This information is provided only as a guide to the publications cited below and cannot stand alone. You
must use those essential references to understand CHC theory and apply it to the McGrew, Flanagan, & Ortiz
Integrated Cattell-Horn-Carroll Cross-Battery Approach. Most of the examples of tests for various narrow abilities
below are taken from the same sources and from Mather & Woodcock (2001a; 2001b) and McGrew & Woodcock
(2001). They are only a few examples of the many given in Alfonso's, Flanagan's, Mascolo's, Mather's, McGrew's,
and Ortiz's cited texts. Tests in (parentheses) are secondary measures of the narrow ability and a primary measure
of some other narrow ability. Tests or procedures marked with "?" are our guesses. The information on significant
relationships between other CHC abilities and reading and math achievement are taken from Flanagan & Ortiz
(2001, pp. 50-51); Flanagan, McGrew, & Ortiz (2000, p. 286), and McGrew & Flanagan (1998, p. 422), where
there is also an in-depth discussion of this issue, including the basis in research.
.
G. Eggett
LA County Office of Education.
2
Broad Abilities
Narrow Abilities
Fluid Intelligence Gf
General Sequential Reasoning (RG) (AKA deductive reasoning)
Fluid reasoning. Problem-solving tasks that are not WJ III Analysis-Synthesis; (WJ III Planning); KAIT Logical Steps; LIPS-R
Picture Context, Visual Coding; SB5 Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning & Verbal
automatic. Often considered the essence of g. Glr Fluid Reasoning.
and Gsm (MW) are probably essential components.
I and RG "play a moderate role in reading
comprehension. . . . [and] are consistently very Induction (I)
important at all ages" in math achievement WJ III Concept Formation; LIPS-R, Classification, Design Analogies, Repeated
(Flanagan & Ortiz, 2000, p. 50). We suspect that Patterns, Sequential Order; Raven's & other matrix tests (DAS II Matrices,
Wechsler Matrix Reasoning); WISC-IV & WPPSI-III Picture Concepts; KABC-
first encounters with new, generally non-Gf tasks II Pattern Reasoning & Story Completion.
have a Gf component that wears off quickly.
Crystallized Intelligence Gc
3
Largely verbal intelligence; not only one's
knowledge of one's culture, but also one's ability to Language Development (LD)
apply that knowledge effectively. This is a WJ III ACH Story Recall; Understanding Directions; Picture Vocabulary;
cognitive ability. Most LD tests also measure VL Editing; WJ III COG Verbal Comprehension; WISC-IV Comprehension.,
Similarities; CASL Nonliteral Language & Sentence Comprehension of Syntax;
and vice versa. Although most oral, verbal tests are CELF-4 Sentence Assembly; ITPA-3 Spoken Vocabulary; TOLD I:3 Generals
classified under Gc, some clearly involve more & Picture Vocabulary, Sentence Combining, & Receptive Vocabulary
reasoning (Gf?) than others. LD, VL, and LS are
important [for reading and math achievement] at all Lexical Knowledge (VL) (vocabulary)
ages. These abilities become increasingly . . . WJ III Verbal Comprehension; WJ III DS Bilingual Verbal Comp.; WJ III ACH
important with age" (Flanagan & Ortiz, 2001, p. Picture Vocabulary, Reading Vocabulary; DAS-II Word Definitions, Naming
50). Obviously, Gc abilities are also very important Vocabulary; most vocabulary tests; KABC-II Expressive Vocabulary, Riddles, &
Verbal Knowledge; SB5 Verbal Knowledge; Wechsler Similarities, Vocabulary,
for writing and for achievement in content-area
& Word Reasoning, WPPSI-III Picture Naming & Receptive Vocabulary; CASL
subjects. Many Gc abilities are covered better by Ambiguous Sentences, Antonyms, Comp. of Basic Concepts & Synonyms;
the tests used in speech and language evaluations CELF-4 Expressive Vocabulary, Word Classes Expressive & Receptive, &
that by those used in psychoeducational Word Definitions; CREVT-2 & CREVT-A Expressive & Receptive Vocabulary;
evaluations. DAB- 3 Synonyms; EOWPVT-2000 Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary;
EVT Expressive Vocabulary Test; GDRT-2 Listening Vocabulary; ITPA-3
Spoken Analogies; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-3ed Ed.; ROWPVT-2000
Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary; TACL-3 Grammatical Morphemes &
Vocabulary; TOLD-P:3 Oral Vocabulary & Picture Vocabulary; TOPAS
Rhyming; WJ III DRB Oral Vocabulary; WORD-2 Antonyms, Associations,
Definitions, Flexible Word Use, Semantic Absurdities, & Synonyms; WRMT-
R/NU Word Comprehension; YCAT Spoken Knowledge. [NB: no distinction is
made between receptive & expressive.]
G. Eggett
LA County Office of Education.
4
Visual Processing Gv
My favorite definition of Gv is Richard
Spatial Relations (SR)
Woodcock's "fluent thinking with images that are
visual in the mind's eye." Gv does include simple, WJ III COG Spatial Relations; Wechsler Block Design; DAS-II Pattern
Construction; LIPS Figure Rotation; (WISC-III Object Assembly); KABC-
perceptual, visual processing tasks, but it also II Triangles; SB5 NV Visual-Spatial Processing; KM/R/NU Geometry
includes higher-level cognitive reasoning and
problem-solving. There might be some real merit to Visual Memory (MV)
separating the two. Gv "may be important primarily WJ III ACH Picture Recognition; DAS-II Recall of Designs, Recognition of
for higher- level or advanced mathematics (e.g., Pictures; KAIT Memory for Block Designs; LIPS-R Immediate Recognition;
geometry, calculus)" (Flanagan & Ortiz, p. 50). My Forward Memory; KABC-II Face Recognition; visual subtests in many memory
batteries; WRAML-2; WISC-IV Integrated Spatial Span?
experience is that students with much stronger Gv
than Gc abilities use the Gv abilities in unexpected Visualization (Vz)
ways, sometimes maladaptively. Weaknesses in Gv WJ III COG Spatial Relations; DAS-II Matching Letter-Like Forms; LIPS-R
can impair mental visualization (sometimes Matching, Form Completion; Paper Folding; (WISC-IV Block Design; DAS-II
interfering with reading comprehension) and Pattern Construction; LIPS Figure Rotation); KABC-II Block Counting,
nonverbal communication. Visual Memory (MV) is Conceptual Thinking, Pattern Reasoning, & Story Completion; SB5 Verbal
Visual-Spatial; WAIS-III Picture Arrangement; WJ III DS Block Rotation
a Gv narrow ability, not Gsm.
Closure Speed (CS) [target is not known in advance] WAIS-III/WPPSI-III
Object Assembly; KABC-II Gestalt Closure; WJ III DS Visual Closure
Imagery (IM)
Poorly defined: involves mentally altering abstract shapes.
5
Auditory Processing Ga
"Phonetic coding (PC) or 'phonological awareness/ processing' is very important [to reading development] during the elementary
school years" (Flanagan & Ortiz, 2001, p. 50). Phonological abilities and Rapid Automatized Naming [Glr (NA)] are, of course, the
hot topics in reading assessment. Even more fundamental sound discrimination and perception issues are important for
neuropsychological assessment. The ability to hear clearly under less-than-ideal circumstances is very important for school
functioning. See your friendly, local audiologist.
G. Eggett
LA County Office of Education.
6
G. Eggett
LA County Office of Education.
8
Processing Speed Gs
"Attentive speediness" (McGrew & Flanagan, Perceptual Speed (P)
1998, p. 44). Gs can be critical in allowing mental WJ III COG Visual Matching, Pair Cancellation; WJ III DS Cross Out; Wechsler
Symbol Search; WISC-IV Cancellation; LIPS-R Attention Sustained; DAS-II
processes to be carried out within the limits of Speed of Info. Processing A, Rapid Naming
memory capacity. "Perceptual speed(P) abilities are
important [for reading and math] during all school Rate of Test Taking (R9)
years . . . "(Flanagan & Ortiz, p. 51). (WJ III Visual Matching); (WISC-III Symbol Search); WAIS-III Digit Symbol-
Coding; Wechsler Coding; (LIPS-R Attention Sustained)
G. Eggett
LA County Office of Education.
10
References
Carroll, J. B. (1993). Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor-analytic studies. Cambridge, Eng:
Cambridge University Press.
Carroll, J. B. (1997/2005). The three-stratum theory of cognitive abilities. In D. P. Flanagan, J. L. Genshaft, & P.
L. Harrison (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, tests, and issues (ch. 7, pp. 122-130).
New York: Guilford Press. [Also in In D. P. Flanagan, & P. L. Harrison (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual
assessment Theories, tests, and issues (2nd ed.) (pp. 41-68). New York: Guilford Press.
Elliott, C. D. (2007b). Differential Ability Scales 2nd edition introductory and technical handbook.
San Antonio: Harcourt Assessment.
Flanagan, D. P. (2001). Comparative features of major intelligence batteries: Content, administration,
technical features, interpretation, and theory (Woodcock-Johnson® III Assessment Service Bulletin No.
3). Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing.
Flanagan, D. P., Genshaft, J. L., & Harrison, P. L. (Eds.) (1997). Contemporary intellectual assessment:
Theories, tests, and issues. New York: The Guilford Press.
Flanagan, D. P., & McGrew, K. S. (1997). A cross-battery approach to assessing and interpreting cognitive
abilities: Narrowing the gap between practice and cognitive science. In D. P. Flanagan, J. L. Genshaft, & P.
L. Harrison (Eds.), Contemporary Intellectual Assessment (ch. 17). New York: The Guilford Press
Flanagan, D. P, McGrew, K. S., & Ortiz, S. O. (2000). The Wechsler Intelligence Scales and Gf-Gc
theory: A contemporary approach to interpretation. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Flanagan, D. P., & Ortiz, S. O. (2001). Essentials of Cross-Battery Assessment. New York: Wiley.
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Wiley.
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II): A guide to learning disability identification (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ : Wiley. (A computerized version
of the book's test classification according to CHC theory is available for download at:
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-047178401X,subjectCd-PS60,descCd-DOWNLOAD.html
Mather, N., & Jaffe, L. (2002). Woodcock-Johnson III: Recommendations, reports, and strategies. New
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Abilities. Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing.
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Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
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Contemporary Intellectual Assessment (ch. 9). New York: The Guilford Press. Dumont, R., Willis, J.
O., & Elliott, C. D. (2008). Essentials of DAS-II Assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
11
McGrew, K. S., & Flanagan, D. P. (1998). The intelligence test desk reference (ITDR): Gf-Gc Cross-
Battery Assessment. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
McGrew, K. S., & Woodcock, R. W. (2001). Technical manual. Woodcock-Johnson III. Itasca, IL:
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G. Eggett
LA County Office of Education.