Child and Adolescent Norms for Russell's Revision of the Wechsler Memory Scale

• Published in: Journal of clinical child psychology 1986-09, Vol.15 (3), p.214-220
• Main Authors: Curry, John F., Logue, Patrick E., Butler, Beverly
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0047-228X; 1532-7639
• DOI: 10.1207/s15374424jccp1503_3

The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) is the most widely used instrument for clinical assessment of memory, and Russell's revision permits assessment of semantic and figural and immediate and delayed functions. It has recently been pointed out, however, that the revised version (WMS-R) lacks an adequate normative base, even for use with adults. Moreover, no norms have been developed for use with adolescents and older children. The present study introduces normative data for thesis measures of the WMS-R for youngsters from 9% to 15 % years of age. Data are presented separately by age and sex group. Results indicate that normal preadolescents and adolescents generally score in a range that would be considered impaired by Russell's rating system for adults. Moreover, the relationship between memory functioning, age, and verbal intelligence appears to differ as a function of sex. Present norms are proposed for use by the clinician in the screening of memory functions in children and adolescents and by the researcher in validity studies with samples of exceptional children. Issues of internal consistency reliability are discussed with reference to guidelines for use of the subtests.