MSCA, Scales

Skills McCarthy
and psychomotor skills for
children
Data sheet:
• Author: Dorothea McCarthy
• Time: variable, from 45 to 60 min
• Age: Children from 2 and a half to 8 and a half years
• Application: Single
 • It is one of the most relevant and used instruments
Goals:

to assess the cognitive and motor skills of children

between 2 ½ and 8 ½ years old.

• One of its main objectives is to detect possible

learning problems that may influence academic
performance.
 The battery consists of 18 subts
grouped into six scales: ind

Verbal
Perceptual-Manipulator
Numeric
• General Cognitive and • Memory.
The set of the first three scales provide the
General Cognitive Index (GCI)
 erbal : Aptitu ra proc
understand verbal stimuli, and to verbally express their
thoughts.
•Perceptual-manipulative scale : Evaluates vasomotor
coordination and non-verbal reasoning through the
manipulation of specific materials.
•Numerical scale : Evaluates the child's ability with numbers
and their understanding of quantitative terms.
•Memory scale: Evaluates the child's immediate memory using
visual and auditory stimuli.
•General cognitive scale: Evaluates the child's reasoning,
concept formation and memory, both to solve verbal or
numerical problems; as when handling concrete materials.
•Motor scale: Evaluates the child's motor coordination in both
fine and gross motor tasks.
SCALES TEST
Construction with cubes.
Puzzle.
Pictorial memory.
1. Vocabulary.
Calculation.
2. Hitting sequence.
verbal memory.
3. right-left orientation.
Leg coordination
4.

5.

6.
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
 DESCRIPTION ASPECTS EVALUATED
TESTS
3. Pictorial memory Memory of the name of objects
represented on a plate. •visual).
Immediate memory (auditory and
• Early language development.
• Attention.
4. Vocabulary Identification of common objects (part I)
and definition of words (part II). • Formation of verbal concepts.
• Early language development.
• Verbal expression.
• Immediate memory.
7. Verbal Memory Repetition of series of words and phrases
(part I) and the content of a story read by • Verbal comprehension.
the examiner (part 2). • Logical classification
• Creativity.
• Verbal expression.
15. Verbal fluency Enumeration, for 20 seconds, of all
possible names within a category. • Formation of verbal concepts.
• Logical classification.
• Creativity.
• Verbal expression.
17. Opposites. Ending sentences with the opposite of an Formation of verbal concepts.
adjective. • Early language development.
• Verbal reasoning.
 receptive-
manipulative
Copy with cubes of a structure
1. Construction with cubes
constructed by the examiner.
2. Puzzle Assembly of flat pieces to form
a drawing of an animal or food.
6. Hitting sequence Repetition on a xylophone of a
sequence of notes played by the
examiner.
8. Right-left orientation Knowledge of the right-left of
things, mainly of the same
subject.
• Visio-Motor Coordination.
• Spatial relations.
• Visual perception.
• Non-verbal reasoning.
• Vasomotor coordination.
• Spatial relations.
• Immediate memory.
• Vasomotor coordination.
• Attention.
• Spatial relations.
•concepts.
Formation of non-verbal
• Non-verbal reasoning.
• Directionality.
• Visual perception.
12. Copy of drawings Copy of geometric
drawings • Vasomotor
coordination.
• Spatial relations.

13. Drawing of a child Execution of a drawing of a

child of the same sex.
• Formation of non-
verbal concepts.
• Vasomotor coordination
• Body image.

18. Concept formation Classification of pieces

with the criteria of size,
color and shape. • Logical classification.
• Non-verbal reasoning.
• Formation of verbal
concepts.
TESTS DESCRIPTION EVALUABLE ASPECTS

5. Calculation Questions involving numerical

information or arithmetic calculations. • Numerical reasoning.
• Calculation skills.
• Data and numerical concepts.
• Concentration.
• Verbal comprehension.

14. Numerical memory Repetition of series of digits in the order

presented by the examiner (Part I) and in • Immediate memory.
the reverse order (part II). • Attention.
• Reversibility.

16. Counting and distribution. Formation of equal groups with cubes.

• Count mechanically.
• Numerical concepts.
• Numerical reasoning.
 Motor scale

9. Leg coordination Activities that involve the lower

extremities, such as walking backwards or • Coordination of movements
standing on one foot. thick.
• Swinging.

10. Arm coordination Activities that require bouncing the ball

(part I), picking up an object thrown • Coordination of movements
towards the subject (Part II) and throwing thick.
an object to introduce it through a hole • Fine motor coordination.
(part III).

11. Imitative action Copying simple movements, such as

clasping hands or looking through a tube. • Coordination of movements
thick.
• Fine motor 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.