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Is adaptation of the Word Accentuation Test of Premorbid Intelligence necessary for use among older, Spanish-speaking immigrants in the United States?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2006

ROBERT W. SCHRAUF ,
SANDRA WEINTRAUB  and
ELLEN NAVARRO
ROBERT W. SCHRAUF
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
SANDRA WEINTRAUB
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
ELLEN NAVARRO
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
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Abstract

Adaptations of the National Adult Reading Test (NART) for assessing premorbid intelligence in languages other than English requires (a) generating word-items that are rare and do not follow grapheme-to-phoneme mappings common in that language, and (b) subsequent validation against a cognitive battery normed on the population of interest. Such tests exist for Italy, France, Spain, and Argentina, all normed against national versions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Given the varieties of Spanish spoken in the United States, the adaptation of the Spanish Word Accentuation Test (WAT) requires re-validating the original word list, plus possible new items, against a cognitive battery that has been normed on Spanish-speakers from many countries. This study reports the generation of 55 additional words and revalidation in a sample of 80 older, Spanish-dominant immigrants. The Batería Woodcock-Muñoz Revisada (BWM-R), normed on Spanish speakers from six countries and five U.S. states, was used to establish criterion validity. The original WAT word list accounted for 77% of the variance in the BWM-R and 58% of the variance in Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices, suggesting that the unmodified list possesses adequate predictive validity as an indicator of intelligence. Regression equations are provided for estimating BWM-R and Ravens scores from WAT scores. (JINS, 2006, 12, 391–399.)

Keywords

Neuropsychological testEducational measurementMultilingualismAlzheimer's diseaseDementiaHispanic Americans

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , May 2006 , pp. 391 - 399
Copyright
© 2006 The International Neuropsychological Society

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