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

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.