Phyllis Tempest

Educational failure of nonwhites has been described as both cause and consequence of the association between joblessness, poverty, and ethnicity (Birch & Gussow, 1970). Birch and Gussow (1970) suggested that where children have been exposed to exceptional conditions of risk for biological insult and environmental trauma, the damage must be identified and these students provided with educational opportunities appropriate to their needs. Native Americans have been noted by Croft (1977) to exhibit lower achievement gains when compared to their class averages. Many Navajo students appear to graduate with limited basic skills and some do not graduate at all. According to 1980 McKinley County, New Mexico, Navajo Reservation statistics (Faiche, 1980), 33 percent of Reservation Navajos aged 16-19 years were not enrolled in any school and only 40 percent of those aged 25 years and older graduated from high school. These statistics suggest the need for appropriate intervention as advocated by Birch and Gussow (1970) so that Navajo students' achievement can correspond with their potential. This should in turn, break the cycle of limited basic skills leading to social, emotional, and physical impoverishment. It would be of great benefit then to develop a learning profile of average Navajo students and assess their overall strengths and needs so that intervention could be appropriate and specific. Such a learning profile would also aid in differentiating learning problems from cultural differences.

Teeter, Moore, and Peterson (1982) found that Navajo children, regardless of their specific learning deficits, scored lower than the standardization group on verbal subtests. They felt that the low verbal scores should be interpreted as reflecting divergent language, cultural, and experiential factors, rather than as a deficit in intellectual potential. They suggested that the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) Performance can be used as the least biased measure of potential for non-learning disabled children. Mishra (1981) stated that the WISC-R factor scores have little predictive utility for the Navajo. As McShane and Plas (1984) noted, further research focusing on American Indian WISC-R results and IQ-achievement relationships is vitally important to an effective understanding of the Indian child's academic life.

The purpose of this study was to develop a learning profile of an average Reservation Navajo student and to assess his/her overall strengths and needs in order to appropriately identify those needing academic intervention. The study also repeated Mishra's (1981) comparison of the Navajo students' Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) scores to their WISC-R Verbal, Performance and factor scores to determine the value of the WISC-R for the Navajo.

The Navajo people divide their Reservation into a number of geopolitically defined areas called Chapters. Eight Chapters are represented in public schools in the Gallup McKinley County School system in New Mexico. Via a stratified random sample, 222 Navajo fifth graders, from the Reservation, (60% of all fifth graders) with a mean age of 11 years and 2 months--11. 24; standard deviation (SD).86--were selected from these eight schools. No less than 50 percent and no more than 60 percent of the fifth graders were selected from each school. Fifth graders were chosen because they were considered to be familiar with the school routine, and at eleven years of age to be neurologically mature. Therefore, it was felt that the problem of separating a developmental lag from a learning disability was lessened. A committee composed of Indian Health Service employees and Tribal representatives granted permission to do the study and parental permission was granted to test the children and to view their medical records. All students were interviewed prior to their testing by Special Education personnel; the students were individually questioned as to their ties to their Navajo culture, their family (size, employment, and transportation), and their home environment (presence of running water, electricity, and television). To measure their language, they were asked the home language of their mother, their father, and each sibling; the student was also asked which language he/she spoke most often at school and at home. Their emotional environment was measured by divorce, parental rejection--the student was neglected to the degree that s(he) was below the third percentile in height and weight and neglect was noted on the medical record, alcoholism of a family member--a medical notation on the record, and death of a family member. School records were also reviewed. The WISC-R and the Human Figure Drawing (HFD) were administered to assess the students' ability to conceptualize visually. Visual processing ability was assessed by the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt (BVMGT), and the Visual Motor Integration (VMI) to complement their WISC-R Performance and HFD score. Achievement was assessed by the WRAT. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) a test of receptive language, was given to complement their WISC-R Vocabulary subtest score. The WISC-R Verbal, Performance, and factor patterns of Kau man (as cited in Mishra, 1981), Waugh and Bush (1971), and Bannatyne (1974) were used to determine the students' intellectual strengths and needs. The students' WISC-R factor scores were then correlated to their WRAT scores to determine the predictive achievement validity of the WISC-R. Only one of the eight schools had a significant number of non-Indian students (45%). The California Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) was routinely given to all fifth grade students. The CTBS scores of the Navajo (18) were compared to the non-Indian students (35) in the same classroom to determine how the Navajo achieve in relation to their fellow classmates.

The 222 students were divided into achiever and underachiever. Achievers had a WRAT grade score of 4.0, Standard Score (SS) 86 or above and underachievers had a WRAT grade score of 3.9, SS 85 or below. To get a more accurate picture of achievement in the average student and to determine the strengths and needs of this student, the 222 students were further divided by their WISC-R Performance, WRAT Reading, and BVMGT scores. Group I (achievers) consisted of those students who had an average WISC-R Performance, a BVMGT developmental age (da) of 8 years 1 month or above, and scored at grade 4.0, SS 86 or above on the WRAT, Group II (underachievers) were those who had an average WISC-R Performance score, a BVMGT da of 8 years 1 month or above and a WRAT grade score of 3.9, SS 85 or below. Groups I and II accounted for 160 of the students who had an average WISC-R Performance score and were relatively free of visual processing. Nineteen students had an average WISC-R Performance score and a BVMGT da below 8 years 1 month. The remaining 43 students had a below average WISC-R Performance score; they were slow learners or mentally handicapped according to the test.

The school nurse measured the height, weight, and head circumference, as well as far vision acuity via the Snellen and hearing acuity via the Puretone audiometer to determine how they compare in these areas to the general population. Because of absenteeism, only 218 students had their vision measured and 179 had their hearing assessed. The students' medical records were reviewed to assess their physical health--their number of hospitalizations and frequency and kind of illness; 179 of their medical records were located. The classroom teachers assessed the students as to their apparent motivation to learn and gave the CTBS. All other testing was done by five diagnosticians employed by the Special Education Department of the the Gallup McKinley County Schools; all testing was done according to standardized procedure. The data was processed by a statistician.

Cultural ties were determined by student interview and they will be presented first to depict how traditionally Navajo these students were, followed by specific test results and physical and environmental findings of the 222 and Groups I and H.

The students in the sample were generally Navajo speakers and their parents abided by many of the Navajo customs as seen in the following: 90% of the students spoke Navajo; 33% had parents who wore the traditional dress; 65% had parents who attended Chapter meetings; 72% had parents who went to a Medicine Man for healing; 57% had families who made Navajo crafts.

The sample had a WISC-R verbal mean score of 72.3 (sd 15.0), yielding a mental age of 8-1 and an expected grade achievement of 3.1. Their WISC-R Performance mean was 100 (sd 16.2), yielding a mental age of 11-2 and an expected grade achievement of 6.2. Their WISC-R Full mean was 84.1 (sd 15.1) with a mental age of 9-5 and an expected grade achievement of 4.5. The sample showed a significant difference of 27.7 points between their WISC-R Verbal and Performance scores.

The sample's mean WISC-R Verbal subtest scores were below the average scaled score range of 8 to 10; there was little intertest scatter (2.8 points). The sample's mean WISC-R Performance subtest scores were average with little intertest scatter (2.3 points; see Figure 1.)

WISC-R factor scores measure underlying commonalities that exist in the WISC-R subtests. Kaufman (as cited in Mishra, 1981) measured Verbal Comprehension by averaging the individual scaled scores for Vocabulary, Information, Similarities, and Comprehension. (The mean of all factor scores in the standardized group is 8 to 10). Perceptual Organization was based on the mean of Picture Completion, Picture Arrangement, and Object Assembly. Freedom from Distractibility was comprised of Arithmetic, Digit Span, and Coding.

The sample mean for Kaufman's factor scoring was Verbal Comprehension 5.2, Perceptual Organization 9.8, and Freedom from Distractibility 7.8.

Waugh and Bush (1971) had a factor score of Verbal Comprehension that was identical to that of Kaufman. Waugh and Bush also had factors of Conceptual comprised of Comprehension, Similarities, and Vocabulary; Sequencing comprised of Coding, Digit Span, and Picture Arrangement; Perceptual Organization comprised of Block Design and Object Assembly; Spatial comprised of Picture Completion, Block Design, and Object Assembly, and Freedom from Distractibility comprised of Arithmetic and Digit Span.

The sample mean for Waugh and Bush's factor scoring was Conceptual 5.2, Sequencing 8.5, Perceptual Organization 10.7, Spatial 10.2, and Freedom from Distractibility 6.4.

Bannatyne (1974) had four factors: Acquired Knowledge was measured by Information, Arithmetic, and Vocabulary; Sequencing was identical to Kaufman's Freedom from Distractibility; Spatial and Conceptual were similar to Waugh and Bush. Acquired Knowledge was not utilized in this study.

It seemed beneficial to have two Sequencing measures, a verbal group of Arithmetic and Digit Span (similar to Waugh and Bush's Freedom from Distractibility) and a nonverbal group of Picture Arrangement and Coding. When Sequencing is measured with a combination of verbal and nonverbal tasks, the results are skewed because the sample performed disproportionately poorly on the verbal tasks.

The 222 Navajo students had a mean score of grade 4. 1. SS 87 in reading a mean grade score of 3.9, SS 83 in Spelling. a mean grade score of 3,8, SS 78 in Arithmetic. There is a significant correlation between the sample's WRAT and WISC-R Verbal and Performance scores (see Table 1).

When the students were divided into Reading achievers (112) and underachievers (110), underachievers had significantly lower WISC-R Verbal (65) and Vocabulary (2.9) scores than the achievers (verbal 79, vocabulary 5.0). Underachievers and achievers had a significant difference between their Verbal and Performance scores (underachievers 29 points, achievers 26 points).

TABLE 1
WRAT and WISC-R Correlations-222 Navajo Fifth Graders

The average da of the 222 Navajo students on the HFD was I I - 1, indicating normal visual conceptualization ability.

The sample had a mean da of 10.7 on the VMI. Achievers scored significantly higher (p<.001) with a da of 11-3, while underachievers had a da of 10-0.

Koppitz (1975) scoring revealed a mean da of 9-1 for the sample.

The sample da on the PPVT was 7-6. Their WISC-R Vocabulary subtest age was identical to their PPVT age. Achievers were significantly higher (p<.001) with a da of 8-4 than underachievers who had a da of 6-8.

Classroom teachers rated the students as to their apparent motivation to learn. Sixty-six percent were seen as motivated. Achievers were more motivated (p<.001) than underachievers.

According to the classroom teachers 81% of the students attended school regularly. Achievers attended school more regularly than underachievers (p<.05).

Eighty-one percent of the students' medical records were located. Their mean birth weight was 6.9 pounds (sd 1. 22). Over time, the Navajo students became heavier than their non-Indian counterparts (see Figure 2).

The height and head size of the sample was similar to the rest of the population.

The sample had many illnesses and hospitalizations: 6% had malnutrition, 4% had meningitis, 7% had eye disease, 52% had chronic otitis media, 33% had pneumonia, 11% had anemia, 15% had gastro-enteritis, 38% had accidents or operations, 45% had been hospitalized. Achievement was significantly correlated with those who had fewer illnesses that required hospitalization (see Table 2).

There are more heavy Navajo students than expected p<.01.

TABLE 2
Relationship of Illness to Reading Achievement 179 Navajo Fifth Graders

Although 52% of the students had a history of chronic otitis media, only 2% of the students had abnormal hearing acuity. Twenty-four percent had Snellen readings of 20/50 or worse in at least one eye. There was no significant association between hearing loss or visual acuity and underachievement.

The sample showed the following physical environment: 88% had transportation, 75% had a television, 83% had electricity, 79% had an income. Only three students had none of the above and they fell into the underachievers group.

The sample showed the following emotional environment: 77% lived without divorce, 92% were not parentally rejected, 59% of the families were free of alcoholism, 93% did not experience the death of a family member. None of these factors were significantly correlated with achievement.

There were 98 achievers and 62 underachievers. Achievers had a significantly higher WISC-R Verbal score (80.40) than the underachievers (69.1) Nevertheless, achievers still had needs in verbal comprehension; conceptual, and verbal sequencing, and they had a significant 26-point difference between their verbal and performance scores (see Table 3).

Table 3
WRAT Reading Achiever and Underachiever and WISC-R Pattern Scores

Receptive language (PPVT) scores were significantly greater (p<.001) in the achiever (da 8-5) than the underachiever (da 7-1). Visual processing (VMI) was significantly higher in the achiever (p<.05; da 11-5) than the underachiever (da 10-9). There was no significant difference between the achiever and the underachiever in their HFD score.

There was no significant difference between the achiever and the underachiever in health. If achievement was redefined into low (grade 3, SS 85 and below) middle (grade 3.1, SS 77-grade 4.9, SS 93), and high (grade 5.0, SS 94 or above) there was a significant difference between high and low achievement and income (p<.05), as well as ear disease (p<.05).

Non-Indian achievement mean grade scores ranged from 6.5 to 7.0. Navajo achievement mean grade scores ranged from 4.2 to 6.2. The greatest difference between non-Indian and the Navajo was in reading (see Figure 3).

The results of this study produced an average Navajo learning profile to which other Reservation Navajo students can be compared. If Navajo students have difficulty learning and their profile is similar to the average Navajo, chances are the problem is related to cultural differences.

There is a similarity between the following test scores: the HFD and the WISC-R Performance (Correlation .32; p<.001); the VMI and the BVMGT (Correlation .40; p<.001). The test age scores for the PPVT and the WISC-R Verbal are similar, as are the scores of the HFD, BVMGT, VMI, and the WISC-R Performance.

Contrary to Mishra's findings (1981) that the WISC-R factor scores have little predictive utility, this sample's WISC-R factor scores are highly correlated with their WRAT scores.

The Navajo students had a 27.7 significant difference between their WISC-R Verbal and Performance score; Wechsler (1974) stated that a difference of 15 points between the WISC-R Verbal and Performance scores calls for further investigation. In general, the Navajo students had strengths in Spatial, Perceptual Organization and nonverbal Sequencing. They had marked needs in Conceptualization (auditory), Verbal Comprehension, and Verbal Sequencing. It may be that Freedom from Distractibility is not applicable to the Navajo in that they have difficulty with the verbal tasks that measure the factor. Bannatyne (1974) suggested that the learning disabled students' factor pattern of strength to needs is Spatial is greater than Conceptual which is greater than Sequencing. Zarske and Moore (1982) found a strength to need order for their Navajo sample that was similar to this sample--Spatial is greater than Sequencing, which is greater than Conceptual.

Even the achievers had needs in Conceptualization. Language stimulation, especially in the developing child is essential in aiding the child in storing, integrating, and retrieving information and all of these contribute to the ability to conceptualize (auditorily). Callaghan (as cited by Cattey, 1980) related how Caucasian mothers spoke to their babies continually, while Navajo mothers were silent, using their eyes to attract their babies' gaze. Stolworthy (1982) found that one of the taboos and behavior patterns for the Navajo is that they are not to be too verbal in the Navajo culture, only adults have the right to speak orally with group permission. These findings contradict Brandt's (1984) suggestion that there is little evidence for nonverbal child-rearing styles among the Indian.

There are a combination of factors then that may explain the Navajo students' difficulty in achieving: they must learn a second language; they have a high prevalence of chronic otitis media (ear disease) which Kaplan et al. (1973) associate with lowered verbal scores and when combined with a second language, compound the problem; their world at home is more visual than their world at school; they have multiple health and environmental needs.

McShane and Plas (1984) stated that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) cannot be overlooked as a possible contributor to learning difficulties experienced by many Indian children. The Navajo alcohol related morbidity rate is 5.4 times higher than the general (U.S.) population (May, 1986). May (1982) defines an additional problem, that of Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE), a milder form of prenatal alcohol damage. A student with FAE may not have the identifiable facial features of FAS and he/she may be seen as disinterested and/or hyperactive and go undiagnosed.

Motivation was associated with achievement. While it may seem that the teaching of basic skills should be the first priority, there is a prerequisite. Adelman and Taylor (1983) stated that the student must believe that the time and effort required to learn effectively and behave appropriately at school is worthwhile. If students are motivated to learn they can usually do more than anyone would predict possible. Conversely, if a student is not particularity interested in learning something, resultant learning may not be close to capability. Motivation is difficult for all students who are taught at a level wherein they cannot function. The Navajo students in this study achieved lower than their non-Indian counterpart in the same fifth-grade classroom. Interestingly the Navajo students' highest score on the CTBS was Spelling, but the CTBS Spelling test requires visual imagery, a strength of the Navajo noted by Cattey (1980), while the WRAT offers an auditory stimulus. Consequently, the Navajo CTBS score may be inflated and the teacher can easily overestimate their ability to spell, if the CTBS scores are not compared with their actual performance in the classroom or other spelling tests.

The students' environmental and health needs must be addressed, even though two variables--ear disease and income--were only statistically associated with high and low achievement. The students' parents were invited to discuss their students' strengths and needs, but there was a limited response. Nevertheless, energy must be spent to involve the parents in their children's schooling, so that the students the parents, and the school personnel have a common goal for the students and a combined effort is made to reduce the students' needs. In addition, the school curriculum must tap the strengths of the students, and teachers must be aware of the students' degree of need.

While these findings are representative of the Reservation Navajo students from the Gallup McKinley County area, they may reflect similarities of other Navajo Reservation students.

Adelman, H. & Taylor, L. (1983). Enhancing motivation for overcoming learning and behavior problems. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16(7), 383-391.

Bannatyne, A. (1974). Diagnosis: A note on recategorization of the WISC scaled scores. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16(7), 272-273.

Birch, H. & Gussow, J. (1970). Disadvantaged children health, nutrition and school failure. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.

Brandt, E. (1984). The cognitive functioning of American Indian children: A critique of McShane and Plas. The School Psychology Review, 13(l), 74, 81.

Cattey, M. (1980). Cultural differences in processing information. Journal of American Indian Education, 20(l), 23-29.

Croft, C. (1977). The first American: last in education. Journal of American Indian Education, 16(2), 15-19.

Faiche, R. (1980). Census report-general social & economic characteristics for McKinley County Reservation. Fort Defiance, Az. Tables 192, 193.

Kaplan, G., Fleshman, J., Bender, T., Baum, C., and Clark, P. (1973) Long term effects of otitis media, a ten year cohort study of Alaskan Eskimo children. U. S. Dept. of Health, Ed. Welfare, PHS. Pediatrics, 52(4), October, 577-584.

Koppitz, E. (1975). The bender gestalt for young children (Vol. 2). San Francisco: Gruen & Straton.

McShane, D. & Plas, J. (1984). The cognitive functioning of American Indian children: Moving from the WISC to the WISC-R. The School Psychology Review, 13(l), 61-73.

May, P. (1986). Alcohol and drug misuse prevention programs for American Indians needs and opportunities. The Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 47(3). Reprinted, The Provider, 11(8), 153-159.

May, P. & Hymbaugh, K. (1982/83). A pilot project on fetal alcohol syndrome among American Indians. Alcohol World; Health & Research, 7(2), 3-9.

Mishra, A. (198 1). Relationship of WISC-R factor scores to academic achievement and classroom behaviors of Native American Navajos. Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance, 14(1), 26-30.

Stolworthy, D. (1982). Navajo children and reading and the role of culture. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of New Mexico, Las Cruces, N.M.

Teeter, A., Moore, C., & Petersen, J. (1982). WISC-R verbal and performance abilities of Native American students referred for school learning problems. Psychology in the Schools, 19(l), 39-44.

Wechsler, D. (1974). WISC-R Manual. New York: The Psychological Corporation.

Waugh, K. & Bush, W. (1971). Diagnosing learning disorders. Ohio: Chas. E. Merrill.

Zarske, J., & Moore, C. (1982). Recategorized WISC-R scores of learning disabled Navajo children. Psychology In The Schools, 19, 156-159.