Biomedical subjects

H Lee Swanson

Publications and source records attributed to H Lee Swanson.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

A Japanese short form of the Swanson Cognitive Processing Test to measure working memory: reliability, validity, and differences in scores between primary school children of the United States and Japan.

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of a Japanese short form of the Swanson Cognitive Processing Test, which assesses capacity of working memory. Test-retest reliability was acceptable (r = .76). Concurrent validity was suggested through comparison of scores on the Reading Span Task (r = .55). Means on the Japanese short form were comparable with means for the 3 subtests for the older group and 2 subtests for the younger group. With the exception of the Auditory Digit Sequence, results suggested that both the Japanese short form and the initial Swanson Cognitive Processing Test measured comparably the working memory in the two samples of children.

Child↗

PubMed2005

Cognitive processes that underlie mathematical precociousness in young children.

The working memory (WM) processes that underlie young children's (ages 6-8 years) mathematical precociousness were examined. A battery of tests that assessed components of WM (phonological loop, visual-spatial sketch pad, and central executive), naming speed, random generation, and fluency was administered to mathematically precocious and average-achieving children. The results showed that (a) precocious children performed better on executive processing, inhibition, and naming speed tasks than did average-achieving children, although the two groups were statistically comparable on measures of the phonological loop and visual-spatial sketch pad, and (b) the executive component of WM predicted mathematical accuracy independent of chronological age, reading, inhibition, and naming speed. The results support the notion that the executive system is an important predictor of children's mathematical precociousness and that this system can operate independent of individual differences in the phonological loop, inhibition, and reading in predicting mathematical accuracy.

Child↗

PubMed2004

Working memory and phonological processing as predictors of children's mathematical problem solving at different ages.

The study explored the contribution of working memory (WM) to mathematical problem solving in younger (8-year-old) and older (11-year-old) children. The results showed that (1) significant age-related differences in WM performance were maintained when measures of phonological processing (i.e., digit naming speed, short-term memory, phonological deletion) were partialed from the analysis; (2) WM predicted solution accuracy of word problems independently of measures of problem representation, knowledge of operations and algorithms, phonological processing, fluid intelligence, reading, and math skill; and (3) a second-order WM factor was correlated with problem solving, suggesting that a general or executive system underlies age-related performance. The results were interpreted as support for the notion that the executive system was an important predictor of age-related changes in problem solving beyond the contribution of math and reading skills, and this system operates independently of the phonological system and domain-specific knowledge in predicting solution accuracy.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2003

Age-related differences in learning disabled and skilled readers' working memory.

This study determines whether age-related deficits in learning disabled (LD) readers' working memory performance reflect delays in retrieval efficiency and/or storage capacity. The study compared LD and skilled readers' working memory performance (N=226) across four age groups (7, 10, 13, and 20) for phonological, visual-spatial, and semantic information under initial (non-cued), gain (cues that bring performance to an asymptotic level), and maintenance conditions (asymptotic conditions without cues). The important results were that LD readers' working memory performance was inferior to skilled readers on verbal and visual-spatial working memory tasks across all age groups and these differences increased on gain and maintenance conditions when compared to initial conditions. These reading group differences remained when age, reading, and mathematics were partialed from the analysis. The results support a general capacity explanation of reading group differences that is not totally dependent on reading skill. These differences in capacity reflect demands placed on both the accessing of new information and the maintenance of old information that extend beyond the phonological system.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Instructing adolescents with learning disabilities: converting a meta-analysis to practice.

A previous meta-analysis indicated that eight instructional factors--Questioning, Sequencing and Segmentation, Skill Modeling, Organization and Explicit Practice, Small-Group Setting, Indirect Teacher Activities (e.g., homework), Technology, and Scaffolding-captured the majority of successful intervention programs for adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). Most important was the Organization/Explicit factor, which contributed significant variance (16%) to effect size. This factor included two important instructional components: advance organization and explicit practice. In this article, we convert these findings into practical guidelines to direct instructional practice.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Reading comprehension skills of young adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia.

This study explores the contribution of cognitive processes to comprehension skills in adults who suffered from childhood developmental dyslexia (CD). The performance of adults with CD (ages 17 to 23), chronological age-matched (CA) adults, and reading level-matched (RL) children was compared on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, working memory (WM), general knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. The results showed that adults with CD scored lower on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, WM, general knowledge, and vocabulary when compared to CA readers but were comparable to RL children on the majority of process measures. Phonological processing, naming speed, vocabulary, general knowledge, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to reading comprehension accuracy, whereas WM, intelligence, phonological processing, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to comprehension fluency. Adults with CD scored lower than CA adults and higher than RL children on measures of lexical processing, WM, and listening comprehension when word recognition and intelligence were partialed from the analysis. In summary, constraints in phonological processing and naming speed mediate only some of the influence of high-order processes on reading comprehension. Furthermore, adults with CD experience difficulties in WM, listening comprehension, and vocabulary independently of their word recognition problems and intellectual ability.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Do different components of working memory underlie different subgroups of reading disabilities?

The purpose of this study was to determine the components of working memory (WM) that underlie less skilled readers' comprehension and word recognition difficulties. Performance of 3 less skilled reading subgroups---children with reading disabilities (RD) in both word recognition and comprehension; children with comprehension deficits only; and children with low verbal IQ, word recognition, and comprehension (poor readers)--was compared to that of skilled readers on WM, short-term memory (STM), processing speed, executive, and phonological processing measures. Ability group comparisons showed that (a) skilled readers outperformed all less skilled readers on measures of WM, updating, and processing speed; (b) children with comprehension deficits only outperformed children with RD on measures of WM, STM, phonological processing, and processing speed; and (c) children with RD outperformed poor readers on WM and phonological processing measures. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that (a) subgroup differences on WM tasks among less skilled readers were moderated by a storage system not specific to phonological skills, and (b) STM and updating contributed significant variance to WM beyond what was contributed by reading group classification. The latter finding suggested that some differences in storage and executive processing emerged between skilled and less skilled readers that were not specific to reading.

Aptitude↗