POSTSCRIPTS ON PREMORBID ABILITY ESTIMATION - CONCEPTUAL ADDENDA AND A FEW WORDS ON ALTERNATIVE AND CONDITIONAL APPROACHES

The estimation of premorbid ability levels has been debated for some t ime. Some of the difficult issues involved are reviewed here and comme nts provided on certain approaches, some of which tend to be popular f or reasons of convenience and false beliefs of their accuracy, and som e that are less well-known. Demographic estimation procedures in parti cular tend to fare better than believed in some research. An additiona l approach is recommended for further research, one that is equally ap plicable to children and adults, and that takes maximum advantage of t he known relationships among IQ and genetic and environmental variance in intellectual development. (C) 1997 National Academy of Neuropsycho logy. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.