MSCA (McCARTHY SCALES OF CLIDRENS'S ABILITIES)

1. Data sheet:

1. Name : MSCA. McCARTHY aptitude and psychomotor scales for

children.
2. Original name: MSCA (McCarthy Scales of children's abilities)
 Authors : Dorothea McCarthy
 Origin : The Psychological Corporation
 Spanish adaptation: R&D Department of TEA Ediciones, 1977, 1996,
2006.
 Application : Individual.
 Scope of application : Two and a half to eight and a half years.
 Duration : With children under 5 years old it is approximately 45
minutes, from that age it is around an hour.
 Purpose : To evaluate the cognitive and psychomotor development of
the child.
 Scale : Scale of typical scores according to the age of the child (in
intervals of half a year to 5 and a half years and one year thereafter)
obtained from a large and representative Spanish sample.
 Material :
- Manual
- Note booklets.
- Laminated notebook (for the Pictorial Memory tests, part I of
Vocabulary, Right Left Orientation and Copy of Drawings)
- 12 cubes (for the Construction with Cubes and Counting and
Distribution tests).
- 6 Puzzles.
- 1 xylophone and hammer.
- 1 x cloth tape.
- 1 plastic cylinder.
- 12 pieces for Concept Formation.
- 2 white cards.
- 1 rubber ball, 1 bag, a “target shooting” screen and adhesive tape.

2. Characteristics:

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 The MSCA is made up of 6 scales:

1. Verbal scale. assesses the child's ability to understand

and process verbal stimuli and verbally express thoughts.
It also indicates the maturity of your verbal concepts.
2. Perceptual-manipulative scale: Evaluates visiomotor
coordination and non-verbal reasoning through the
manipulation of specific materials.
3. Numerical scale . Assesses the child's facility with
numbers and their understanding of quantitative terms.
4. Memory scale : Evaluates the child's immediate memory,
using a wide spectrum of visual and auditory stimuli.
5. General cognitive scale (includes verbal, perceptive-
manipulative and numerical): Evaluates the child's
reasoning, concept formation and memory, both when
solving verbal and numerical problems and when
manipulating concrete materials.
6. Motor scale: Evaluates the child's motor coordination in
both fine and gross motor tasks.

These scales are made up of 18 tests, which are distributed according to the
area to which they refer, and are the following:

1. Construction with cubes.

2. Puzzle.
3. Pictorial memory.
4. Vocabulary.
5. Calculation.
6. Hitting sequence.
7. verbal memory.
8. right-left orientation.
9. Leg coordination
10.Arm coordination.
11.imitative action.
12.Copy of drawings.
13.Drawing of a child.
14.Numerical memory.
15.Verbal fluency.
16.Counting and distribution.
17.Opposites.
18.Concept formation.

Verbal scale

TESTS DESCRIPTION ASPECTS EVALUATED

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 3. Pictorial memory Remembering the name  Immediate
of objects represented memory (auditory
on a plate. and visual).
 Early language
development.
 Attention.
4. Vocabulary Identification of common  Formation of
objects (part I) and verbal concepts.
definition of words (part  Early language
II). development.
 Verbal expression.
 Immediate
memory.
7. Verbal Memory Repetition of series of  Verbal
words and phrases (part comprehension.
I) and the content of a  Logical
story read by the classification
examiner (part II).  Creativity.
 Verbal expression.
15. Verbal fluency Enumeration, for 20  Formation of
seconds, of all possible verbal concepts.
names within a category.  Logical
classification.
 Creativity.
 Verbal expression.
17. Opposites. Ending sentences with  Formation of
the opposite of an verbal concepts.
adjective.  Early language
development.
 Verbal reasoning.

Perceptual-manipulative scale

1. Construction with Copy with cubes of a  Visio-Motor

cubes structure constructed by Coordination.
the examiner.  Spatial relations.
2. Puzzle Assembly of flat pieces  Visual perception.
to form a drawing of an  Non-verbal
animal or food. reasoning.
 Vasomotor

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 coordination.
 Spatial relations.
6. Hitting sequence Repetition on a  Immediate
xylophone of a memory.
sequence of notes  Vasomotor
played by the examiner. coordination.
8. Right-left orientation Knowledge of the right-  Attention.
left of things, mainly of  Spatial relations.
the same subject.  Formation of non-
verbal concepts.
 Non-verbal
reasoning.
 Directionality.
 Visual perception.
12. Copy of drawings Copy of geometric  Vasomotor
drawings coordination.
 Spatial relations.
13. Drawing of a child Execution of a drawing  Formation of non-
of a child of the same verbal concepts.
sex.  Vasomotor
coordination
 Body image.
18. Concept formation Classification of pieces  Logical
with the criteria of size, classification.
color and shape.  Non-verbal
reasoning.
 Formation of
verbal concepts.

Numerical scale
TESTS DESCRIPTION EVALUABLE ASPECTS
5. Calculation Questions involving  Numerical
numerical information or reasoning.
arithmetic calculations.  Calculation skills.
 Data and
numerical
concepts.
 Concentration.
 Verbal
comprehension.
14. Numerical memory Repetition of series of  Immediate
digits in the order memory.
presented by the  Attention.
examiner (Part I) and in  Reversibility.
the reverse order (part
II).
16. Counting and Formation of equal  Count
distribution. groups with cubes. mechanically.

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  Numerical
concepts.
 Numerical
reasoning.

Motor scale
9. Leg coordination Activities that involve the  Coordination of
lower extremities, such gross movements.
as walking backwards or  Swinging.
standing on one foot.
10. Arm coordination Activities that require  Coordination of
bouncing the ball (part I), gross movements.
picking up an object  Fine motor
thrown towards the coordination.
subject (Part II) and
throwing an object to
introduce it through a
hole (part III).
11. Imitative action Copying simple  Coordination of
movements, such as gross movements.
clasping hands or  Fine motor
looking through a tube. coordination.
12. Copy of drawings (Included in PM and GC)  Fine motor
coordination.
13. Drawing of a child (Included in PM and GC)  Fine motor
coordination.
TEST SCORING RULES.

1. CONSTRUCTION WITH CUBES:

3 points for a tower of six cubes

2 points for a tower of four or five cubes
1 point for a tower of four or five cubes

2. PUZZLE

1 point if you succeed on the first try

0 points if a demonstration is necessary

3. PICTORIAL MEMORY

1 point for each object remembered correctly.

4. VOCABULARY

This test consists of two parts :

 Pictorial vocabulary.

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 Punctuation:
1 point for each slide in which the subject gives an acceptable response.

 Oral vocabulary
Punctuation:
2 points if you give any synonyms
0 when you don't know how to define it.
1 point when the answer has a value clearly intermediate between 2 and
0 points

5. CALCULATION

1 point for each correct answer.

6. HIT SEQUENCE

2 points if you play the sequence correctly.

1 point if you use the hammer correctly, hitting the keys appropriately but do not
reproduce the correct sequence
0 point if it hits randomly

7. VERBAL MEMORY

There are two parts :

1. Words and phrases.

Scoring: For items 1 to 4, one point is awarded for each word repeated, with
one point deducted if the sequence is altered. If there is an omission, it is
scored by the number of words repeated.
For items 5 to 6, scoring is based on the repetition of the underlined words. One
point is awarded for each underlined word.

2. Tale
Scoring: the story is divided into 11 elements and each of them is scored:
1 point if you get it right with greater or lesser precision
0 points if you say otherwise.

8. RIGHT-LEFT ORIENTATION

1 point for each element (or each element part, if it has 2) answered correctly

9. LEG COORDINATION
Punctuation: (example: walk backwards)

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2 points if the child takes five or more steps that are longer than the child
himself. The child should lift his feet off the ground (not drag them) and
should not swing his arms to maintain balance
1 point if you take between two and four steps, if you slide your feet or
intersect your steps, that is, if they are not sufficiently aligned backwards or
if you have poor balance.
0 points if they are not able to take a step back

10. ARM COORDINATION

1. bounce the ball:
The number of pots is transformed into numbers according to the
following table:
No. of boats Punctuation
15 7
12-14 6
9-11 5
6-8 4
3-5 3
2 2
1 1
0 0

2. catch the bag

1 point for each time you pick up the bag (with one or both hands)

3. target shooting
2 points: for each time the ball, thrown by the corresponding hand,
passes through the hole or hangs over the edge of the hole.
1 point: each time the bag, thrown by the hand chosen for this
element, hits the screen without passing or resting on the edge of the
hole.
If the bag touches the wall or the floor and then touches the target,
the score will be 0.

11. IMITATIVE ACTION

1 point for each correct imitation.

12. COPYING DRAWINGS

Points will be awarded depending on whether they more or less
resemble the drawing and in relation to standard test drawings.

13. DRAWING OF A CHILD

It will be evaluated according to the degree of achievement of the
different parts, also based on standard drawings of the test.

14. NEMÉRIC MEMORY

1. Series in direct order
2 points: for the correct repetition on attempt 1.
1 point: for the correct repetition on attempt 2.

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 2. Series in reverse order
2 points: for the correct repetition on attempt 1.
1 point: for the correct repetition on attempt 2.

15. VERBAL FLUENCE

1 Point for each acceptable answer, up to a maximum of 9 in each
element.

16. COUNTING AND DISTRIBUTION

Different formations are made with groups on top of the two white cards
and they are asked to make groups. 1 point for each correct answer

17. OPPOSITES
A series of adjectives are named and the child has to say the opposite.
You will be awarded one point for each correct answer.

18. CONCEPT FORMATION

With a set of blocks of different figures (triangle, square and circle) of
different sizes (large and small) and different colors (blue, yellow and
red), you are asked to differentiate them according to the examiner's
questions. You will be awarded 1 point for each correct answer.

CORRECTION RULES:

To obtain the indices of the six scales, the examiner must follow the steps
outlined below.
1. Check that the score corresponding to the very easy elements that
did not need to be applied was awarded and recorded. For
example, if a child of five years or older receives 2 points in
element 3 of building with cubes, it is checked whether the
corresponding scores for elements 1 and 2 have been recorded (5
points). Detailed information about these elements is given in the
instructions for each test.
2. obtain the direct score of each test (or part of the test) and record
it in the corresponding total box. If this box has a white pattern (as
in test 1), no further calculations are necessary in this test or part
of the test.
3. If the total box is NOT filled in white, you must do one of the
following:
a) Multiply the total direct score by ½ and write the product
in the corresponding white box. Always round decimal
results to the highest integer (this occurs in test 2 and part
1 of test 7.
b) Multiply the total direct score and write the product in the
corresponding white box (in tests 5 and 17 and in part 2
of test 14).
c) Combine the total direct score with others and record their
sum in the corresponding white box (in tests 4 and 10).

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 The booklet has indicated when each of these steps must be
followed.

4. Move the weighted direct scores from the white boxes of the
scorebook to the summary and profile page of the scorebook. The
score corresponding to each test is recorded in its box in the PD
column (direct score). This score is then transferred to those
boxes that appear in the same row. The weighted direct score is
used only if the child is five years old or older. In the case of
younger children, the box will be left blank, even if this test has
been applied to them.
5. Add the scores from each of the five columns (V,PM,N,M and Mot)
and record the result in the composite weighted direct score box
at the base of the columns.
6. Obtain from the direct composite score of the general cognitive
scale, adding the direct composite scores of V+PM+ N and write
down the total of the corresponding box (general cognitive). It is
important to emphasize that the direct weighted scores are added
and not the typical ones.

7. Transfer the direct scores on each of the scales to the “direct

score” column in the box that appears at the bottom of the
summary and profile page.

- Taking into account the exact age of the child, look for the
appropriate scale in the scale table and determine the indices
corresponding to each scale. Up to 6 years old there are scales
every half year of age, from 6 years old the scales are by years.
- In the scale for each age group there are two tables, one for the
scores on the five scales and another for the GCI corresponding
to the general cognitive scale.
- To obtain typical scores, look for the direct composite score in the
body of the table and determine which score appears in the same
row as said direct composite score.
- Once these typical scores for each of the scales and the GCI have
been obtained, these values will be recorded in the respective
boxes of the “typical score” column that appears to the left of the
profile in the annotation booklet.

8. Transfer the values in typical scores obtained to the profile that

appears