FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE WIDE-RANGE ASSESSMENT OF MEMORY AND LEARNING IN A CLINICAL POPULATION

The Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) factor struct ure is evaluated in a clinical sample of 323 children referred because of problems in school performance (M age 9.83 years, M grade 4.18, M FSIQ 95.03). Of these, 72% had attention deficits, whereas 8 to 35% ha d learning disabilities. Pairwise principal factor analyses with the M ontanelli and Humphreys criterion produced a three-factor solution tha t accounted for 36% of the variance: Factor 1 is a Visual Content fact or (four subtests), factor 2 is a Short-term Verbal factor (2 subtests ), and factor 3 is a Verbal Semantic/Strategic factor (2 subtests). '' Learning'' subtests did not separate out, and Sound-symbol did not loa d significantly an any factor. Solutions for the two age divisions of the test were highly similar. These findings are not consistent with t he WRAML factor structure reported by the test authors and suggest tha t alternative means of interpretation be considered. Modality-related and functional processing dimensions (strategic/nonstrategic, episodic /semantic) are recommended for clinical use in the evaluation of child ren's memory.