Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Help understanding K-ABC II scores

I'm new here and thought this might be the right place to come to ask for assistance. We just received these results from my son's K-ABC II assessment. He was 5.5yrs in February.

Sequential - 109/73%
Number Recall - 11
Word Order - 12
Simultaneous - 129/97%
Conceptual Thinking - 13
Trianges - 16
Pattern Reasoning - 14
Learning - 156/>99.9%
Atlantis - 19
Rebus - 18
Knowledge - 135/99%
Expressive Vocabulary - 18
Riddles - 14

Fluid Crystallized Index (FCI) - 141/99.7%

I know the test points at him being gifted. What I'd like to understand more, is what his results identify as his strengths/weaknesses. What the super high Learning score means in relation to how he processes. If I should be concerned with the huge gap between his highest and lowest scores. If anyone can translate these results into an explaination of how my child learns and how to apply that with his future education, that would be so helpful!

Welcome! We have some people very knowledgable about testing here, but since I'm one of just a handful of people here whose kids have tested using the KABC-II, I thought I'd tell you what I know. It's hard to find information about the KABC-II, but from what I've been told, it's a good test.

The Simultaneous Scale has scores from visual problems requiring nonverbal and spatial skills. For the Sequential Scale the child is asked to look at objects and recall these objects in the exact order in which he or she saw them. Planning Scale problems require a student to solve new nonverbal problems that may require the child to use prior knowledge to solve. For the Knowledge Scale the child is asked a series of questions about different knowledge of words and facts. I'm not sure about what exactly the Learning Scale entails.

So, I don't know much in detail, but hopefully this helps a little bit. Those are great scores! Did your DS do any achievement testing?

Pull up a chair and look around. I've found the people here to be wonderfully knowledgable and helpful!

Thank you for your response. You are right, in that I haven't found much help with this particular test.

No achievement testing yet. We used a school psychologist who tests with the K-ABC II since our district uses it but did not request any achievement testing. We were just trying to confirm giftedness as support documentation for school advocating this next school year.

I don't have a lot of time to write right now, but let me do a little translating. Sequential is like Working Memory on the WISC. Simultaneous is like Perceptual Reasoning (a mix of visual reasoning and fluid-reasoning problem-solving). Knowledge is like Verbal Comprehension (stuff you know, largely measured by asking you to talk about it which is why people think of it as verbal).

Learning doesn't have an equivalent on the WISC or on any other major IQ test other than the WJ-Cognitive (which is based upon the same theory of intelligence the K-ABC is). (Learning tends to be covered on tests of memory like the WRAML, CMS, TOMAL, etc.) Here, we have controlled-learning tasks where you're being taught new information (Atlantis is meaningless, Rebus is logical) and then tested on how well you can remember it.

I'm surprised they didn't do the delay tests for those, which do have norms for 5yo (I tested a 4yo recently who did so well on them that I did the delays anyhow and wouldn't you know it, he did extremely well on the 5yo norms for the delays, too. Said a lot about whether this kid might be bored with the repetition in a typical classroom, eh?

Yes, I'd use the "g-word" with those scores.

Having the relative weakness in working memory may be problematic in real life, although the strength in knowledge tends to suggest that he's not tuning out on the world all of the time. Can't interpret much more than that just based on scores.

Hope that helps.

Thank you so much for your time Aimee! I greatly appreciate it. The WISC comparison is very helpful in making sense of all this, since the WISC is so much easier to research than the KABC II.

For the Atlantis and Rebus, his tester did mention a time period passing after being exposed to the information before having to perform, but maybe that is part of the non delay tests also, just a shorter time delay. I don't have a clue. I know she mentioned him ceiling those and running out of material.

Thanks again for your help.

RollingRock,

A child with scores in that range is very likely going to be a candidate for at least one grade skip somewhere down the line. Early Kindergarten entry is often a relatively painless place to make such a "skip". Even going by her "should have been" birthday, she is probably still very close in age to the rest of the entering K class: it isn't like you are talking about radical acceleration for her.

How well does she get along with children in the 5-year-old age range?

What is her play like?

What does she already know?

What is she ready to learn? What grade is that taught in? Will she learn it in Pre-K? In K? In third grade? How does the school handle subject acceleration for children who want to stay with age peers but are ready for higher level academic work? The decision to move her up or keep her back could have implications for how well she will be accommodated academically later on.

Are there Pre-K skills that you feel that she hasn't mastered yet? What things do you believe she will learn by spending another year with children mostly younger than her? What things would she be able to learn by spending that year with children mostly a little older than her?

When you say that you feel she is "a bit young" yet, what specific things are you talking about? How do you think these things will impact her ability to benefit from Kindergarten?

These are the sorts of questions that I would be considering in your shoes.

But I don't think that there is any doubt that a child her age with these scores could absolutely handle the academic demands of kindergarten.

Rolling Rock, welcome! I think aculady asks some very good questions.

Obviously, YMMV, but I just wanted to chime in and let you know that my DD9, whose birthday is just one week past the cutoff, had very similar KABC-II scores to yours. She entered K "early" (although so close to the cutoff it's hard to call it early!), and it was definitely the right thing to do. Remember, your DD will be going to school with other kiddos who have a whole range of academic, social, and physical abilities, and with only being a couple of weeks shy of the cutoff, your DD will likely fit in just fine. Also, just to let you know, my DD wound up with a later grade skip, and might now get further math enrichment. So, with scores like those, I think you will find that your DD will need something more than the standard fare. A lot of factors can influence your decision (social maturity, height, friends, patience, drive, etc.), but your DD certainly has the ability piece in place to be successful.

Sometimes things that make a younger child appear "young" are due to poor developmental fit with age peers, not immaturity. My dd12, for instance, cried not infrequently in 1st grade. She held things in in K, but came home deeply upset with the other kids and sometimes the teacher. She was insistent with me that the teacher assigned her a specific topic for a writing assignment b/c she (dd) is vegetarian and the teacher was trying to give her an assignment that conflicted with her values.

She alienated other kids in 2nd grade by incessently harping on environmental and global concerns and insisting that they circulate petitions for trash cans on the playground and spend every recess picking up trash. She held grudges -- I recall one girl who dd wouldn't speak with b/c she had made some comment to dd two years prior that had offended her.

In any case, she started K shortly before her 5th bd and it was definitely the right decision. She also skipped 5th grade and that was also definitely the right decision. In hindsight, I think that both 3rd and 4th grade would have been better fits if she had skipped sooner. She was, and is, intense and sensitive, but she is more developmentally similar to older kids and they are much better peers for her.

What types of concerns do you have regarding your dd and placing her with older kids?