Validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children when employed with children with traumatic brain injury.

The K-ABC and WISC-R were administered to 43 children with traumatic brain injury. The amount of shared variance between standard score indices of these two tests ranged from 42% to 71%, depending on which scores were considered. Correlations with degree of cerebral impairment, as measured by length of coma, were slightly higher for WISC-R IQ scores than for K-ABC global scale scores. Performance on both the K-ABC and the WISC-R was affected by the presence or absence of ocular and/or motor deficits. It is concluded that the K-ABC is not superior to the WISC-R in sensitivity to cerebral impairment and that caution is needed when one is making neuropsychological interpretations on the basis of the K-ABC.