Diagnostic Validity of the Fifth Edition of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) in Students with ADHD
Open accessAbstract
Background: This research discusses the diagnostic validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fifth edition (WISC-V), in students with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The primary research question is whether the WISC-V possesses diagnostic validity for students with ADHD. Methods: The study employs a psychometric design. The research population includes all students with ADHD enrolled in the first, second, and third grades of elementary school during the 2022 academic year. These students receive educational therapeutic services in private and public centers. A sample size of 250 students was selected using a purposeful sampling method. The instrument used is the WISC-V. Additionally, 250 individuals from the normative population (non-ADHD) were included as a comparison group. The confidence interval method was applied to determine the diagnostic validity of the tests. Results: Data analysis indicated that among the WISC-V subscales, only the "processing speed" subscale demonstrated diagnostic validity (P < 0.001). The other four subscales — "visual-spatial", "fluid reasoning", "working memory", and "verbal comprehension" — did not exhibit adequate validity in distinguishing between students with and without ADHD. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the WISC-V has favorable diagnostic validity for the processing speed scale in students with ADHD. This scale can be effectively utilized for the clinical assessment of students with ADHD within the field of exceptional individuals.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The WISC-V shows adequate convergent and discriminant validity, particularly as a supporting instrument in the assessment of ADHD and other neurodevelopmental difficulties.
“Likewise, it shows adequate convergent and discriminant validity, particularly as a supporting instrument in the assessment of ADHD and other neurodevelopmental difficulties [37, 38, 39].”
From ADHD, Subtypes and Cognitive Performance: WISC-V as a Support Tool for Diagnostic Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [39]
The Results and Discussion report that WISC-V processing-speed tests distinguish students with ADHD from a normative group, and the Discussion recommends using the scale within a broader assessment framework. However, the paper does not establish convergent and discriminant validity as claimed; its Abstract reports that the other four subscales did not adequately distinguish the groups. Its findings concern students with ADHD, while the broader reference to other neurodevelopmental difficulties is not established by this study. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe findings support the use of the WISC-V as a complementary tool to clinical judgment in contexts involving complex diagnostic decisions.
“Taken together, these findings support the use of the WISC-V as a complementary tool to clinical judgment in contexts involving complex diagnostic decisions [34, 35, 39].”
From ADHD, Subtypes and Cognitive Performance: WISC-V as a Support Tool for Diagnostic Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [39]
The Discussion says the WISC-V should not be used as an independent diagnostic tool and should be part of a broader assessment framework. That supports its complementary use, but the paper studies students with ADHD and does not specifically address clinical judgment across complex diagnostic decisions generally. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment
Barkley, R. A., & Poillion, M. J. (1994) · Behavioral Disorders · doi:10.1177/019874299401900205 · Cited by 4,632 · see citing works
Snowling, M. J., & Hulme, C. (2011) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02495.x · Cited by 329 · see citing works
Mayes, S., & Calhoun, S. (2007) · School Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1037/1045-3830.22.2.234 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-V: Test Review
Na, S. D., & Burns, T. G. (2015) · Applied Neuropsychology Child · doi:10.1080/21622965.2015.1015337 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Factor Structure of the 10 WISC-V Primary Subtests Across Four Standardization Age Groups
Dombrowski, S. C., Canivez, G. L., & Watkins, M. W. (2018) · Contemporary School Psychology · doi:10.1007/s40688-017-0125-2 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Canivez, G. L., & Watkins, M. W. (2016) · doi:10.1002/9781394259397.ch20 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Devena, S. E., & Watkins, M. W. (2012) · Journal of Applied School Psychology · doi:10.1080/15377903.2012.669743 · Cited by 47 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Fortunately, many primary symptoms associated with hyperactivity, such as impulsivity, tend to diminish during puberty (2, 3).”
Lecerf, T., & Canivez, G. L. (2017) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/pas0000526 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Canivez, G. L., Watkins, M. W., & McGill, R. J. (2018) · British Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjep.12230 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Construct Validity of the WISC–IV<sup>UK</sup>With a Large Referred Irish Sample
Watkins, M. W., Canivez, G. L., James, T., James, K., & Good, R. (2013) · International Journal of School & Educational Psychology · doi:10.1080/21683603.2013.794439 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Huang, F., Sun, L., Qian, Y., Liu, L., Ma, Q., Yang, L., Cheng, J. R., Cao, Q., Su, Y., Gao, Q., et al. (2016) · Chinese Medical Journal · doi:10.4103/0366-6999.187861 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Comparative analysis of the WISC-IV in a clinical setting: ADHD vs. non-ADHD
Ünal, D., Çıçek, N. M., Çak, T., Sakarya, G., Artık, A., Karaboncuk, Y., Özusta, Ş., & Kültür, S. E. Ç. (2020) · Archives de Pédiatrie · doi:10.1016/j.arcped.2020.11.001 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Erden, G., Yiğit, İ., Çelik, C., & Guzey, M. (2020) · The Journal of General Psychology · doi:10.1080/00221309.2020.1862038 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Porteus Maze Q Score as a Measure of Impulsivity
O'Keefe, E. J. (1975) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.1975.41.2.675 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Working Memory Constrains Long-Term Memory in Children and Adults: Memory of Objects and Bindings
Forsberg, A., Guitard, D., Adams, E. J., Pattanakul, D., & Cowan, N. (2023) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence11050094 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Rodríguez-Cancino, M. A., & Concha‐Salgado, A. (2024) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence12110105 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Nazari, M., Daramadi, P. S., Asgari, M., Afrooz, G., & Gasemzadeh, S. (2024) · International journal of new findings in health and educational sciences (IJHES). · doi:10.63053/ijhes.53 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Gilbert, K., Benson, N. F., & Kranzler, J. H. (2023) · Contemporary School Psychology · doi:10.1007/s40688-022-00447-z · Cited by 2 · see citing works
کیومرثی, ف., کامکاری, ک., & شکرزاده, ش. (2021) · روان شناسی مدرسه · doi:10.22098/jsp.2021.1346 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Aminloo, M. S., Avaradi, P. S., & Khalatbari, J. (2023) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · doi:10.22111/jeps.2023.45643.5400 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Mohammadi Rafat Panah N et al. Brieflands Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2025; 19(1): e153741 7
- Sadeghi H, Shabani Y, Pakniyat A, Karimian K, Harorani M, Naderi Rajeh Y. Road Crashes in Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Risky Driving Behavior. Iran J Psychiatry. 2020;15(2):105- 11. [PubMed ID: 32426006]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC7215254].
- Shiri Aminloo M, Kamkary K, Shokrzadeh S. [The Concurrent validity of the new version of the Tehran-Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised]. J Except Edu. 2013;7(120):50-61. FA.
- Kamkari K. [Diagnostic Validity of the New Version of the Tehran- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in Students with ADHD]. J Except Children. 2019;18(3):15-28. FA.
- Bodaghi M, Kamkari K, Saedi S. [Diagnostic validity of the fifth version of the Wechsler intelligence scale children in students with attention deficit disorder in Tehran cities]. Rooyesh-e-Ravanshenasi J. 2023;12(8):139-48. FA.
- Shiri Aminlou M, Sharifi Daramadi P, Khalatbari J. [Diagnostic Validity of The Fifth Version of Wechsler Iq Scales For Children With Learning Disability]. Quarterly Edu Measurement. 2023;14(54):80-104. FA. https://doi.org/10.22054/jem.2024.71777.3427. · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
ADHD, Subtypes and Cognitive Performance: WISC-V as a Support Tool for Diagnostic Assessment
Lavigne-Cerván, R., Collado-Valero, J., Navarro-Soria, I., Rosales-Gómez, M., & Torrecillas-Martínez, M. (2026) · Actas Espanolas de Psiquiatria · doi:10.62641/aep.v54i3.2122 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Taken together, these findings support the use of the WISC-V as a complementary tool to clinical judgment in contexts involving complex diagnostic decisions [34,35,39].”
- Authors
- Mohammadi Rafat Panah, N., Kamkari, K., & Baghdasarians, A.
- Affiliations
- Islamic Azad University, Tehran (IR)
- Corresponding author
- Kamkari, Kambiz
- ORCID
- Kamkari, Kambiz
- Venue
- Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Publisher
- Brieflands
- Published
- 2025-02-19
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1735-8639 (ISSN-L)
- 1735-9287
- OpenAlex
- W4408299931
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 20
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Keywords
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, WISC-V, diagnostic validity, processing speed, intelligence testing, elementary school students, special education
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
