Mathematical Learning Difficulties and PASS Cognitive Processes

This study examined the relationships between mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) and the planning, attention, simultaneous, successive (PASS) theory of cognitive processing. The Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) was used to measure the PASS processes for a group of 267 Dutch students with MLD who attended either general or special education. The results showed that students with MLD performed lower than their peers on all CAS scales and that the MLD group contained many students with cognitive weaknesses in planning or successive processing. Moreover, students who had specific difficulties with the acquisition of basic math facts, the automatization of such facts, or word-problem solving were found to have distinct PASS cognitive profiles. In order to investigate the relationships between cognitive abilities and improvement in the mastery of basic math facts and problem solving, 165 of the students with MLD were given a special multiplication intervention. It appeared that the effectiveness of this particular intervention did not differ across the groups of students with specific cognitive weaknesses.

[1]  K. Kavale,et al.  What Definitions of Learning Disability Say and Don't Say , 2000, Journal of learning disabilities.

[2]  Herbert P. Ginsburg,et al.  Mathematics Learning Disabilities , 1997, Journal of learning disabilities.

[3]  J. Naglieri,et al.  Assessment of cognitive processes : the PASS theory of intelligence , 1994 .

[4]  Evelyn H. Kroesbergen,et al.  Teaching multiplication to low math performers: Guided versus structured instruction , 2002 .

[5]  A. Kaufman,et al.  Specific learning disabilities and difficulties in children and adolescents: Assessment of specific learning disabilities in the new millennium: issues, conflicts, and controversies , 2001 .

[6]  D. Wechsler.  Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children , 2020, Definitions.

[7]  W. Lan,et al.  Differences Between Learning Disability Subtypes Classified Using the Revised Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery , 1997, Journal of learning disabilities.

[8]  J. Naglieri,et al.  A Study of Planning and Mathematics Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities , 1995, Psychological reports.

[9]  Jack A. Naglieri,et al.  Effectiveness of a Cognitive Strategy Intervention in Improving Arithmetic Computation Based on the PASS Theory , 2000, Journal of learning disabilities.

[10]  Marley W. Watkins,et al.  Long-Term Stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition , 2001 .

[11]  Mary K. Hoard,et al.  Numerical and arithmetical cognition: a longitudinal study of process and concept deficits in children with learning disability. , 2000, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[12]  J. Naglieri,et al.  Mathematics Instruction and PASS Cognitive Processes , 1997, Journal of learning disabilities.

[13]  J. Naglieri,et al.  Effectiveness of the MASTER Program for Teaching Special Children Multiplication and Division , 1999, Journal of learning disabilities.

[14]  L. Siegel,et al.  Issues in the Definition and Diagnosis of Learning Disabilities , 1999, Journal of learning disabilities.

[15]  Cecil D. Mercer,et al.  Students with Learning Disabilities , 1983 .

[16]  J. Naglieri.  Can profile analysis of ability test scores work? An illustration using the PASS theory and CAS with an unselected cohort. , 2000 .

[17]  Jack A. Naglieri,et al.  The essentials of CAS assessment , 1999 .

[18]  Jack A. Naglieri,et al.  Cognitive Assessment System. , 1997 .

[19]  K. Stanovich.  The Sociopsychometrics of Learning Disabilities , 1999, Journal of learning disabilities.

[20]  Nancy C. Jordan,et al.  Mathematical Thinking in Second-Grade Children with Different Forms of LD , 2000, Journal of learning disabilities.