Evaluation of procedures for the diagnosis of intellectual disability in students with multiple disabilities

Abstract

The diagnosis of the intellectual capacity of students with more than one disability is complex. The objective of the study was to evaluate the procedures and instruments for the diagnosis of intellectual disability in students with multiple challenges of a special school. Through a case study with 44 children with multiple challenges, the procedures used by three psychologists for the diagnosis of intellectual disability were evaluated. The results indicate that no schoolchild could be measured with a complete Wechsler intelligence test, only 11.4% were given the verbal scale and 18.2% the execution scale, 18.2% were evaluated with the Raven test and 22.7% with the Goodenough Test. In all cases, clinical judgment, interviews, observation and an adaptive behavior scale were used. It is concluded that it is necessary to establish concordant procedures with updated diagnostic criteria in the evaluation of students with multiple disabilities.