Sources of poor performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test among children with learning difficulties: a dynamic assessment approach.

A dynamic assessment approach was used to examine the source of poor performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF) among 202 school-age children referred for learning difficulties. The ROCF was administered in the standard format and then in a structured format that highlighted the design's organizational framework. Manipulating encoding in this way improved recall to at least age-level for the majority of children. Those children who did not benefit from the structured format had relatively poor visual organizational skills. For most children with learning problems, poor ROCF performance stems from metacognitive difficulties; for a minority, the source appears to be more perceptual. A dynamic assessment procedure can enhance the diagnostic utility of the ROCF for children.

SES-related aspects of neuropsychological performance.

Children from different socioeconomic backgrounds have been observed to employ different cognitive styles in problem-solving situations. These cognitive styles have in turn been linked to the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres. It was hypothesized, therefore, that performance asymmetries would also be SES-related, high-SES children processing stimuli presented to the right visual field-left hemisphere (RVF-LH) more efficiently than those presented to the left visual field-right hemisphere (LVF-RH) and low-SES children showing the reverse pattern. A laterality task was administered tachistoscopically to 120 children, divided evenly by SES (high and low), sex, and grade (fifth and seventh). A marked RVF-LH advantage emerged among the high-SES group and a weak LVF-RH advantage among the low-SES group. Thus, the results provided general support for the central hypothesis. The findings are reviewed in the context of current models of human information processing in the cerebral hemispheres, and their broader implications for understanding SES-related differences in cognitive function are discussed.