Abstract
The aim of this research was to study the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) subtest patterns of children with learning disabilities (LD) in Taiwan, and explore how to use these subtest patterns for the references to analyze the characteristics of LD while diagnosing LD group. The subjects were 276 elementary school and junior high school students from Tao-Yuan county, Hsin-Chu county, Hsin-Chu city, and Miao-Li county, who were considered to have difficulties in learning, specifically, in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and mathematics. The major findings of this study were as follows: 1. LD's PIQ scores were higher than VIQ scores; POI scores were higher than VCI scores. When comparing to general children, all the 7 scale scores were statistically significant, especially the FDI. When comparing to LD samples of the United States, VIQ, FSIQ, VCI, and FDI were statistically significant. 2. In this LD group, 32% had a severe discrepancy between verbal and performance ability. 3. The LD's FDI & PSI were obvious weakness of cognitive ability. 4. The base rates of subtest patterns (ACID, SCAD, POI-SCAD & Bannatyne) were statistically significant higher, especially the POI-SCAD subtest pattern. 5. The regression analysis indicated that the best subtest pattern for predicting was VIQ, PIQ, VCI, POI & PSI was POI-SCAD; the best subtest pattern for predicting FSIQ was Bannatyne subtest; the best subtest pattern for predicting FDI was WDI. 6. The LD earned lower scores in the Information, Arithmetic, coding, and Digit Span those four subtests and these could compose the ACID pattern. 7. Four factors in 13 subtests had been acquired: Verbal Comprehension, Spatial ability & Attention, Reasoning & Organization, and Processing Speed. The further implications will be discussed in the paper.