A STUDY OF THE USE OF THE McCARTHY SCALES OF CHILDREN’S ABILITIES WITH IRISH CHILDREN

The McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale were administered to a sample of 200 children, chosen to be representative of Irish children aged between five and six years. When compared with the findings of previous studies, the Irish mean ability scores were similar to American mean scores but below those of English and Scottish samples. Sex and social class differences in McCarthy scale scores were somewhat greater in Ireland than in other countries. Some doubt surrounds the suitability of the McCarthy Motor and Quantitative scales for children on this side of the Adantic, though in general the test seems broadly suitable for use here.