WISC for screening learning disabilities in children and teenagers: an integrative review

*Correspondence: [e-mail].

Abstract

Background: The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is used not only as an intelligence test but as a clinical tool. This scale has been frequently used, since 1949, for screening children for learning disabilities. Since then, there has been an evolution and improvement of the scale. Currently, in its fourth edition, this is a widely used scale that encompasses domains that assess intellectual, cognitive, and verbal ability.

Objective: Evaluate the use and its applicability of the WISC in screening for learning difficulties in school-aged children.

Methods: A systematic review was carried out to assess learning difficulties screening scales. One of the search strategies was carried out to analyze studies that used the WISC as a tool. Variables were collected, such sociodemographic characteristic of the participants, evaluation protocols, and main results.

Results: In total, 384 studies were found, from those, 19 studies completed the criteria to be included in the review. Most of the papers were conducted at United States (63%), they evaluated 3774 children (64% males and 36% females) between 5 and 16 years old, with learning disabilities.

Conclusion: In the analysis of studies, the WISC was used to assess the amount of intelligence to exclude subjects with performance below or above the cutoff point stipulated as normal performance and, in the most part of the studies, was not able to detect learning disabilities, which indicate that this tool must have a complementary assessment to perform a wide evaluation.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 May 2025