The Relationship between the K-ABC and the VADS with Reading-Disabled Children: Validity of the K-ABC

Abstract

The relationship between the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Visual-Aural Digit Span Test (VADS) was investigated in a population of elementary school reading-disabled children (N = 87). Results indicated that the Sequential factor of the K-ABC correlated significantly with the Aural-Oral, Visual-Oral, Aural-Written, and Visual-Written subtests of the VADS, as well as with the Total Score of the VADS. The K-ABC sequential subtests of Number Recall and Word Order accounted for most of the variance. The K-ABC Achievement and Simultaneous factors did not correlate significantly with any of the VADS subtests, although the K-ABC achievement subtests of Arithmetic and Reading Understanding did correlate significantly with specific subtests of the VADS and the VADS Total Score. In addition to providing support for the concurrent validity of the Sequential factor of the K-ABC, the study lends credence to the notion that disabled readers will perform a task such as the VADS using sequential processing strategies and to a lesser degree, if at all, simultaneous processing strategies. Results also question the possible predictive relationship between the VADS and academic achievement in a reading-disabled sample.