Who are the Retarded?

Abstract

Eleven year old children in educable (N=378) and regular (N=319) classes from the five county greater Philadelphia area were compared on the Slosson Intelligence Test for Children and Adults, an adaptation of the Test of Social Inference, an adaptation of the Temple Informal Reading Inventory, and the Auditory Reception and Verbal Expression subtests from the 1968 Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. The distributions for the total sample were converted into T scores, and the children scoring above and below a T score of 45 (equivalent in our data to an IQ of 75) on each of the variables were identified. Applying Jastak and his colleagues' concept of multiple criteria suggests that 25 percent of the children in educable classes may be misplaced since they scored above the cutting point on at least four of the five criteria. Only 31 percent of those in the educable classes failed either four or five of the five criteria. The combination of a reading problem and a lower IQ is highly associated with educable placement. The findings support efforts to place most children found in educable classes into the regular classroom through the use of tutoring and resource rooms.