Validity of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

The concurrent and construct validity of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) was evaluated in a sample of 47 children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). When K-BIT standard scores were compared to Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) IQ scores, correlations ranged from .32 to .79, and standard errors of estimation ranged from 6.87 to 10.39. Correlations with length of coma were not statistically significant for any of the K-BIT indexes, whereas such correlations were statistically significant for several of the WISC-III indexes. It is concluded that great caution is needed in the utilization of the K-BIT in the context of pediatric neuropsychological assessment, particularly with children with TBI.

WISC-III Factor index score patterns after traumatic head injury in children

“…Consistent with previous findings regarding the selective sensitivity of the PO and PS factor index scores to general severity of THI (Donders, 1995(Donders, , 1997, Cluster 2 included the highest proportion of children with severe injuries, the highest proportion of CT/ MRI scans that were "positive" for diffuse lesions, and the longest length of coma, as compared to all other clusters. However, the distinct pattern of Cluster 2 cannot be explained exclusively by global level of injury severity because the majority of the children in this cluster also had CT/MRI scan evidence for focal right hemisphere lesions.…”

“…Children with THI often demonstrate greater and more persistent decrements in WISC-R Performance (PIQ) than in Verbal (VIQ) IQ scores, particularly with more severe injuries (for reviews, see Dalby & Obrzut, 1991;Donders & Kuldanek, in press;Fletcher & Levin, 1988). Specific subtypes of WISC-R subtest patterns after THI that are differentiated by both level and pattern of performance differences have also been described (Donders, 1993 Speed (PS) factor index scores, but not the Verbal Comprehension (VC) and Freedom from Distractibility (FD) factor index scores, have acceptable sensitivity to severity of THI (Donders, 1995(Donders, , 1997. However, no information is available regarding common patterns of performance on the WISC-I11 after THI.…”

A structural equation analysis of the WISC-III in children with traumatic head injury

“…This again compares favorably to the findings in the WISC-I11 standardization sample where, for example, Symbol Search had loadings ranging from .30 to .60 across age groups on this factor. Prior findings in our laboratory (Donders, 1995) have suggested that the WISC-I11 PS factor is much more strongly correlated with length of coma in children with severe THI than are any of the other WISC-I11 indexes or any of the standard scores from the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1990). In combination with these previous findings, the current results strongly support the validity of the PS factor in the assessment of children with THI.…”

Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT)

“…The majority of studies have examined the relationship of the K-BIT to a variety of instruments including the WISC-R (Prewett, 1992a(Prewett, , 1992bSlate, Graham & Bower, 1996); the WISC-Ill (Canivez, 1995(Canivez, , 1996Donders, 1995;Javorsky, 1993;Levinson & Folino, 1994;Prewett, 1995;Smith, Buckley, & Pingatore, 1992;Smith, Wessels, & Riebel, 1997); the WPPSI-R (Lassiter & Bardos, 1995); the WAIS-R (Eisenstein & Engelhart, 1997;Naugle, Cheluna, & Tucker, 1993); the Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition (Prewett & McCafferty, 1983); the Shipley Institute for Living Scale (Bowers & Pantle, 1998); and the Slosson Intelligence Test-Revised (Smith, Klass, & Stovall, 1992). Full scale correlations between the K-BIT and thje WISC-R, WISC-lIl, and WAIS-R were significant and ranged from moderate to strong.…”