ABSTRACT
Recent technological advance in brain imaging, and a vast number of research studies in the cognitive, developmental, and neuropsychology fields, have led to a convergence of empirical evidence supporting a more complete picture of cognitive functioning and development than was previously recognized(NRC,2003). The emergence of several in vivo brain imaging techniques, particularly functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have enabled researchers to examine neuropsychological correlates of cognitive functioning in disabled and non-disabled learners (Alarcon, Pennington, Filipek, & Defries, 2000; Shaywitz, 2003). The brain-behavior relationships found for reading, mathematics, and writing in the early elementary school years are entirely compatible with the cognitive functions assessed through Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory, a psychometric model of cognitive functioning (Flanagan, Ortiz, & Alfonso, 2007; Floyd, Shaver, & McGrew, 2003). CHC Theory represents a taxonomy of cognitive processes derived primarily from large scale studies using factor analytic evidence, and has strong correlations to reading, writing, and math skill acquisition and achievement (Evans, Floyd, McGrew, & Leforgee, 2001; Floyd, McGrew, & Evans, in press; Floyd, Evans, & McGrew, 2003; Schrank & Flanagan, 2003). The compatibility of the neuropsychological and psychometric approaches to cognitive functioning suggests converging lines of evidence from separate lines of inquiry, a validity dimension essential to the study of individual differences in how children think and learn.
