LEITER INTERNATIONAL

PERFORMANCE SCALE-THIRD
EDITION

By Maria Barta and Lori

Holloway

LEITER-3
The Leiter-3 is an individual-administered test designed to
assess cognitive functions in children, adolescents, and adults
ages 3 years, 0 months, to 75+ years. The test includes
measures of nonverbal intelligence in fluid reasoning and
visualization, as well as appraisals of nonverbal memory,
attention, and cognitive interference.
The goal of revising this instrument was to:
Construct a reliable and valid nonverbal measure of intellectual
ability, and memory and attention, that could be used to
assess children, adolescents, and adults who could not be
reliably and validly assessed with traditional intelligence tests

LEITER-3-WHO CAN
ADMINISTER?
Graduate-level training in intellectual assessment
Psychologists
Occupational therapists
Educational Diagnosticians
Speech and Language Patholigists

LEITER-3
Rationale for the Design of the Leiter-3
There were four primary issues which highlighted the need for the
Leiter-3
1. Need to Early Identification of Cognitive Delays
2. Need for measurement of Small Increments of Improvement in
Cognitive Ability
3. Need for a Reliable and Valid Scale of Intelligence Regardless of
Language or Motor Ability
4. Need for Transition Planning for Entering World of Work

LEITER-3
Some of the group of individual for whom the Leiter-3 was specially
developed include those with:
Significant Communication Disorders
Autism
Cognitive Delay
Dominance in a Language other than English
Learning Disabilities
Hearing Impairments
Attention-Deficit Disorder
Motor Impairments
Traumatic Brain Injury
Various adults brain disorders including Alzheimers, Parkinsons,

LEITER-3
Designed to be a completely non-verbal instrument
Primary method used for communication is pantomime.
Instructions consist of a combination of hand and head movements,
facial expressions, and demonstrations.
Each subtest includes a teaching trial as the first item for every
age group to help the examiner nonverbally explain what is
required.

LEITER-3

The Leiter-3 includes two groups of subtests:

1. Cognitive Battery with five subtests of nonverbal

intellectual ability related to visualization and reasoning.
Only four subtests are needed for measuring Nonverbal IQ
which can be administered in approximately 45 minutes (30
minutes for younger or lower functioning individuals)
2. Attention/Memory Battery with five subtests including
two nonverbal attention subtests, one new interference
(Stroop) subtest, and two memory subtests. The five
subtests can be administered in 30 minutes. The
Attetion/Memory (A/M) Battery can be added (or used
separately) to provide nonverbal measures for various
cognitive deficits to aid in clinical and neuropsychological
assessment. Also included and Examiner Rating Scale, which
provides multiple, scaled measures of test-session behavior.

LEITER-3 MATERIALS

Stimulus Book
Comprehensive
Easel Book
Manipulatives
Printed Materials

LEITER-3 THE COGNITIVE

BATTERY

1. Figure Ground (FG): Identification of embedded figures, or

designs, within a complex stimulus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lj6Y6-Djo8
2. Form Completion (FC): Ability to recognize a whole object
from a randomly-displayed array of its fragmented parts.
3. Classification/Analogies (CA): Combines two subtests from
the Leiter-R-Classification and Design Analogies. The subtest begins
with tasks that measure categorization of objects or geometric
designs. This is followed (age 6 and above) by classical matrix
analogies items using geometric shapes.

LEITER-3 THE COGNITIVE

BATTERY
CONTINUE..
4. Sequential Order (SO): Logical progressions of pictorial or

figural objects; selection of related stimuli that progress in a

corresponding order. This subtest includes several of the
classic, original Leiter items

5. Visual Patterns (VP): Optional Combines two subtest from

the Leiter-R- Matching and Repeated Patterns. For ages 3-5:
Discrimination and matching of visual stimuli; selection of
Response Blocks or manipulative shapes that match Easel
stimuli. For ages 6-75+: Patterns of pictorial or figural objects
which are repeated (e.g., apple, banana, apple, banana,). The
individual supplies missing portion of pattern by moving
Response Blocks into alignment with Easel.

LEITER-3 THE
ATTENTION/MEMORY
6.BATTERY
Attention Sustained (AS): Measure consists of boring clerical
tasks such as finding, and crossing-out, all squares found in an array

of geometric shapes printed on a page. Three parallel forms, of

increasing difficulty, are included: a preschool smiling face form, an
animal pictures form and a more complex array of geometric shapes.
7. Forward Memory (FM): Ability to remember a sequence of
pictured objects to which the examiner points in a given sequence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm5MH56Jq3Q
8. Attention Divided (AD): This subtest measures the degree of
perseverative attention when divided attention is demanded. The
materials include red and yellow Bowls, red and yellow foam
Manipulatives, and Sorting Cards. The individual is required to place
colored foam circles in the corresponding (matching) colored Bowl,
while also slapping only red triangles on the Sorting Cards, as they
are flipped over by the examiner at one card per second.

LEITER-3 THE
ATTENTION/MEMORY
BATTERY
9. Reverse Memory (RM): Ability to remember a sequence of
pictured objects in opposite order from that in which the examiner
pointed. This subtest provides an important contrast to Forward
Memory, just as forward and backward digits do.
10. Nonverbal Stroop (NS): Tests for cognitive process and
neuropsychological deficits, as well as cognitive interference
processes. Two sets of paper-and-pencil matching tasks look for a
difference between the congruent trial (where each pair of colors is
identical) and the, usually slower, incongruent trail (where each
pair of colors is different, and the examinee matches the correct
color with a small white mark on the targeted color-circle).

LEITER-3 SCORING
For most of the subtests, responses are scored 0 for fail or
incorrect and 1 for pass or correct
Each subtest has a stop rule. Depending on the test, the stop rule
can range from 5-7 cumulative errors. The stop rule is based on
the cumulative responses failed, not consecutive.
Each response is scored, not just the complete sequence. Partial
completion of a sequence will be credited for most subtests.
The raw score for each subtest is calculated by adding the correct
responses 1 for the entire subtest.

RELIABILITY-INTERNAL
CONSISTENCY
To determine reliability, both classical test-theory and itemresponse theory approaches were used.
Figures 6.1 and 6.2 show the internal consistency estimate for both
the cognitive battery and A/M subtests.

RELIABILITY: TEST-RETEST
DIFFERENCES

REFERENCE:
Leiter-3 Manual by Gale H. Roid, Ph, D., Lucy J.
Miller, Ph. D., Mark Pomplun, Ph. D. and Chris
Koch, Ph. D.
www.StoeltingCo.com