Overview
The Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities – Fourth Edition (WJ-IV COG; Schrank, McGrew, & Mather, 2014) is an individually-administered, norm-referenced instrument that measures general intellectual ability (g) and specific cognitive abilities in persons age 2 to 90+ years old. It is a theory-based test that aligns with contemporary Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory. The WJ-IV COG is organized into 18 tests for measuring general intellectual ability, broad and narrow cognitive abilities, academic domain-specific aptitudes, and related aspects of cognitive functioning. Ten tests are included in the Standard Battery, and 8 additional tests are available for the Extended Battery. Different combinations of these tests can be administered to yield various composite scores including the General Intellectual Ability (GIA); CHC Factors including: Comprehension-Knowledge (Gc), Fluid Reasoning (Gf), Short-Term Working Memory (Gwm), Cognitive Processing Speed (Gs), Auditory Processing (Ga), Long-Term Retrieval (Glr), and Visual Processing (Gv); and Narrow Ability and other clinical clusters: Quantitative Reasoning (RQ), Number Facility (N), Perceptual Speed (P), and Cognitive Efficiency. Compared with its predecessor, the WJ-IV COG includes a new Gf-Gc Composite score that allows for comparison with other cognitive abilities, oral language, and achievement; this can inform individualized instruction. The WJ-IV COG is co-normed with the WJ-IV Tests of Achievement (WJ-IV ACH) and the WJ-IV Tests of Oral Language (WJ-IV OL). When used with some tests from the WJ-IV OL, clinical cluster scores in Auditory Memory Span (MS) and Vocabulary (VL/LD) scores can also be derived. A Brief Intellectual Ability is also available based on administration of the first three tests within the Standard Battery. Scoring is web-based.
Summary
Age: 2 years to 90+ years
Time to Administer: 35 minutes for the first seven tests in the Standard Battery. 5 minutes for each additional test.
Method of Administration: Individually administered, norm- referenced measure of cognitive abilities; Ten Standard Battery plus 8 Extended Battery subtests
Yields standard scores (M = 100, SD = 15), percentile ranks; relative proficiency index (RPI) scores; age and grade equivalents.
Web-based scoring
Subscales: Overall Composite Score: General Intellectual Ability
Other Composite And Cluster Scores: Brief Intellectual Ability; Gf-Gc Composite; Comprehension-Knowledge (Gc), Fluid-Reasoning (Gf), Short-Term Working Memory (Gwm), Cognitive Processing Speed (Gs), Auditory Processing (Ga), Long-Term Retrieval (Glr), Visual Processing (Gv), Cognitive Efficiency
Autism Related Research
None found. Though no autism-related research regarding utility or other aspects of using the WJ-IV: Cog for assessing persons with autism is yet available, the WJ-III NU Technical Manual (McGrew et al., 2007) presents data regarding the performance of 155 students with autism spectrum disorder within the normative sample and suggests that, in Cognitive domains, these students show low performance in Processing Speed and Working Memory.