Senior South African Individual Scale – Revised (SSAIS-R)

R. van Eeden

The SSAIS-R is an intelligence scale that is only administered individually. The scale consists of 11 tests, namely:

Verbal tests

• Vocabulary;
• Comprehension;
• Similarities;
• Number Problems;
• Story Memory;

• Memory for Digits.

Non-verbal tests

• Pattern Completion;
• Block Designs;
• Missing Parts;
• Form Board;

• Coding.

The SSAIS-R is used to obtain a differential picture of certain cognitive abilities. Scores are provided for a Verbal, a Nonverbal and a Full Scale, while the skills measured by the different tests include learning ability, general knowledge, judgement, concentration, spatial perception, basic perceptual and concept-forming abilities and visual motor skills. An indication of global intelligence can also be obtained with a reduced form of the scale (compiled of Similarities, Number Problems, Block Designs and Missing Parts).

The profile of intellectual abilities can be used for counselling and as a clinical and diagnostic aid.

Norms

The SSAIS-R has been developed for Afrikaans-speaking and English-speaking South African learners aged 7 years 0 months to 16 years 11 months. Socio-economic deprivation, however, has a negative influence on performance on the SSAIS-R that is difficult to determine.

Tables of norms for a non-environmentally disadvantaged norm group are provided in Part III: Tables of norms. These tables of norms can be used for English speaking and Afrikaans-speaking 7- to 16-year-old South African learners who may be classified as non-environmentally disadvantaged. If the tester is unsure whether a learner is disadvantaged or not, the Socio-economic Deprivation Questionnaire (SED Questionnaire) can be used to obtain an index of the learner’s socio-economic status.

A second set of tables of norms is provided in an appendix to the manual. (Item no 3011).The test user can use these tables of norms if he wishes to compare the performance of a learner on the SSAIS-R with the performance of non-environmentally disadvantaged, as well as environmentally disadvantaged learners of the same age. These tables of norms can be used for South African learners with English or Afrikaans as mother tongue, irrespective of socio-economic status. It is recommended that these tables of norms be used only if the majority of the learners, who are tested by a test user, are environmentally disadvantaged. (This appendix to the manual does not form part of the SSAIS-R Complete Set and should be purchased separately: Item no 3011)

The SSAIS-R is a point scale with deviation scores. With the exception of the Vocabulary Test, norms per age intervals were jointly calculated for English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking learners. Raw score totals of the tests are converted by means of norm tables, to normalized scaled scores with a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3. The sum of the scaled scores of Tests 1 to 5, Tests 6 to 9, the nine tests together and Tests 3, 4, 7 and 8, are converted, by means of norm tables into verbal IQ scores, non-verbal IQ scores and global IQ scores, as well as global IQ scores for the abbreviated scale respectively, each with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.  To use the reduced form of the SSAIS-R, consult Appendix 2 to the Manual of the SSAIS-R: Reduced Form of the SSAIS-R. (Item no 3333) This item is not included in the Complete Set and should be purchased separately.

Two studies were done on the validity of the SSAIS-R for children whose mother tongue is an African Language. The studies were done on 14-15 year old learners from Private Schools (1993) and Model C schools (1997). The results of the studies are available in:

The validity of the SSAIS-R for children whose mother tongue is an African language: Private Schools (1993)    Item no 3413

The validity of the SSAIS-R for children whose mother tongue is an African language: Model C Schools (1997)   Item no 3494