The neurocognitive assessment of Hispanic English-language learners with reading failure

This study examined the performance of referred Hispanic English-language learners (N = 40) on the English and Spanish versions of the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997 ). The CAS measures basic neuropsychological processes based on the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) theory (Naglieri & Das, 1997 ; Naglieri & Otero, 2011c). Full Scale (FS) scores as well as PASS processing scale scores were compared, and no significant differences were found in FS scores or in any of the PASS processes. The CAS FS scores on the English (M = 86.4, SD = 8.73) and Spanish (M = 87.1, SD = 7.94) versions correlated .94 (uncorrected) and .99 (corrected for range restriction). Students earned their lowest scores in Successive processing regardless of the language in which the test was administered. PASS cognitive profiles were similar on English and Spanish versions of the PASS scales. These findings suggest that students scored similarly on both versions of the CAS and that the CAS may be a useful measure of these four abilities for Hispanic children with underdeveloped English-language proficiency.