The Kaufman Brief Intelligence (or KBIT) Test was developed by Alan Kaufman Ph.D. & Nadeen Kaufman EdD. The original KBIT test made its premiere in 1990 and was then reintroduced as the KBIT II (or could also be written as KBIT-2).
True to its name, it is a brief, individually administered measure of verbal (vocabulary subtest) and non-verbal (Matrices subtest) intelligence. assesses verbal and nonverbal intelligence independently, and unlike IQ tests, they do not contain visuospatial construction. The KBIT is a highly specialized test that is used to measure and concisely measure the cognitive abilities, such as specific strengths and weaknesses, of small children and must be administered by a healthcare professional. That being said, it may not be obtained by people that do not have a specialized healthcare certification or degree.
The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test is administered to each test subject individually and not typical for groups. It takes into account the child’s cognitive progression and intellectual strengths and weaknesses by adding up the correctly answered questions into a raw points score and then converts them into standard measurements based off of the overall standardized scoring model of the test. The Median score is 100.
KBIT SCORING
The scores range from 40-160, although the gifted programs typically upward of 125, the average typically lies around 90-110. The KBIT scores are made up of 3 components:
- Verbal (assesses crystallized ability)
- Nonverbal (assesses fluid reasoning)
- Overall IQ composite
The former 2 measurements make up the 3rd one. Although it is relatively similar to an IQ test, it does not consider the exact same components.
WHAT DOES THE KAUFMAN BRIEF INTELLIGENCE TEST MEASURE?
The Kaufman Brief Intelligent test measures a child’s overall mental capability and quantifying their degree of giftedness. The test is made up of three categories and measures depth of vocabulary and the way that the test subject processes mental problem. It also recognizes and scores how well the test subject, often a young child, is able to recognize vocabulary and specific patterns within the pictures that are presented on an easel.
Because the test is mostly visual, there are many picture patterns that the child is to decipher the significance in relation to other pictures that are presented to them. How well a child does can affect their ability to enter into certain gifted schools, programs, and groups. A high score often indicates that the young test subject is able to pay attention to detail and think at a sophisticated logical level. Their mental capacity is measured at scores upwards of 100 or more. However, scores higher than 120 are typical of a gifted child and scores of the like could gain the child certain academic incentives by organizations that recognizes KBIT scores.
EXAMPLE KBIT QUESTION
There are countless practice tests that one may find online. View a few practice questions here. The questions on the test are relatively simple for an adult but would be considered challenging for a child. The test contains questions regarding patterns, a little math, and typically contains picture boxes with some question related to their shapes. Because the test is made for such a young test subject, the questions are administered on an easel and are mostly visual in nature. There may be word problems present, and even those are relatively short and simple in nature.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE KBIT
Taking into account that it measures the test taker’s verbal and non-verbal intelligence, this test is often used for quantifying a child’s cognitive abilities to be granted admission to gifted schools and programs and also to measure the cognitive progress of mental processing abilities. The KBIT test may also be recommended by medical professionals for pinpointing learning disabilities in a child and finally may be used to predict future cognitive deficiencies. This would allow the parents and medical professional to recommend activities and other treatments to offset an impending mental disability, increasing the chances of rehabilitation before the disability has a chance to disrupt a child’s psychological processes. The KBIT test is important for all of these reasons, but the latter could be considered amongst the most significant ones.