Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - Third UK Edition

Can I digitally administer or digitally score the WIAT-lll UK on adults 26 years and older?

No this is not possible. Digital administration and scoring on Q-interactive and Q-global is available only for ages 4:0 years to 25:11 years on the WIAT-lll UK.

Can I use the WIAT-lll UK to test adults?

The intention for the WIAT-lll UK is for testing in the age range 4:0 years to 25:11 years. The UK norms in this edition were extended upwards to 25:11 years to support Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) and Access Arrangements (AA) applications for young people.

The Technical Manual (included on USB in the WIAT-lll UK paper kit, and in the Qg digital library), is primarily included to provide additional reliability, validity and background information that is not available in the UK manuals.

The Technical Manual does however also include the US norms up to age 50. Please note that any administrations from the age of 26 upwards would require hand scoring. Although hand scoring for the AAD: predicted-difference and simple-difference method is possible, the PSW discrepancy analysis cannot be hand scored and is therefore not available for ages 26 upwards on the WIAT-lll UK.

How do I calculate reading speed scores from the WIAT-lll UK?

The new subtest, Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), provides separate standard scores for reading speed, accuracy and fluency. Early Reading, Reading Comprehension and Oral Reading Fluency are presented as three separate subtests in the WIAT-lll UK to more specifically target the measurement of these skills. The ORF subtest includes two passages per age group. The speed norms are based on reading aloud.

Why are the sample sizes smaller in the WIAT-lll UK than in the previous edition?

Technical advances in norming procedures, such as inferential norming, allow today's researchers to accomplish high quality norms with fewer cases when re-validating a new edition of an existing test that measures the same constructs as the previous edition. This is especially true when the revised test has already been validated in a country with a similar language and culture, such as other English speaking countries.

References:

Zhu, J. & Chen, H-Y. (2011), Utility of Inferential Norming With Smaller Sample Sizes. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 29(6) 570-580, SAGE Publications

Bridges, A.J. & Holler, K.A. (2007), How Many Is Enough? Determining Optimal Sample Sizes For Normative Studies in Pediatric Neuropsychology. Child Neuropsychology, iFirst: 1-11, Psychology Press, Taylor & Francis Group

Is the WISC-V UK linked to the WIAT-III UK?

The WIAT-III UK is linked to WISC-VUK through a sample of 387 children who were administered both tests.

The WIAT-III UK is linked to WISC-V UK through a sample of 387 children who were administered both tests. Although there is recent debate about the necessity of co-norming (Rohling, et al, 2015), measurement experts have often stressed the importance of using co-normed or linked ability and achievement batteries in clinical diagnosing and assessing special learning disabilities (Reynolds, 1990; Wechsler 2009).

Co-normed or linked test batteries use identical or mostly identical normative samples that are representative of the population of interest, which ensures the pattern of strengths and weaknesses analysis or ability-achievement analysis are based on the same or similar reference groups.

References:

Reynolds, C. R. (1990). Conceptual and technical problems in learning disability diagnosis.

C. R. Reynolds & R. W. Kamphaus (Eds.), Handbook of psychological and educational assessment of children: Intelligence and achievement (PP. 571-592). New York: Guilford Press.

Rohling, M. L., Miller, R. M., Axelrod, B. N., Wall, J. R., Lee, A. J. H., & Kinikini, D. T. (2015). Is co-norming required? Archives of Clinical Newropsychology, 30, 611-633.Wechsler, D. (2009). Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third edition. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.

Can we use the WIAT-lll UK to support applications for Access Arrangements for extra time?

Yes, the guidance for 2017/2018 from the Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2017-2018 - Section 7.5 states that "a timed, text-level reading test which includes comprehension questions, and provides a standardised score for reading speed, can be administered to assess the candidate’s need for extra time, or a computer reader/reader.

Assessors may also use a test which combines text-level speed and accuracy (sometimes known as reading fluency) as evidence for a computer reader/reader and/or extra time. The results may be recorded within Section C of Form 8 under reading speed."

The Oral Reading Fluency subtest on the WIAT-lll UK provides standard scores for both reading fluency and reading speed on passages read aloud and with a comprehension question.