Reitan Battery and the Wide Range
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Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech Digital Commons Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School Summer 2007 Examining the ability of the Halstead -Reitan Battery and the Wide Range Achievement Test to utilize severity in discriminating among Alzheimer's dementia patients Gina Gibson-Beverly Louisiana Tech University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/dissertations Part of the Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons, and the School Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Gibson-Beverly, Gina, "" (2007). Dissertation. 492. https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/dissertations/492 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Louisiana Tech Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Louisiana Tech Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EXAMINING THE ABILITY OF THE HAL STEAD-REITAN BATTERY AND THE WIDE RANGE ACHIEVEMENT TEST TO UTILIZE SEVERITY IN DISCRIMINATING AMONG ALZHEIMER’S DEMENTIA PATIENTS by Gina Gibson-Beverly, MS A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy COLLEGE OF EDUCATION LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY August 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3270943 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. 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LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY THE GRADUATE SCHOOL _________July 20, 2006____________ Date We hereby recommend that the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Gina Gibson-Beverly__________________________________________________________________________ entitled EXAMINING THE ABILITY OF THE HALSTEAD-REITAN BATTERY AND THE WIDE RANGE ACHIEVEMENT TO UTILIZE SEVERITY IN DISCRIMINATING AMONG ALZHEIMER’S DEMENTIA PATIENTS be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy tpervMr o f Dissertation Research Head o f Department Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Department Recom m endation concurred in: Advisory Committee Approved^ Approved; Director of/Oradnate Studies Dean of the Gradulfe School Dev! o f the College GS Form 13a (6/07) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract Measuring change in cognitive status is essential for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of brain dysfunction. Psychological abilities are differentially affected by brain dysfunction severity, as some abilities are more vulnerable to brain dysfunction than others. Neuropsychological assessments can be viewed as a continuum of “hold” and “don’t hold” tests. “Hold” tests assess abilities that remain stable in spite of brain dysfunction, while “don’t hold” tests measure skills that are significantly compromised by brain impairment. The present study ranks the Halstead-Reitan Battery (HRB) and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) subtests based on their ability to discriminate between two levels of severity in an Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) sample. Subtest rankings showed pronounced sex differences, suggesting that test performance is influenced by severity and sex. There appears to be a distinct neuropsychological profile associated with AD. Overall, results indicate that the WRAT is clearly a moderate “don’t hold” test implying that the WRAT cannot be a good estimator of premorbid functioning, as it is moderately related to severity. Use of the WRAT to estimate previous abilities in AD patients would be unwise and would likely underestimate premorbid levels. The HRB is a combination of “hold” and “don’t hold” subtests, which are directly related to the physiology of the disease process. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Abstract.............................................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction................................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem...................................................................................................... 6 Justification..............................................................................................................................7 Literature Review....................................................................................................................9 Historical Methods of Quantifying Change ...................................................................... 9 Reading as a “Hold” Ability................................................................................... 17 Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT)............................................................. 21 Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (HRB)........................................24 Gender Differences on the HRB ............................................................................29 Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) ...................................................................................... 30 Hypotheses............................................................................................................................ 41 Hypothesis One......................................................................................................... 43 Hypothesis One-A......................................................................................... 43 Hypothesis One-B......................................................................................... 43 Hypothesis One-C..........................................................................................43 Hypothesis One-D......................................................................................... 43 Hypothesis One-E..........................................................................................44 Hypothesis Two........................................................................................................44 Hypothesis Three .....................................................................................................44 Hypothesis Four........................................................................................................45 Chapter Two: Method .................................................................................................................... 46 Participants............................................................................................................................ 46 Instrumentation.................................................................................................................... 49 Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE)........................................................................ 49 Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT)............................................................49 Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (HRB)........................................52 HRB subtests...................................................................................................59 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Procedure...............................................................................................................................66 Data Analysis........................................................................................................................ 66 Hypotheses.............................................................................................................................69