This paper presents three studies. The first developed a normative taxonomy to show the most common subtest patterns on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983a, 1983b). The benefit of such a core profile taxonomy is that it provides necessary contrasts for testing hypotheses about score configurations believed to be unusual or clinically relevant. The taxonomy was based on the school-age segment of the K-ABC's standardization sample (i.e., 1,300 children between 6 years, 0 months and 12 years, 6 months). Q methodology (cluster analysis) resulted in eight core profile types, which were subjected to preliminary validation tests against multiple criteria. The second study used the core types to examine whether children with learning disabilities (n = 224), emotional disturbance (n = 43), educable mental retardation (n = 85), and trainable mental retardation (n = 38) showed unusual subtest patterns more often than the general population. By contrast, the third study began by using the core types to identify children from both regular education and special education who possessed unusual patterns (N = 1,346). Thereafter, Q methodology was applied to search for homogeneous groups among these children. Results from the second and third studies mitigate against the diagnostic application of subtest analysis Recommendations are provided for future practice in the profiling of children's abilities.
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