THE SHORT NART - UTILITY IN A MEMORY DISORDERS CLINIC

Beardsall & Brayne (1990) have introduced a method for estimating full -length National Adult Reading Test (NART) scores using the scores on the first half of the test only. They suggest that this is appropriate for subjects who are of low reading ability and might otherwise find testing distressing. Crawford, Parker, Allan, Jack & Morrison (1991) h ave subsequently explored the accuracy with which Short NART predicted full NART scores and in addition WAIS IQ scores in a large cross-vali dation sample. They concluded that the Short NART could be used with m odest confidence when estimating premorbid IQ. However, when applied t o 202 consecutive referrals to this Memory Disorders Clinic, the accur acy with which the Short NART predicted full NART error scores was les s satisfactory. Results indicated that discrepancies between Short NAR T and full NART error scores were outside the bounds of both clinical and statistical acceptability. Examination of these results revealed t hat one possible source of difficulty lay in variation in the accuracy with which words are pronounced. It is concluded that, despite the ap peal of a shortened version of the NART to estimate premorbid IQ, with out further modification its use in clinical practice cannot be recomm ended.