IQ's Corner Headlines 4-27-07

All the news thats fit for IQ's Corner readers:

This is the 25th installment of IQs Corner Headlines from the Brain and Mind Blogsphere

educational psychology, intelligence, cognition, cognitive, neuropsychology, brain, neuroscience, headlines, IQs Corner, Kevin McGrew, school psychology, psychology, education, special education, IQ, IQ Testing, IQ scores

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Random tidbits from the mind blogosphere 4-27-07

I've started to receive feeds (from Google Alert) from on-line newspaper articles (and some blogs) that include the keywords of "IQ", "intelligence", "brain", and "brain fitness."



As we all know, newspaper reports of scholarly research findings often need to be tempered with a huge degree of skepticism. I've NOT checked out the original sources/articles/research that is the basis of each article or post. I'm simply passing them along "as is".....as a reflection of the pulse of the popular press "buzz" regarding intelligence, IQ testing, brain fitness, etc.   Readers will need to evaluate the content. 

• High IQ doesn't mean wealth.  Additional coverage of this story can be found here, and here.  The press obviously liked this story.
  
  
• Claims of IQ score increases via intensive tutoring of autistic children
• Personal report of improvement in brain functioning via use of Posit Science's Brain Fitness Program over at On the Brain blog (conflict of interest warning...this is a co-founder of the Posit Science Corporation)
• The myth of mirror neurons?
• Females suffer greater brain dysfunction to due alcohol?
• SharpBrains has been mentioned in a number of recent publications.  Check out there news room.
  
  

Technorati Tags: psychology, education, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, brain fitness, alcohol, wealth, IQ, IQ scores, intelligence, Posit Science, gender, Sharp Brains

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Sorry for being MIA - on the road again and again and....

Regular readers will have noted a dip in my posting the past few weeks. I was in DC for a trip last week and I'm busy preparing for a week long working trip all of next week. I simply can't find much time to blog. I hope to do a little today, but I can't promise.

I shall return.

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Validity of global IQ (g) - invitation for commentary

Over on the NASP listserv reference has been made to a special issue of Applied Neuropsychology that includes a number of articles (pro/con) surrounding the issue of the utility of global (g) IQ scores. Reynolds, Hale, Fiorello and others weigh in.

NASP listserv members have been asking for copies of the articles.


According to Cecil Reynolds (based on his NASP response post),

• "the Coalition of Clinical Practitioners in Neuropsychology (CCPN) is open to anyone licensed to practice psychology or retired from practice who at some point was licensed. It holds an annual convention with CE WSs, posters, symposia, and the like. Last year, the convention was held in Orlando...the Journal, Applied Neuropsychology, is a publication of Taylor and Francis, one of the five largest publishing companies in the world. Applied Neuropsychology has also been adopted as the official journal of the Hispanic neuropsychological society as well as the Philadelphia neuropsychological society...a recent mailing of an advertising brochure for Applied Neuropsychology by Taylor and Francis that contained a CCPN membership application when to about 100,000 psychologists around the world.

• The Journal issue that is part of this discussion is also available for sale as a single copy, special issue."

I just downloaded pdf copies of all the articles. The titles of the articles can be viewed by inspecting the table of contents of this special issue (click here)

Now......I'm not going to violate copyright laws to make these available for all to see. However, following the "fair use" doctrine, I could make these articles available for viewing if my blog posts were educational and provided criticisms, reviews, comments, etc., that would be educational in nature.

I personally don't have time to do this...I'm traveling and and am swamped. However, I'm now making an offer. If individuals will contact me via email (iap@earthlink.net) and agree to/promise to review select articles from this issue, and provide quest blog post commentary, I'll post their comments along with a link to each article (for others to view).

Maybe we can get a blog carnival going on this topic. Any takers?

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, IQ score, IQ, IQ test, intelligence, g, general intelligence, Applied Neuropsychology, NASP

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This weeks recent literature of interest can be found by clicking here.

Technorati tags: teaching tool. psychology. educational psychology. school psychology.

IQ's Corner Headlines 4-18-07

All the news thats fit for IQ's Corner readers:

This is the 24th installment of IQs Corner Headlines from the Brain and Mind Blogsphere

educational psychology, intelligence, cognition, cognitive, neuropsychology, brain, neuroscience, headlines, IQs Corner, Kevin McGrew, school psychology, psychology, education, special education, IQ, IQ Testing, IQ scores

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Math screening and prgressing monitoring - Guest post by John Garruto

The following is a guest post by John Garruto, school psychologist with the Oswego School District and member of the IQs Corner Virtual Community of Scholars. John reviewed the following article and has provided his comments below. [Blog dictator note - John's review is presented "as is" with only a few minor copy edits by the blog dicator

Fuchs, L.S., Fuchs, D., Compton, D.L., Bryant, J.D., Hamlett, C.L., & Seethaler, P.M. (2007). Mathematics Screening and Progress Monitoring at First Grade: Implications for Responsiveness to Intervention. Exceptional Children, 73(3), 311-330.

Abstract

• The predictive utility of screening measures for forecasting math disability (MD) at the end of 2nd grade and the predictive and discriminant validity of math progress-monitoring tools were assessed. Participants were 225 students who entered the study in 1st grade and completed data collection at the end of 2nd grade. Screening measures were Number Identification/Counting,Fact Retrieval, Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) Computation, and CBM Concepts/Applications. or Number Identification/Counting and CBM Computation, 27 weekly assessments were lso collected. MD was defined as below the 1 Oth percentile at the end of 2nd grade on calculations nd word problems. Logistic regression showed that the 4-variable screening model produced ood and similar fits in accounting for MD-calculation and MD-word problems. Classification ccuracy was driven primarily by CBM Concepts/Applications and CBM Computation; CBM oncepts/Applications was the better of these predictors. CBM Computation, but not Number dentification/Counting, demonstrated validity for progress monitoring.

John Garruto speaks (in his own words)

• This article begins with a summary of research that has already been done to date regarding math disabilities. One of the most important conclusions reached through analysis of past studies is that screening outcomes will likely differentiate math computation from math reasoning skills--looking at math as a universal entity would likely be erroneous.
• Examples of pre-existing research included reviewing the influence of various screeners in predicting outcome measures. Screeners across studies included (but were not restricted to): Number knowledge, digit span backwards, missing number, etc. Outcome measures included various group administered normed reference tests (such as the Stanford Achievement Test) or individually administered normed reference tests (such as the WJ-R). Most of the screening predictors had some degree of predictability on outcome measures (usually ranging from about .42-.72). Nor surprisingly, number knowledge was the highest predictor while missing number and digit span backwards also seemed to account for some degree of variance across studies. These findings correlate with the CHC (Cattell-Horn-Carroll) framework advocating that crystallized intelligence, fluid reasoning, and short-term memory are all important predictors of math performance (See Flanagan, Ortiz, Alfonso, & Mascolo, 2006).
• Fuchs et al. used the WJ-III to obtain a profile of their subject sample at the beginning of first grade. They used four CBM techniques in order to predict performance on the dependent measures at the end of second grade (Number ID/Counting, Fact Retrieval, CBM-Computation, and CBM-Applied Problems.) Outcome measures included the WRAT for calculation and Jordan’s Story Problems (using local norms to establish the percentile from a neighboring school district) for word reasoning. Using ROC curves, they indicated that their screeners had a good fit in targeting the number of students who would be identified as math disabled (however, there were some concerns--30 students were identified as MD (math disabled-calculation) by screening even though not by normative measure...so called “false alarms”. Seven students were identified as not MD-calculation even though the curriculum indicated that they were..so called “misses”. The numbers were 36 false alarms and 7 misses for MD-reasoning.
• Of the different screening measures-all but Number ID/Counting predict MD, with CBM-Applied Problems being the best predictor for both. The authors further hypothesize that screening measures that include a wide variety of problems (such as with applied problems) likely is a characteristic that helps with predictive power.
• I have a few thoughts on this study. Clearly, looking at the previous research has flagged that we probably should continue to focus on cognitive factors as guides to help with hypothesis generation (although clearly prior knowledge still seems to reign as most important in prediction..although that was not the focus of this study.
• I personally had concerns in the use of the WRAT and then Jordan’s Story Problems. One uses a nationally normed set of data, while the other used local norms from a nearby location. The authors indicated the sample was “local but representative”, although given all other outcome measures were nationally normed instruments--this posed as a problem for me.
• I was heartened to learn that three CBM measures performed adequately in predicting the presence of a MD and was also enlightened on the importance of applied problems (or math reasoning)--a construct that I think has been very much overlooked in much of the RTI literature on math in contrast to number of digits correct. However, when I see that there were over thirty “false alarms” for prediction--this is a cause for genuine concern. The implications go beyond providing “tutoring for those who do not need it.” It can lead to an attribution of “disability” when one might not necessarily exist..a Type I error. This can lead one to lower our expectations of students who may not necessarily present with deficiencies.
• My other concern was the difference in scores in the studies. Although the WRAT is noted to correlate at .71 with the WJ-III, the mean SS for the WJ-III at the beginning of first grade was 91 for MD and 71 for the WRAT at end of second grade. For word problems, the mean score for MD on WJ-III was 92 and about 66 on the Jordan. The standard deviations are pretty large for the WJ-III and WRAT (about 7-11 points) while smaller on the Jordan (about three points), but again I become concerned at how very dissimilar these profiles are. A large part of it can be explained by the calculation demands at beginning first (absolutely nothing outside of writing numbers) and end second (subtraction-possibly with regrouping)-although the magnitude is still very great. I might ask a quantitative expert to help me pull that apart further as this “applied practitioner” has been known to “stumble on the stats” at times.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, education, school psychology, psychological measurement, psychological testing, screening, progress monitoring, RIT, mathematics, arithmetic, Gq, quantitative

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Auditory (Ga) processing fluency - CHC theory extension?

Time to unleash some of my recent musings/ruminations that have been incubating in my cortex.

Regular readers of either of my blogs (IQ's Corner; the IQ Brain Clock) should have noted my continued and increasing interest in contemporary research, often from diverse diverse professional sandboxes (e.g., music perception; neuroscience; cognitive psychology; biological psychology; etc.), regarding cognitive temporal processing and/or mental/interval time-keeping (my interest in these topics was recently reflected in posting of the the IQ Brain Clock EWOK).

Without getting into detail (space does not allow), some recent reading I've completed re: the work of Dr. Tallal (author of the Fast ForWord intervention program; note - as I've mentioned before, I've not yet reviewed the FF intervention research...I've been focusing exclusively on the substantive theoretical and empirical research re: the cognitive abilities that underlie the foundation for the FF intervention) has suggested, in my little cortex, possible links between her research on "temporalspectral acoustic speed" (also referred to, by Dr. Tallal, as rapid auditory processing; temporalspectral auditory processing speed; and/or acoustic speed) and the more general mental/interval time-keeping literature. [Click here, here, and here to view the primary Tallal articles I've been digesting]

Although I've not yet incorporated Dr. Tallal's research (as well as similar work done by others; e.g., Stefanatos et al. 2007 Neuropsychologia article on "rapid auditory gap detection") into the IQ Brain Clock EWOK (I will do so when I post the next revision), I have started the incorporation process in my personal knowledge base.

Sometime during this or next week I hope to post (over at the IQ Brain Clock blog) more of my thoughts regarding the cross-fertilization of Dr. Tallal's domain-specific (language and reading) "timing" research with the more domain-general mental/interval time-keeping/temporal processing research. I think they are related and complimentary lines of important research.

However, at this time I would like to toss out one of my thoughts to those interested in the CHC theory of cognitive abilities. In my 2005 Chapter in the Flanagan and Harrison Clinical Intellectual Assessment book (aka, the CIA book) (click here for on-line version of chapter), I attempted to update the factor structure of the human cognitive speed domains (Gs and Gt). I presented a preliminary structural model for consideration.

My recent musings have led me to speculate the the rapid auditory processing speed Dr. Tallal and others have been investigating might represent a speed/fluency factor in the CHC domain of Ga. As articulated in Carroll's seminal treatise, abilities within CHC ability domains can often be classified as either level or speed/rate/fluency abilities. For example, as noted in the proposed speed hierarchy in my 2005 chapter, speed of reasoning (RE) is a possible speed/fluency ability in the broad domain of fluid reasoning (Gf). Similarly, perceptual speed (P) is a rate/fluency aspect of visual-spatial processing (Gv). Another example would be number facility (N) as the rate/fluency aspect of quantitative knowledge (Gq).

My current thoughts, which are very preliminary, is that the acoustic/rapid auditory processing speed abilities investigated by Tallal et al. might be conceptualized as a rate/fluency ability in the CHC domain of auditory processing (Ga).

What do people think?

More thoughts will follow at the IQ Brain Clock.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, cognition, intelligence, Ga, auditory processing, acoustic speed, auditory processing speed, Fast ForWord, temporal processing, mental time keeping, interval timing, IQ Brain Clock, CHC theory, Cattell-Horn-Carroll, neuroscience

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IQ PREPLOG: CHC cognitive abilities and writing achievement

This is an IQ PREPLOG. The following CHC-conceptualized manuscript, which investigates the relations between cognitive abilities and writing achievement, is now "in press" in Psychology in the Schools. [conflict of interest disclosure - I'm a coauthor of the WJ III, the instrument used in the study]

Floyd, R. G., McGrew, K. S., & Evans, J. J. (in press). The relative contributions of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) cognitive abilities in explaining writing achievement during childhood and adolescence. Psychology in the Schools. (click here-manuscript and here-figures)

Abstract

• This study examined the relative contributions of measures of Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) cognitive abilities in explaining writing achievement. Drawing from samples that covered the age range of 7 to 18, simultaneous multiple regression was used to regress scores from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001) that represent CHC broad and narrow abilities onto the WJ III Basic Writing Skills and Written Expression cluster scores. At most age levels, Comprehension–Knowledge demonstrated moderate to strong effects on both writing clusters, Processing Speed demonstrated moderate effects on Basic Writing Skills and moderate to strong effects on Written Expression, and Short-Term Memory demonstrated moderate effects. At the youngest age levels, Long-Term Retrieval demonstrated moderate to strong effects on Basic Writing Skills and moderate effects on Written Expression. Auditory Processing and Phonemic Awareness demonstrated moderate effects on only Written Expression at the youngest age levels and at some of the oldest age levels. Fluid Reasoning demonstrated moderate effects on both writing clusters only during some of the oldest age levels. Visual-Spatial Thinking primarily demonstrated negligible effects. The results provide insights into the cognitive abilities most important for understanding the writing skills of children during the school-age years.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, CHC, Cattell-Horn-Carroll, intelligence, cognition, IQ test, IQ scores, writing, writing achievement, education, learning

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How the mind works - TED conference online videos

Thanks again to Sharp Brains for the FYI tip regarding the series of on-line videos from the TED conference on "How the mind works."

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, cognition, mind, intelligence, TED conference

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The Paradox of Choice

I've been interested in reading Barry Schwartz's "The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More" for many months...but have not found the time. Today I found a video of the author discussing the essence of his book at the TED conference (thanks to Sharp Brains for the FYI) that gave me the gestalt of his book. I still need to find time to read this book as I've got way too many choices in my life.

I try to stay away from the "paralysis of analysis"...but it is not always easy

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz, TED conference, cognition, decison making

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Cognitive load, working memory and instruction

[double click on image to enlarge]

Yesterday the Eide Neurolearning blog had a nice post on "cognitive load" with many links to a news article, a PPT file, etc. I've been very intrigued with cognitive load theory (viz., "optimum learning occurs in humans when the load on working
memory is kept to a minimum to best facilitate the changes in long term
memory") for years, primarily because it appears to be a potential link from research on cognitive psychology (information processing theory) to instructional practices. More than once I've started blog posts....only to recognize that I needed to read the material deeper.

The ENL post has given me the idea that I should simply post the articles I've accumulated in hopes that readers can read and extract the information they need. Maybe someone will post some nice comments after reading these articles. Or...if someone wants to read them and do a guest blog post, contact me re: this possibility (iap@earthlink.net).

Paas, F., Renkl, A., Sweller, J. (2003). Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments. Educational Psychologist, 38, 1, 1-4. (click here to view)

Paas, F., Tuovinen, J.E., Tabbers, H., Van Gerven, P.W.M. (2003). Cognitive load measurement as a means to advance cognitive load theory. Educational Psychologist, 38, 1, 63-71. (click here to view)

• Abstract

• In this article, we discuss cognitive load measurement techniques with regard to their contribution to cognitive load theory (CLT). CLT is concerned with the design of instructional methods that efficiently use people's limited cognitive processing capacity to apply acquired knowledge and skills to new situations (i.e., transfer). CLT is based on a cognitive architecture that consists of a limited working memory with partly independent processing units for visual and auditory information, which interacts with an unlimited long-term memory. These structures and functions of human cognitive architecture have been used to design a variety of novel efficient instructional methods. The associated research has shown that measures of cognitive load can reveal important information for CLT that is not necessarily reflected by traditional performance-based measures. Particularly, the combination of performance and cognitive load measures has been identified to constitute a reliable estimate of the mental efficiency of instructional methods. The discussion of previously used cognitive load measurement techniques and their role in the advancement of CLT is followed by a discussion of aspects of CLT that may benefit by measurement of cognitive load. Within the cognitive load framework, we also discuss some promising new techniques.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, education, school psychology, neuropsychology, learning, instruction, cognitive load, working memory, information processing, cognition, intelligence, cognitive efficiency

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IQ's Corner Headlines 4-12-07

All the news thats fit for IQ's Corner readers:

This is the 23rd installment of IQs Corner Headlines from the Brain and Mind Blogsphere

educational psychology, intelligence, cognition, cognitive, neuropsychology, brain, neuroscience, headlines, IQs Corner, Kevin McGrew, school psychology, psychology, education, special education, IQ, IQ Testing, IQ scores

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D-KEFS executive function battery information

No doubt about it. The area of executive function is hot in cognitive psychology and intellectual/neuropsychological assessment. One of the more frequent paths to the IQ Corner blog are people doing web searches for EF instruments, often the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) battery.

I've never administered (nor do I own) a copy of the D-KEFS. However, I have posted information regarding D-KEFS research "as is"...without comment (since I've not done my homework with the battery). This is one of these posts. I just ran across a 2005 review of the D-KEFS in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (click here to view). In addition, I've made two prior posts re: the D-KEFS.

Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, executive function, D-KEFS, intelligence, frontal lobe, IQ

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Differential Ability Scales-2nd edition: One more in the CHC column

Kudos to Colin Elliott for the recent publication of the second edition of the Differential Ability Scales (DAS-2). As I wrote about the DAS in my 1997 CHC broad-narrow analysis of all major intelligence batteries (in Flanagan et al.'s, 1997 CIA book), I considered it to be the second most comprehensive battery of CHC abilities...the first, of course, being the deliberately CHC-designed WJ-R and WJ -III (obligatory conflict of interest - I'm a coauthor of the WJ III). I'm not surprised to see that it has now joined the growing crowd (see my CHC bandwagon post) of deliberately CHC-designed intelligence batteries, as it was, IMHO, the next-best instrument (from a CHC perspective) at the time (1997).

As usual, check out the Willis and Dumont web site for additional DAS-2 related information.

I'd love to see a copy. Hint...hint......is anyone from Psych. Corp. listening? Don't you like the free publicity I just gave the DAS-2? I'd sure love a complimentary copy to examine.





Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, IQ, intelligence, IQ test, IQ score, DAS, DAS-2, Differential Ability Scales, CHC theory

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Recent literature of interest 4-11-07

This weeks recent literature of interest can be found by clicking here.

Technorati tags: teaching tool. psychology. educational psychology. school psychology.

NSF funded Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center

Check out the important announcement regarding the NSF funded Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center over at my sister blog...the IQ Brain Clock.

Potentially some good stuff. I'm excited!

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, school psychology, temporal processing, mental time keeping, mental timing, interval timing, neurotechnology, time perception, Ga, auditory processing, FastForward, Temporal Dynamics Learning Center, NSF

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Parenting, race, SES and cognitive development

[double click on image to make larger]

It is no secret that I'm a firm believer that researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers need to pay closer attention to large-scale, national, longitudinal studies that use multiple indicators and complex statistical model testing to understand important child development issues. One such study, which is now producing some high quality and interesting research articles (and which I previously blogged about re: impact of school retention policies) is the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.

Although not the easiest read, I found the conceptual model (see figure above) and literature review in the following article of interest. I love conceptual models that provide a means by which to organize data, research, etc. that pass through my mind.

• Raver, C. C., Gershoff, E. T., & Aber, J. L. (2007). Testing equivalence of mediating models of income, parenting, and school readiness for white, black, and hispanic children in a national sample. Child Development, 78(1), 96115. (click here to view)

The dark side of being an expert

An interesting (brief) article in Psychological Science re: how the advantage experts enjoy in a specific domain (domain-specific expertise) can also have a slight "dark side"....namely, having a well organized body of knowledge can result in "intrusion errors" when recalling information. All-in-all......being an expert is what we all strive for in given domains.

This may also explain why experts may make errors when interviewed live on TV. Their recall is so automatic that they may not be alert to possible errors in their recalled information.

I'll now use this article to explain any recall errors I make when making a live professional presentation and I mispeak....it will be nice to blame my slight errors on this being "the price paid to be an expert." :)


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, experts, expertise, cognition, intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, Gc, Gkn, crystallized intelligence, knowledge, information processing, domain specific


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Reading fluency, automaticity and prosody

Reading Fluency has recently been mentioned as being an important reading subskill in the identification of students with with significant reading disorders. In CHC theory this factor has been labeled "Reading Speed" (RS), and is defined as "the abiilty to silently read and comprehend connected text (e.g., a series of short sentences; a passage) rapidly and automatically (with little conscious attention to the mechanics of reading)."

I just skimmed the intro section of the following article (I often find the intro sections of articles very informative even if I'm not interested in the primary purpose of the study) and found the definition of the components of reading fluency informative, esp. the emphasis on the cognitive process of automaticity. The one new bit of information I learned was the potential importance of the concept of "prosody" in the definition of reading fluency.

• Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., Morris, R. D., Morrow, L. M., Woo, D. G., Meisinger, E. B., Sevcik,R. A., Bradley, B. A., & Stahl, S. A. (2006). Teaching children to become fluent and automatic readers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38(4), 357-387. (click to view)

Select extracted text

• Fluent reading is typically defined by three constructs (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003; National Reading Panel, 2000). Most commonly, these constructs include quick and accurate word recognition (Jenkins, Fuchs, van den Broek, Espin, & Deno, 2003), and, when oral reading is considered, the appropriate use of prosody (Cowie, Douglas-Cowie, & Wichmann, 2002; Schwanenflugel, Hamilton, Kuhn, Wisenbaker, & Stahl, 2004). Some definitions also include comprehension as part of fluent reading (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001; Wolf & Katzir-Cohen, 2001), as fluency is seen as a factor in readers’ ability to understand and enjoy text (e.g., Jenkins et al., 2003; Rasinski & Hoffman, 2003; Samuels, 2006). According to automaticity theorists, reading is composed of several concurrent elements, including decoding and comprehension (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974). However, individuals have a limited amount of attentional resources available for reading (or any other cognitive task). As a result, attentional resources spent on decoding are necessarily unavailable for comprehension (Kintsch, 1998; Stanovich, 1984). Fortunately, as word recognition becomes automatic, less attention needs to be expended on decoding and more cognitive resources can be devoted to the construction of meaning.
• According to automaticity theory, the most effective way for students to develop such automatic word recognition is through extensive exposure to print (Adams, 1990; Samuels, 1979; Stanovich, 1984). Such practice leads to familiarity with a language’s orthographic patterns and allows learners to recognize words with increasing accuracy and automaticity, thereby permitting readers to focus on text meaning rather than simply on the words.
• In addition to automatic word recognition, prosody may be an important indicator of fluent reading (Schwanenflugel et al., 2004). Reading prosody consists of those elements that comprise expressive reading, including intonation, emphasis, rate, and the regularly reoccurring patterns of language (Hanks, 1990; Harris & Hodges, 1981, 1995). When readers are able to apply these elements to text, it serves as an indicator that they can transfer elements that are present in oral language to print (Dowhower, 1991; Schreiber, 1991). Some recent research has suggested that prosody in fluent reading may serve primarily as an indicator that a child has achieved automaticity in text reading (Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2006; Schwanenflugel et al., 2004). However, the exact role of prosody in reading comprehension is open to further research (e.g., Cowie et al., 2002; Levy, Abello, & Lysynchuk, 1997; Schwanenflugel et al., 2004; T. Shanahan, personal communication, December 2, 2004).

Technorati Tags: psychology, education, educational psychology, neuropsychology, reading, Grw, dyslexia, reading fluency, information processing, reading disabilities, LD, learning disabilities, CHC theory, prosody


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FastForward, Ga, mental time-keeping...some musings

Cross-blog FYI post.

For those interested in Ga abilities and the FastForward intervention program (for reading and language disorders), check out my musings at the IQ Brain Clock sister blog.

This weeks recent literature of interest can be found by clicking here.

Technorati tags: teaching tool. psychology. educational psychology. school psychology.

IQ's Corner headlines 4-3-07

All the news thats fit for IQ's Corner readers:

This is the 22nd installment of IQs Corner Headlines from the Brain and Mind Blogsphere

educational psychology, intelligence, cognition, cognitive, neuropsychology, brain, neuroscience, headlines, IQs Corner, Kevin McGrew, school psychology, psychology, education, special education, IQ, IQ Testing, IQ scores

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New Charles Murray black-white IQ difference research article

As noted in prior posts, research on black-white intelligence differences has been one of the most hot button topics in individual differences research. Recently there has been a flurry of new articles based on new data sets.

Charles "Bell Curve" Murray has recently completed an analysis of BW differences across all three standardization samples of the Woodcock-Johnson intelligence battery (WJ, WJ-R, WJ III). His article (the title and abstract which are reproduced below) is currently "in press" in the journal Intelligence.

Given my conflict of interest (coauthor of the WJ III) I'm not going to make any comments. Readers can read and form their own judgments and interpretations. URL link is provided below


Murray, C. (2007,in press). The magnitude and components of change in the black–white IQ difference from 1920 to 1991: A birth cohort analysis of the Woodcock–Johnson standardizations. Intelligence. (click here to view)

Abstract

• The black–white difference in test scores for the three standardizations of the Woodcock–Johnson battery of cognitive tests is analyzed in terms of birth cohorts covering the years from 1920 through 1991. Among persons tested at ages 6–65, a narrowing of the difference occurred in overall IQ and in the two most highly g-loaded clusters in the Woodcock–Johnson, Gc and Gf. After controlling for standardization and interaction effects, the magnitude of these reductions is on the order of half a standard deviation from the high point among those born in the 1920s to the low point among those born in the last half of the 1960s and early 1970s. These reductions do not appear for IQ or Gc if the results are restricted to persons born from the mid-1940s onward. The results consistently point to a B–W difference that has increased slightly on all three measures for persons born after the 1960s. The evidence for a high B–W IQ difference among those born in the early part of the 20th century and a subsequent reduction is at odds with other evidence that the B–W IQ difference has remained unchanged. The end to the narrowing of the B–W IQ difference for persons born after the 1960s is consistent with almost all other data that have been analyzed by birth cohort.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, IQ, IQ test, IQ score, intelligence, race, black white differences, individual differences, Woodcock-Johnson, WJ, WJ-R, WJ III, CHC, CHC theory, Gf-Gc, Charles Murray

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WJ III educational interventions publication available

A new WJ III [conflict of interest note - I'm a coauthor of the WJ III] Assessment Service Bulletin was distributed at NASP last week by Riverside Publishing. The title is "Educational Interventions Related to the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement." The reference citation is below as well as a paragraph that describes the purpose of the free download pdf file (click here)

• Wendling, B. J., Schrank, F. A., & Schmitt, A. J. (2007). Educational Interventions Related to the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (Assessment Service Bulletin No. 8). Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.

• Information gleaned from performance on the WJ III ACH can be useful for developing instructional interventions, particularly when limited proficiency is identified in a narrow ability and/or associated with a specific cognitive process. To provide a link between WJ III ACH test performance and academic interventions, this bulletin includes an outline of the narrow abilities defined by CHC theory and brief descriptions of the cognitive processes required for performance in each of the tests; suggested educational interventions that are conceptually related to the narrow abilities and cognitive processes are included (see Table 1). The bulletin is organized according to key areas of reading, writing, math, and oral language instruction and includes a discussion of evidence-based interventions in each area. As examples, some interventions are described in this bulletin. References to research evidence for each suggested intervention are provided for further information.

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Mental excercise via drawing at MoMA

[Double click on image to enlarge]

I'm back! I returned safe and sound from the NASP conference in NY City. While in the city I took time to visit the Museum of Modern Art. My finance took a picture of me next to my favorite exhibit....a set of pencil drawings by Mel Bochner called "Mental Excercise"...where he drew various shapes freehand and then checked how accurate these shapes were (circle; diagonal line; etc.) with drawing tools. An interesting cognitive task.