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Wechsler Memory Scale – Fourth Edition (WMS-IV)

The most widely used scale of adult memory has been revised and enhanced to provide you with the most advanced measure and results you can trust.

At a Glance:

  • Scores: Contrast Scores
  • Qualification level: C-Level
  • Publication Date: 2009
  • Ages / Grades: 16:0 to 90.11 years

Product Summary

Overview

Read about the new Flexible Approach!

In recognition of emerging demographic and clinical trends, the WMS—IV was developed to provide you with the most advanced measure of memory and results you can trust when addressing the changing clinical landscape.

Responding to influencing factors:

Changing Demographics

  • Updated normative data for ages 16-90 years
  • Enhanced utility for older adults

Emerging Clinical Needs

  • New clinical studies

New Research in the Field

  • Newly developed subtests and items

Increase Caseload

  • Reduced administration time to obtain composite scores
  • Improved scoring rules

4 Revision Goals

  • Expanded clinical utility
  • Enhanced user-friendliness
  • Improved psychometric properties
  • Updated test structure

Features & Benefits

Expanded Clinical utility

Enhanced User Friendliness

  • Included a brief older adult battery
  • Reduced subtest administration time
  • Minimized visual motor demands
  • Assessed working memory
  • Modified story content and administration process

Improved Psychometric Properties

  • Updated norms
  • Improved floors
  • Improved subtest and composite reliability
  • Reduced item bias


Areas of Assessment

Updated Test Structure

The WMS-IV has had significant changes to the overall test structure. Based on feedback from customers, we are introducing four new subtests and modifying three existing subtests.

4 subtests were added:

  • Spatial Addition
  • Symbol Span
  • Design Memory
  • General Cognitive Screener

3 subtests retained with modifications:

  • Logical Memory
    Although the stories remain the same as seen in WMS-III for ages 16-69 years old, the repetition trial for Story B has been dropped to increase the consistency with previous editions. For the older age range of 65-90 years old, a new story was developed with content more relevant. The story is shorter and repeated once to enable adequate floor through age 90. You can obtain immediate versus delay and recognition versus delay contrast scores.
  • Verbal Paired Associates
    It now includes a combination of difficult and easy items. For the younger age group (16-69 years) there are 14 items of which 10 are hard. For the older age group (65-90 years), there are 10 items of which six are hard. Delayed Free Recall Trial has been added while Recognition Trial has increased its level of difficulty. You can obtain immediate versus delay and recognition versus delay contrast scores.
  • Visual Reproduction
    While following the same structure and format as seen in WMS-III, there have been a few changes to the subtest. Recognition Trial has been shortened and scoring has been improved. Based on Munro Cullum’s research, scoring is easier and faster than previously experienced and emphasizes recall with less focus on drawing accuracy. You can obtain immediate versus delay and recognition versus delay contrast scores.

8 subtests were eliminated:

  • Information & Orientation
  • Spatial Span
  • Mental Control
  • Faces
  • Digit Span
  • Family Pictures
  • Letter Number
  • Word List (CVLT-II can be entered into Index)


What's New

Spatial Addition

Based on “N-Back Paradigm”, Spatial Addition requires minimal motor function as the client must:

  • Remember location of dots on two separate pages
  • Add or subtract locations
  • Hold and manipulate visual spatial information

Symbol Span

A “Visual analog to Digit Span”, clients are asked to remember the design and the left to right sequence of the design. The clients are then asked to select the correct design from foils and choose them in the correct sequence.


No more motor requirements

Design Memory

Containing four items of increasing difficulty, Design Memory evaluates immediate and delayed recall as well as delayed recognition. It does not include drawing and reduces the opportunity to guess the correct response. You can obtain scores for spatial, details, and correct content in the correct location as well as contrast scores for spatial versus detail, immediate versus delayed, and recognition versus delayed.


Obtain scores for spatial, details, and correct content in the correct location.

Cognitive Screener

This new screener can be used to quickly evaluate significant cognitive impairment. You can assess:

  • Temporal orientation
  • Mental control
  • Clock drawing
  • Memory
  • Inhibitory control
  • Verbal productivity

Also available are classification tables that translate total scores into Average, Low, Moderately low, and Very low.

NEW!
WMS–IV Flexible Approach

For use with the WMS-IV kit, new materials and data are now available that enable more flexible assessment based on individual client needs and examiner preferences.

  • New record form and corresponding normative data allow brief administration and generation of alternative memory indexes.
  • Additional new record form and corresponding normative data enable administration of new supplemental subtests (Logos and Names). The subtests provide an alternative memory index that eliminates motor demands on clients.
  • Applicable normative information is available for all current WMS–IV users at no charge via a software update for scoring and reporting software users or via an electronic norms disk for non-software users.

Read the WMS–IV Flexible Approach Information Sheet

Read the WMS-IV Flexible Approach Case Studies

The WMS-IV offers a number of subtest configurations that yield Immediate, Delayed, Visual and Auditory Memory Index scores. The combinations of subtests reflect the desire to reduce administration time and to address specific clinical situations (e.g., limited motor ability).

WMS-IV Batteries

The Standard WMS-IV: This consists of the 7 primary subtests that comprise the full WMS-IV battery and provide coverage for all the memory indexes.

The OAA* Battery: The OAA battery was developed in the standard WMS-IV as a shorter battery for use with older adults ages 65 to 90. This battery configuration was made available for examinees ages 16 through 69 in the WMS-IV Flex. The OAA battery uses LM, VR, and Verbal Paired Associates (VPA) to derive Immediate, Delayed, Auditory, and Visual Indexes.

The LMVR and LMDE* Batteries:
Two shorter alternative batteries were developed: LMVR, consisting of Logical Memory (LM) and Visual Reproduction (VR), and LMDE, consisting of Logical Memory and Designs (DE). LM and VR are the most frequently used subtests in the previous editions of the WMS and provide coverage for all the memory indexes. The second configuration of LM and DE retains the
content coverage with reduced motor demands.

The VRLO and LONA Batteries:
The last set of alternate batteries focuses on using supplemental subtests for assessing visual memory, which is a difficult construct to measure. During the development of the WMS-IV, two additional memory subtests were created: Logos (LO) and Names (NA). These two subtests provide optional measures of visual memory with the understanding that auditory memory functioning will also affect performance on these tests.

*LMDE and OAA batteries can be collected using standard WMS-IV record forms and an accompanying worksheet provided in the WMS-IV Flexible Manual.




Scoring & Reporting

Overview

  • Scores are now derived for Older Adult Battery (65–90) and Adult Battery (16–69)
  • Ability / Memory Discrepancy Scores (for use with WAIS–IV)
  • Index Scores
    • Auditory Memory
    • Visual Memory
    • Visual Working Memory
    • Immediate Memory
    • Delayed Memory
  • NEWContrast Scores (PPT - 268 KB)
    • Scaled scores contrasting performance across scores
    • Provide information on clinical significance of changes in scores across subtests or indexes

WMS-IV Scoring Assistant

View a sample copy of the Scoring Report to accompany WMS-IV

WMS-IV Report Writer

  • Click here for a sample interpretive report from the WMS-IV Report Writer (male/21 years)
  • Click here for a sample interpretive report from the WMS-IV Report Writer (female/62 years)

Details & Pricing

Products


Wechsler Memory Scale – Fourth Edition (WMS-IV)
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-800WMS-IV Basic Kit - Includes Administration and Scoring Manual, Technical Manual, Stimulus Book #1, Stimulus Book #2, 25 Adult Record Forms, 25 Older Adult Record Forms, 25 Response Booklets, Design and Spatial Addition Card Set, Scoring Template and Memory Grid$743.00
015-8896-009WMS-IV Soft Case Kit$805.00
015-889-6300Flexible Approach Kit - For use with the WMS-IV kit - Includes materials necessary to use the WMS–IV Flexible Approach: 25 WMS–IV Flexible Approach Record Forms, 25 WMS–IV Supplemental Record Forms, WMS–IV Supplemental Stimulus Book, and Electronic Administration and Norms Manual on CD$164.00

Accessories


WMS-IV Manuals
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-819WMS-IV Administrative Manual$162.00
015-8895-827WMS-IV Technical Manual$162.00

WMS-IV Stimulus Books
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-835WMS-IV Stimulus Book #1$138.00
015-8895-843WMS-IV Stimulus Book #2$138.00
015-8896-335WMS-IV Flexible Approach Supplemental Stimulus Book$103.50

WMS-IV Record Forms
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-851WMS-IV Record Forms - Adult (Ages 16-69) - Package of 25$81.00
015-8895-86XWMS-IV Record Forms - Older Adult (Ages 65-90) - Package of 25$60.50
015-8896-319WMS-IV Flexible Approach Record Forms - 25 per package (Supports LMVR Battery)*$31.00
015-8896-327WMS-IV Supplemental Record Forms - 25 per package 25 per package (Supports VRLO and LONA Batteries)$30.75

WMS-IV Response Booklets
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-908WMS-IV Response Booklets - Package of 25$45.50

WMS-IV Card Sets
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-924WMS-IV Spatial Add Card Set$18.25
015-8895-932WMS-IV Complete Card Set - Includes Design Card Set and Spatial Addition$70.00

WMS-IV Scoring Template
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-940WMS-IV Scoring Template$12.00

WMS-IV Design Set Cards
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-916WMS-IV Design Set Cards - Set A-D$53.00
015-8895-959WMS-IV Design Set Cards - TCH EX$2.20
015-8895-967WMS-IV Design Set Cards - Set A$8.60
015-8895-975WMS-IV Design Set Cards - Set B$12.75
015-8895-983WMS-IV Design Set Cards - Set C$12.75
015-8895-991WMS-IV Design Set Cards - Set D$16.90

Combo Sets


WAIS-IV & WMS-IV Combo Kits
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8895-878WAIS IV/ WMS IV Combo – Basic/Basic Kit$1,730.00
015-8895-886WAIS IV/ WMS IV Combo – Hard/Basic Kit$1,799.00
015-8895-894WAIS IV/ WMS IV Combo – Soft/Basic Kit$1,777.00
015-8896-033WAIS IV/ WMS IV Combo – Soft/Soft Kit$1,848.00
015-8896-041WAIS IV/ WMS IV Combo – Hard/Soft Kit$1,858.00
015-8896-084WAIS IV/ WMS IV Combo – Basic/Soft Kit$1,790.00
015-8896-173WAIS IV Basic Kit + WAIS IV Scoring Assistant$1,399.00
015-8896-181WAIS IV Hard Kit + WAIS IV Scoring Assistant$1,469.00
015-8896-19XWAIS IV Soft Kit + WAIS IV Scoring Assistant$1,459.00

Software


WMS-IV Scoring Assistant
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8896-017WMS-IV Scoring Assistant$296.00

WMS-IV Report Writer
QtyCodeNamePrice
015-8896-092WMS-IV Report Writer$499.00
015-8896-211Upgrade from WMS-IV Scoring Asst to WMS-IV Report Writer - for current users of WAIS-IV/WMS-IV Scoring Assistant$205.00