Research Implications: Intellectual and Special aptitudes of Tenth Grade Emh Students

Special aptitude scores of a group of 84 tenth-grade Educable Mentally Handicapped (EMH) students were obtained with the Nonreading Aptitude Test Battery (NATB) while intelligence was quantified with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). It was hypothesized that aptitudes would emerge from the NATB which would have been overlooked by sole reliance on the WISC-R. Low to moderate correlations between NATB and WISC-R scores prevented immediate extraction of aptitudes independent of intelligence but cross-tabulations of NATB aptitude scores across IQ levels revealed that students often scored at average or above levels on such NATB factors as Form Perception, Clerical Perception, Spatial, and Dexterity. It was concluded that EMH students possess a variety of special aptitudes which could broaden their vocational choice and dissipate the myths surrounding their place in the world of work.