on patterns of factor scores. Group 1 consisted of children with a Specific Language Disability (SLD) but good Abstract Reasoning ability, while Group 2 included SLD children with good Sequencing-Memory skills. Group 3 children displayed a General Language Disability (GLD) with deficits in both abstract reasoning and sequencing memory. The intellectual patterns were related to cognitive interpretations and found to have educational implications, with Group 1 children reading adequately, Group 2 children showing somewhat poorer reading skills, and Group 3 children reading very poorly. These findings emphasize the importance of identifying subgroups of children with verbal deficits and demonstrate the feasibility of extracting relatively specific cognitive information from global measures of intelligence. The results question the appropriateness of applying traditional assumptions regarding cognitive organization derived from studies of normal children to atypical groups of children.