Cognitive Abilities of Urban and Semi-Urban Pre-School Children of Dharwad, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Aims: The study has conducted with the objective to assess the demographic profile and cognitive abilities of urban and semi-urban pre-school children of Dharwad District, Karnataka, India. Study Design: Demographic information was collected from the parents by using questioner. Kaufman assessment battery for children, second edition (KABC-II) was used to assess the cognitive abilities of children. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Community Science, University of Agricultural Science, Dharwad, Karnataka, India. The experiment was conducted between July 2017 and July 2018.  Methodology: A sample size of 100 preschool children (3-6 years) were randomly selected, where 60 children from the age group of 3-4 years, 20 children from 4-5 years, 20 children from 5-6 years from urban and semi-urban pre-schools. Kaufman assessment battery for children, second edition (KABC-II) was used to assess the cognitive abilities of children, it is a theory based clinical instrument. It is an individually administered tool, which measures the processing and cognitive abilities of preschool children and adolescents from 3-18 years. Results: With respect to cognitive abilities, in urban group, 12 per cent of children belonged to upper extreme, only 2 per cent of children belonged to below average group and none of them belonged to lower extreme group. However, in semi-urban group only 8 per cent of children belonged to upper extreme, 8 per cent were in below average and two per cent were in lower extreme group. Conclusion: Urban pre-school children cognitive abilities was higher than the semi-urban pre-school children, in terms of cognitive subsets, cognitive process and cognitive indices.