Do Deaf Persons have a Characteristic Psychometric Profile on the Wechsler Performance Scales?

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 21 studies that reported Wechsler Performance Scale (WPS) profiles for 25 samples of deaf subjects showed that a characteristic psychometric profile is found for deaf persons. The distinguishing characteristic of deaf persons' profiles is consistently lower means on Coding/Digit Symbol subtests relative to other Performance Scale subtests, as shown by effect sizes and between-sample analyses. Characteristic WPS profiles are affected by test administration procedures, presence of an additional handicapping condition, and by the use of norms based on deaf persons. These findings imply that WPS profiles have diagnostic utility for identifying additional handicapping conditions, but only when norms based on normal-hearing persons and appropriate administration procedures are used. This conclusion is limited because none of the studies in the literature examined WPS profile consistency in a statistically appropriate manner.