Intellectual profile in school-aged children with borderline intellectual functioning

ackground: Little is currently known about borderline intellectual functioning (BIF), a condition characterized by an intelligence quotient between one and two standard deviations below the average, that affects about 14% of the population. Aims: The present study aimed to analyze the intellectual profile of school-aged children with BIF. Method and procedure: The WISC-IV was administered to 204 children with BIF attending Italian primary and lower secondary school, and their profile was compared with that of a control group of typically developing (TD) children. Results: The WISC-IV profile of the children with BIF differed from that of the TD children, and the former’s performance was worse than the latter’s in all the measures considered. The children with BIF also showed significant differences between the four main factor indices, scoring lowest for working memory, while the TD control group’s profile was flat (as expected on the grounds of standardization criteria). No differences were found between the profiles of children with versus without a comorbid neurodevelopmental disorder. Discussion: Our results support the hypothesis that individuals with BIF have a characteristic profile with specific weaknesses.