Psychological evaluation includes among its variants the evaluation of intelligence, and this has been especially important in the field of childhood. Here We will talk about the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children
This evaluates not only the child’s knowledge, but also how he processes information, that is, his processing style, which can be sequential or simultaneous. Let’s know the characteristics of the battery and what components it evaluates.
The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, also called K-ABC, was designed by Kaufman and Kaufman in 1983.
It includes a series of tests that measure intelligence and academic performance It is applied to children between 2.6 and 12.5 years old, and its theoretical foundation is based on cognitive and neuropsychological models.
This battery is interested in the style and type of processing of the subject rather than the final result. That is, it focuses above all on information processing.
The subscales included in the battery are five: sequential processing, simultaneous processing, mental processing, knowledge and the non-verbal scale Let’s get to know them in detail.
Battery scales
The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children includes two types of global scales. Let’s see what they are.
1. Mental processing
Measures intellectual functioning, that is, the type of information processing that the subject uses. This encompasses two types of processing: sequential and simultaneous. The scale represents the integration of these two processing styles.
Its measurement provides a good global estimate of mental processing capacity or intelligence; According to the authors themselves, “intelligence is complex and, probably, the most intelligent behaviors result from an integration of sequential and simultaneous processes.”
1.1 Sequential processing
Measures the child’s ability to solve problems whose elements are presented successively, one after another. The stimuli are temporally and linearly related to the preceding ones. This type of processing is made up of three subtests, and requires analytical, successive or serial skills.
1.2. Simultaneous processing
Evaluate the subject’s ability to synthesize the information necessary to solve the problems presented The different stimuli must be integrated and synthesized, simultaneously, to reach the appropriate solution.
It is made up of 7 subtests and requires holistic or gestalt skills.
2. Academic knowledge
This scale evaluates the knowledge and skills acquired at school or, more informally, in the environment. That is to say, It is intended to measure the knowledge acquired and the level of school learning
nonverbal scale
The battery also includes a non-verbal scale for children with hearing difficulties or language problems This scale is made up of different sequential and simultaneous processing subtests. The subtests are grouped into three blocks by age:
The non-verbal scale can be administered through gestures, using a minimum of verbal instructions; In addition, it is also responded to through gestures.
Scores and interpretation
The battery uses IQ (Intelligence Quotient) scores. To have a rough idea regarding your scores, an IQ less than 85 is indicative of alteration (it would be 1 standard deviation below the mean).
Each item in the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children is scored 0 or 1. On the other hand, there is no bonus or “plus” for responding quickly, although there is only one test with a specific response time, the triangle test. Points are also not obtained if an item is partially answered or resolved
In the Spanish adaptation of the test, the manual offers tables that allow the direct score to be transformed into scalar scores, centiles and equivalent ages.
On the other hand, the subtests of the mental processing scale have a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3; On the other hand, those on the academic knowledge scale have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. In addition, the mental, sequential and simultaneous processing scales also They have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15
Kaufman’s K-BIT
In addition to the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, There is another battery aimed at carrying out a first screening, with quick application and easy correction It measures two types of intelligence: verbal and non-verbal.
Its application age is from 4 years old to 90. This test is an excellent measure of general intelligence, which includes two subtests:
Kaufman, A. & Kaufman, N. (1997). Battery of evaluation of Kaufman for children. Madrid: TEA.
Cohen, RJ, Swerdlik, ME (2002) Psychological testing and evaluation. McGraw-Hill. Madrid.
Matos, MA and Mustaca, AE (2005). Applied behavioral analysis (ACA) and pervasive developmental disorders (PDD): their evaluation in Argentina. INTERDISCIPLINARY, 22,(1), 59 – 76.
Amador, JA, Forns, M. and Kirchner, T. (2006). The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children: K-ABC. Work document. Faculty of Psychology – University of Barcelona
