Cognitive Predictors of Broad Reading and Mathematics in Gifted Readers

Several studies with unselected samples of children have shown that Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) processes are significant predictors of reading (e.g., Das, Georgiou, & Janzen, 2007; Kendeou, Papadopoulos, & Spanoudis, 2015; Naglieri & Rojahn, 2004; Wang, Georgiou, & Das, 2012). Several studies have also shown that successive and simultaneous processing differentiate children with dyslexia from controls (e.g., Das et al., 2007; Deng et al., 2011). However, no studies have examined if these processing skills predict reading or mathematics in a population of gifted readers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine what cognitive processes predict reading and mathematics in a group of children with superior reading performance (a standard score on reading higher than 130). Forty children (18 girls, 22 boys; mean age = 10.35) were assessed on Planning (Planned Codes, Matching Numbers), Attention (Expressive Attention, Number Detection), Simultaneous (Nonverbal Matrices, Visual-Verbal Relations), Successive (Word Series, Sentence Repetition) processing from Cognitive Assessment System (Naglieri & Das, 1997) as well as on reading (Word Identification, Reading Fluency, Passage Comprehension) and math (Calculations, Math Fluency, Applied Problems) from Woodcock-Johnson III (Mather & Mather, 2002). Results of regression analyses indicated that only planning was a significant predictor of broad reading and broad mathematics. These findings suggest that, in a highly selective group of gifted readers, the ability to develop strategies, monitor one’s own progress, and change plans when needed is important in further supporting a child’s reading and mathematics performance.