Intellectual classification of Black and White children in special education programs using the WISC-III and the Cognitive Assessment System.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Third Edition and the Cognitive Assessment System were compared for a sample of 78 White and Black students in special education programs for children with mental retardation. Results showed that the WISC-III identified more children as having mental retardation than did the Cognitive Assessment System. More important, however, the WISC-III classified disproportionately more Blacks than Whites as having mental retardation as compared to the Cognitive Assessment System. Results imply that the problem of disproportionate representation of Black children in special education classes for children with mental retardation may be addressed if the Cognitive Assessment System were used instead of the WISC-III.

Role of planning, attention, and simultaneous and successive cognitive processing in facial recognition in adults with mental retardation.

Fifty adults with mental retardation completed the Cognitive Assessment System and the Facial Discrimination Task. Performances on the Facial Discrimination Task Emotion and Age Tasks were significantly correlated to the Cognitive Assessment System total score. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that processing of emotional stimuli was related to simultaneous and successive processing; whereas attention and planning failed to add significantly. The Emotion and Age Tasks yielded similar results, suggesting that cognitive processes are involved in processing facial stimuli in a similar way regardless of the type of facial cues involved. The results are discussed vis-à-vis modular models of emotion, future research directions, and the Age Task as a control task.

Comparison of white, African American, Hispanic, and Asian children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test.

This study examined differences between 3 matched samples of White (n = 2,306) and African American (n = 2,306), White (n = 1,176) and Hispanic (n = 1,176), and White (n = 466) and Asian (n = 466) children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; J. A. Naglieri, 1997a). The groups were selected from 22,620 children included in the NNAT standardization sample and matched on geographic region, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and type of school setting (public or private). There was only a small difference between the NNAT scores for the White and African American samples (d ratio = .25) and minimal differences between the White and Hispanic (d ratio = .17) and between the White and Asian (d ratio = .02) groups. The NNAT was moderately correlated with achievement for the total sample and correlated similarly with achievement for the White and ethnic minority groups. The median correlation of NNAT with reading was .52 and NNAT with math was .63 across the samples. Results suggest that the NNAT scores have use for fair assessment of White and minority children.

Effectiveness of a cognitive strategy intervention in improving arithmetic computation based on the PASS theory.

The purpose of this study was to determine if an instruction designed to facilitate planning, given by teachers to their class as a group, would have differential effects depending on the specific Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive (PASS) cognitive characteristics of each child. A cognitive strategy instruction that encouraged planning was provided to the group of 19 students with learning disabilities and mild mental impairments. All students completed math worksheets during 7 baseline and 14 intervention sessions. During the intervention phase, students engaged in self-reflection and verbalization of strategies about how the arithmetic computation worksheets should be completed. The sample was sorted into one experimental and four contrast groups after the experiment was completed. There were four groups with a cognitive weakness in each PASS scale from the Cognitive Assessment System and one group with no cognitive weakness. The results showed that children with a cognitive weakness in Planning improved considerably (large effect size of 1.4), in contrast to those with a cognitive weakness in Attention (small effect size of 0.3), Simultaneous weakness (a slight deterioration and effect size of -0.2), Successive weakness (medium effect size of 0.4), and no cognitive weakness (small effect size of .2). These data showed that children with a Planning weakness benefitted from the instruction designed to help them be more plaful. Those children who received the planning-based instruction who were not low inplanning did not show the same level of improvement.

Effectiveness of the MASTER program for teaching special children multiplication and division.

In this study, the utility of a MAthematics Strategy Training for Educational Remediation (MASTER) program, (Van Luit, Kaskens, & Van der Krol, 1993) was examined. The effectiveness of the program, designed to encourage strategy utilization with multiplication and division problems, was investigated for 84 students with poor mathematics skills, some of whom had learning disabilities (n = 42) and others with mild levels of mental retardation (n = 42). The results showed that the use of the self-instruction program resulted in significant improvement over the general instruction program. Furthermore, far transfer was found for the children with learning disabilities in the experimental group when they used effective problem-solving strategies on nontrained tasks. The results are consistent with previous findings suggesting the importance of self-instruction in mathematics training programs.

Performance of children with traumatic brain injury on the Cognitive Assessment System.

Children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were compared to a matched sample of neurologically normal children and adolescents on several measures of cognitive processing. Each of the children in the TBI group had experienced a closed head injury of moderate to severe magnitude. Participants in both the TBI (n = 22) and control (n = 22) groups ranged in age from 9 to 17 years and lived in the midwestern United States. They were all administered the Cognitive Assessment System (Naglieri & Das, 1997a). Children with TBI earned significantly lower scores in the domains of Planning and Attention than the matched control group. Within-group comparisons showed that the TBI group s Planning and Attention scores were significantly lower than their Simultaneous and Successive scores. The results are consistent with previous literature demonstrating poor performance on measures of attention and executive functions among children who have experienced TBI.

Mathematics instruction and PASS cognitive processes: an intervention study.

The purpose of this study was to determine if an instruction designed to facilitate planning, given by teachers to their class as a group, would have differential effects depending on the specific cognitive characteristics of the individual students. A cognitive instruction that facilitated planning was provided to a group of 12 students with learning disabilities. All students completed math work sheets during 7 sessions of baseline and 21 sessions of intervention (when the instruction designed to facilitate planning was provided). During the intervention phase, students engaged in self-reflection and verbalization of strategies about how mathematics problems were completed. The class was sorted according to planning scores, obtained using the Cognitive Assessment System, which is based on Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive (PASS) theory; and low- and high-planning contrast groups were identified. The results, consistent with previous research, showed that teaching control and regulation of cognitive activity had beneficial effects for all students but was especially helpful for those who were poor in planning, as defined by the PASS theory. Implications of these findings are provided.

Deviation from developmentally appropriate self-care autonomy. Association with diabetes outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: Treatment of IDDM in youth emphasized balancing children's self-care autonomy with their psychological maturity. However, few data exist to guide clinicians or parents, and little is known about correlates of deviations from this ideal. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, IDDM self-care autonomy of 100 youth was assessed using two well-validated measures. Three measures of psychological maturity (cognitive function, social-cognitive development, and academic achievement) were also collected for each child. Composite indexes of self-care autonomy and of psychological maturity were formed, and the ratio of the self-care autonomy index to the psychological maturity index quantified each child's deviation from developmentally appropriate IDDM self-care autonomy. Based on these scores, participants were categorized as exhibiting constrained (lower tertile), appropriate (middle tertile), or excessive (higher tertile) self-care autonomy. Between-group differences in treatment adherence, diabetes knowledge, glycemic control, and hospitalization rates were explored. RESULTS: Analysis of covariance controlling for age revealed that the excessive self-care autonomy group demonstrated less favorable treatment adherence, diabetes knowledge, hospitalization rates, and, marginally, glycemic control. Excessive self-care autonomy increased with age and was less common among intact two-parent families but was unrelated to other demographic factors. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate caution about encouragement of maximal self-care autonomy among youth with IDDM and suggest that families who succeed in maintaining parental involvement in diabetes management may have better outcomes.

Cognitive decline due to aging among persons with Down syndrome.

This study examined decline in cognitive functions in individuals with Down syndrome (DS) over the age of 40 in comparison to participants of the same age and comparable mental handicap without Down syndrome (NonDS). Both DS (n = 32) and NonDS (n = 31) samples were divided into "younger" (40-49 years) and "older" (50-62) groups. Cognitive processes were examined by tests of general intellectual functioning (Dementia Rating Scale, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, and the Matrix Analogies Test-Expanded form), as well as planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive processing tests taken from Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System. The older individuals with Down syndrome performed more poorly than those in the other three groups. The differences were particularly evident in tasks requiring planning and attention. The possibility of using these tests as indicators of the early signs of Alzheimer's disease is discussed.

A study of planning and mathematics instruction for students with learning disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to extend research in training the use of cognitive strategies or planning to mathematical computation for 4 students with specific learning disabilities. A cognitive education method utilized in previous research was duplicated. It was expected that students would find the instruction differentially effective based upon their initial scores on a measure of planning. Using the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive model as a base, a cognitive instruction which facilitated planning was provided to two students with low scores on planning, obtained using an experimental version of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System, and two students with average planning scores. All students completed three sessions of baseline and seven sessions of cognitive instruction in addition and multiplication. During the cognitive instruction phase, 5-min. sessions of self-reflection and verbalization of strategies about the mathematics problems were conducted after each initial 10-min. session of mathematics. Scores on addition problems showed that all students improved. On multiplication, however, 2 students with low planning scores improved considerably but not 2 with higher planning scores. Implications are provided.

Traditional IQ is irrelevant to learning disabilities--intelligence is not.

This investigation examined the relationship between intelligence and phonological coding when ability was redefined according to the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive (PASS) cognitive processing model. This study directly tested the hypothesis that traditional IQ tests may be irrelevant to the definition of learning disabilities, but a different theory of intelligence may be more sensitive to deficiencies related to reading failure. Normally achieving students (n = 30) and students with reading disabilities (n = 30) ranging in age from 7.7 years to 15.3 years (mean = 11.9 years, SD = 2.4 years) were administered measures of the PASS cognitive processes, the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised pseudoword reading, and the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRAT-R) reading recognition tests. Results showed that the sample with reading disabilities earned significantly lower scores on the WRAT-R Reading (mean = 69.3) than the nondisabled subjects (mean = 91.4) and, similarly, on pseudowords those with reading problems earned a mean of 78.9 while the nondisabled earned a mean of 96.3. For the sample with reading disabilities, pseudoword reading scores were significantly predicted by successive processing scores (R2 = .267), but no other processing variable added to the prediction; successive scores (R2 = .212) and the combination of successive and planning (R2 = .296) were significant predictors of WRAT-R Reading scores.

Performance of delinquent and nondelinquent males on planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive cognitive processing tasks.

This study compared the performance of 30 White adolescent males (M age = 15 years, 8 months; SD = 7 months) and 30 incarcerated White male delinquents (M age = 15 years, 6 months, SD = 8 months) on measures of planning, attention, simultaneous, and successive cognitive processes. Normal and delinquent samples did not differ on measures of planning, simultaneous, or successive processes, but did differ significantly in selective attention. The results help clarify previous equivocal findings of attention and planning deficiencies in delinquents and suggest that A. R. Luria's model of functioning may provide a useful perspective for conceptualization of this group's cognitive competence.

Psychometric properties of a Children's Psychosomatic Symptom Checklist.

The psychometric properties of the Children's Psychosomatic Symptom Checklist, developed for this study, were examined. When administered to 196 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students who ranged in age from 11 to 14 years (M = 12.1, SD = .94), the scale items demonstrated a good internal consistency. Item-total correlations were generally significant and exceeded .60, and a coefficient alpha of .83 was obtained. Results of a factor analysis indicated that 70% of the total variance was accounted for by the first factor, best interpreted as general psychosomatic distress. Divergent validity was additionally demonstrated through only modest correlations with measures of anxiety and depression. Use of the checklist is discussed.

Comparison of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery-Children's Revision and the WISC-R with learning disabled children.

This investigation concerned the relationship between the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery--Children's Revision and the WISC--R for a sample of 32 children identified as learning disabled. The children's mean age was 9 yr., 11 mo.; they were identified as learning disabled on the basis of ability (WISC--R)/achievement discrepancy test scores. The sample was of low average intellectual ability according to the WISC--R and the Luria-Nebraska T-scores. Intercorrelations between scores on the WISC--R and Luria-Nebraska lists were generally nonsignificant, with the exception of language and arithmetic measures on each test. Also, 84% or 27 of the present sample of 32 were correctly identified as learning disabled using a criterion of three or more Luria-Nebraska subscale scores greater than one SD above the mean.

Assessment of mentally retarded children with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) were compared using a sample of 37 mentally retarded children (mean age = 9.75 years). The predictive validity of these instruments was examined using the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, administered 7 months later, as a criterion measure of achievement. Results revealed that the WISC-R Full Scale IQ (57.8) was significantly lower, p less than .001, than the K-ABC Mental Processing Composite (65.1). The WISC-R Verbal and Full Scale IQs correlated highly with the K-ABC Achievement Scale, which was the best predictor of PIAT Total Test scores. Implications for use of the K-ABC and WISC-R were presented.

Stability, concurrent and predictive validity of the PPVT-R.

Explored the relationship between the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), and pretest PPVT-R standard scores administered about 7 months earlier for a sample of 29 mentally retarded children between the ages of 5-5 and 12-7 (mean = 9-6, SD = 1-11). Pretest PPVT-R scores correlated moderately with PIAT standard scores (Median r = .43) and with posttest PPVT-R scores (r = .81). There was no significant difference between the mean pre and post PPVT-R scores (60.3 and 58.5, respectively). The PPVT-R and PIAT Total Test Score administered in the same session correlated .71 (Median r with the PIAT's subtests = .64). Implications are discussed in light of the stability and predictive and concurrent validity of the PPVT-R for this sample.

Use of the WISC-R and PPVT-R with mentally retarded children.

Explored the relationship between the Revised Peabody Picture Vocabulary test (PPVT-R) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) for a sample of 38 mentally retarded children between the ages of 5--5 to 12--7. The PPVT-R correlated significantly with the WISC-R Verbal (.58), Performance (.48) and Full Scale (.59) IQ scores. There was no significant difference between the mean PPVT-R Standard Score Equivalent (59.9) and the mean WISC-R Verbal (59.5), Performance (62.4), or Full Scale (57.7) IG scores. Implications of these findings for the use of the PPVT-R are discussed.