The Leiter International Performance Scale–Revised (Leiter-R; Roid & Miller, 1997) is a new revision of the Leiter International Performance Scale (LIPS) and the Arthur Adaptation of the Leiter International Performance Scale (AALIPS). The LIPS, first published in 1929, was one of the original nonverbal measures of intelligence and has been used for more than 65 years. Grace Arthur renormed the test in 1950, although the items remained unchanged. Both the LIPS and the AALIPS used wooden blocks that were manipulated by children to match sequences of figures and pictures depicted on a wooden frame that would hold the reordered blocks. The Leiter-R is a nonverbal measure of intelligence, requiring no speaking or writing on the part of either the examiner or the test taker. For this reason, the test has been very popular for use with students with hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, communication disorders, and non–English-language backgrounds. Because the test’s authors regularly claim that the measure is culture free, it is popular for use with students whose acculturation differs from that of public-school students from the dominant culture.

Subtests

The Leiter-R is now available with stimulus items in easel format, and with lightweight, laminated response cards rather than wooden blocks. The test is now in color rather than the black-and-white format of earlier versions. The test is used with individuals 2-0 to 20-11 years of age; there is no indication of how long it takes to give the Leiter-R. The test measures intellectual performance in four domains: Reasoning, Visualization, Memory, and Attention. It includes the following 20 subtests.

Reasoning

• Classification. This subtest assesses skill in categorization of objects or geometric designs.
• Sequencing. This test measures skill in identifying the stimulus that comes next in a sequence.
• Repeated Patterns. Students must identify which of several stimuli fill in missing parts in repeated sequences of pictures or figures.
• Design Analogies. Students must identify geometric shapes that complete matrix analogies.

Visualization (Spatial)

• Matching. Testees must match response cards to easel pictures.
• Figure–Ground. Students must identify designs embedded in complex backgrounds.
• Form Completion. Students are given randomly displayed parts of designs and must select the whole design from several alternatives.
• Picture Context. Students must use visual-context clues to identify a part of a picture that has been removed from a larger picture.
• Paper Folding. This test measures skill in viewing an unfolded object in two dimensions and then matching it to a picture of the whole object.
• Figure Rotation. Students must identify rotated pictures of original nonrotated objects.

Memory

• Immediate Recognition. Students are shown five pictures or figures for five seconds, and after these items are removed and re-presented, students must identify the one item that is missing.
• Delayed Recognition. After a 20-minute delay, students must identify the objects presented in the Immediate Recognition subtest.
• Associated Pairs. Students are shown pairs of objects for five to ten seconds, and after the objects are removed, students must make meaningful associations for each pair.
• Delayed Pairs. This is a 20-minute delay measure of the items in the Associated Pairs subtest.
• Forward Memory. Students must remember pictured objects to which the examiner points and must repeat the sequence in which the examiner points to the objects.
• Reversed Memory. The examiner points to pictures or figures in order, and the student must point to the same pictures in reverse order.
• Spatial Memory. The student is shown increasingly complex stimulus displays, arranged in matrix format, and the student must then place cards in order on a blank matrix display.
• Visual Coding. This is a nonverbal task requiring matching of pictures and geometric objects to numbers.

Attention

• Attention Sustained. Students are given large numbers of stimuli and must identify those that are alike. They mark all squares containing a geometric shape. There are three parallel forms of increasing difficulty for ages 2–5, 6–10, and 11–21.
• Attention Divided. Students must divide attention between a moving display of pictures and the sorting of playing cards.

Scores

Several scores are available for the Leiter-R, including full-scale IQ, brief screening IQ, brief ADHD screening score, brief gifted screening score, and scaled scores for the Reasoning, Visualization, Memory, and Attention subtests. In addition, scaled scores can be obtained for each subtest, and all scaled scores can be converted to age- and grade-equivalent scores.

Norms

Restandardization of the Leiter-R took place between 1993 and 1995. The test was tried out by 60 field researchers on 550 so-called typical children, of whom 325 either had communication disorders or cognitive impairments or spoke English as a second language. Based on the performance of these students, 17 subtests were retained, and items were redesigned. The final version of the test was standardized on 1,800 children considered "normal" and 725 children and adolescents designated clinical/atypical, stratified on the basis of gender, race, parent educational level, and geographic region, using data from the 1993 census. The authors show that the percentages in various gender, race, and other categories closely match the 1993 census data, but no cross-tabulations are presented.

Reliability

The authors provide extensive information about the reliability of the Leiter, and for each kind of reliability they provide a good description of the sample. Internal-consistency reliability coefficients are provided for the Visualization/Reasoning Battery, the Attention/Memory Battery, and the Attention/Memory Battery Special Diagnostic Scales. Fewer than half the coefficients are above .80. Reliabilities are also provided for IQ and composite scores. Most of these exceed .80. The subtests have limited application in making important decisions about individuals. IQs and composite scores are more reliable for this purpose. Evidence is also provided for test–retest reliability. Coefficients are high for composites and (except above age 11) low for subtests.

Validity

Evidence of content validity is based on mapping of the test to theoretical models of intelligence presented by Gustafson (1984) and by Carroll (1993). Evidence of criterion-related validity was based on the performance of diagnostic groups. Representative mainstream students earned an average brief IQ of 101, severely hearing-impaired students averaged 94, students with severe cognitive disabilities averaged 56, students who were gifted and talented averaged 115, and ESL students averaged 95. In addition, the Leiter brief IQ correlated .83 with full-scale IQs on the WISC-III and the original Leiter. Studies of correlations with other batteries are underway.

Evidence of construct validity is based on completion of factor analyses showing a match between the scale and the theoretical model that guided its development. In addition, the authors argue that demonstration of comparable performance across several racial groups is evidence of construct validity.

Summary

The Leiter-R is a measure of intelligence that requires no verbalization on the part of the examiner or the examinee. The test measures intellectual skill development in four domains. The test is adequately standardized, and there is good evidence that IQs and composite scores are reliable. Reliabilities of subtests are too low for use in making diagnostic decisions about individuals.