Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC)

The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) is a clinical instrument for assessing cognitive development. Measures intelligence using simultaneous and sequential mental processes. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) is a standardized test that assesses intelligence and achievement in children aged two years, six months to 12 years, six months.

The test fairly assesses children of different backgrounds with diverse problems as it contains cultural content. The 5 scale and 20 sub-tests within the battery minimise verbal instructions and responses. This provides a truer picture of a childÂ’s ability.

This distinction is evident in the test's division into two parts--intelligence and achievement--which are scored both separately and together. The KABC's strong emphasis on memory and lesser attention to verbal expression are intended to offset cultural disparities between black and white children. While whites score an average of 15 points higher than blacks on most intelligence tests, the differences on the KABC for children under 8 amount to less than 2 points on Sequential Processing, 6 on Simultaneous Processing, and 8 on the Achievement section.

K-ABC should not be regarded as "the complete test battery"; like any other test, it should be supplemented and corroborated by other instruments to meet individual needs, such as the Stanford-Binet, Wechsler scales, McCarthy scales, or neuropsychological tests. The K-ABC was standardized on a national sample (2,000 cases) stratified for age, sex, race, region, parental education, community size, and educational placement.

With the KABC-II, you can choose the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model for children from a mainstream cultural and language background. Or if Crystallized Ability would not be a fair indicator of the child’s cognitive ability, you may choose the Luria model which excludes verbal ability.