Subtest profiles of the WISC-R and WAIS in mentally retarded patients with epilepsy.

The team gave WISC-R or WAIS IQ tests to people who had both intellectual disability and epilepsy. They looked at which subtests were hardest for this group.

The goal was to see if the epilepsy added extra cognitive weaknesses beyond the ID alone.

Coding and Digit Span were the weakest scores. These two tasks need fast attention and short-term memory.

The pattern hints that seizures, or the drugs that treat them, may further tax attention systems.

Pulina et al. (2019) also saw a working-memory dip in kids with borderline IQ, but without epilepsy. The same weak spot shows up across ID severity, so the double hit of ID plus epilepsy may deepen an already fragile area.

Kittler et al. (2004) found that females with ID score higher on Coding than males. Because Rasing et al. (1992) did not split results by sex, clinicians should check if the low Coding score is partly a sex effect, not just epilepsy.

Busch et al. (2010) extended the profile idea by adding autism: adults with ID, epilepsy, and ASD had the most behavior problems. If your client also has ASD, expect both attention test lows and higher rates of challenging behavior.

When you see rock-bottom Coding and Digit Span during an ID evaluation, think beyond "general delay." Ask about seizure history and current drugs. Share the pattern with the medical team; attention-friendly AEDs or seizure control might protect the skills these subtests tap. Use extra prompts, visual aids, or shorter work periods in sessions to offset the attention gap.