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COGNITIVE ABILITIES (G FACTORS)

Those who evaluate students use a system to determine the general cognitive abilities of students (known as "Gs"). Understanding the "Gs" allows educators to select specific evidence-based accommodations and instructional strategies that target individual student strengths and challenges.  See the Instructional Implications/Accommodations page for information on how the "G" impacts the student in the classroom, and how you might accommodate for the deficit area.

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Crystallized Intelligence or Comprehension-Knowledge (Gc)

the ability to understand language, vocabulary development, general information, and lexical knowledge

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Fluid Reasoning (Gf)

the ability to think when faced with a relatively new task that can't be performed automatically; forming concepts and abstract thoughts

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Long-Term Storage & Retrieval (Gl and Gr)

  • Not long-term memory

  • Gl is learning efficiency (how you learn information proficiently)

  • Gr is retrieval fluency (how quickly you represent and reproduce information that has been stored)

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Short-Term Memory (Gsm/Gwm)

working memory is the ability to temporarily hold information in immediate awareness and use it within a few seconds​

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Processing Speed (Gs)

the ability to perform cognitive tasks fluently and automatically, to complete tasks within a given time frame 

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Auditory Processing (Ga)

  • not the ability to hear

  • the ability to analyze, synthesize, and discriminate sounds

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Visual Processing (Gv)

  • not the ability to see

  • the ability to generate, perceive, analyze, synthesize, manipulate, transform, and think with visual patterns and stimuli

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Attention 

the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli.

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Executive Functioning

a set of processes that all have to do with managing oneself and one's resources in order to achieve a goal. It is an umbrella term for the neurologically-based skills involving mental control and self-regulation.

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Adapted from: Essentials of Cross Battery Assessment, 3rd Edition; Flanagan, Dawn P., Ortiz, Samuel O.,

Alfonso, Vincent C.: Wiley 2013 and

Essentials of Planning, Selecting, and Tailoring Interventions for Unique Learners; Mascolo, Jennifer T., Alfonso, Vincent C., Flanagan, Dawn P.; Wiley 2014

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