Processing Styles of Learning-Disabled Children on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and their Relationship to Reading and Spelling Performance

Abstract

This study investigated the validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) in making predictions about the processing styles of 40 randomly selected White learning-disabled children, aged 8 years, 0 months to 12 years, 5 months. A typical pattern of lower sequential-higher simultaneous processing was obtained for the total sample when the group mean scores were analyzed. However, adherence to Kaufman's criteria for subtyping individual children indicated that the majority of subjects had equal difficulty in sequential and simultaneous processing. For the K-ABC processing subtypes that emerged, none of the expected relationships was found between processing styles and accuracy of reading and spelling single words on the Boder Test of Reading-Spelling Patterns. The results support the validity of the K-ABC for continuing to investigate the nature of processing styles in the learning disability population, but not for making more specific recommendations about appropriate remedial programs on the basis of individual K-ABC processing subtypes that erroneously have been assumed to predict unique reading-spelling profiles.