The Children’s Psychological Processes Scale (CPPS)

1. The Children’s PsychologicalProcesses Scale (CPPS) Dr. Milton J. Dehn

2. Children’s Psychological Processes Scale (CPPS) Brief Overview • Standardized teacher rating scale • Ages 5-0-0 to 12-11-30 • 121 items across 11 subscales • Entirely online, internet-web based • Online administration time of 15 minutes • Online scoring and report • Author: Milton Dehn; published by Schoolhouse Educational Services, 2012 • Measurement Consultant: Kevin McGrew

3. The Needs for the CPPS • IDEA definition of LD “disorder…..basic psychological processes” • Several states mandate a processing component for LD identification • Neuropsych interest • Even with RTI, some practitioners evaluate it • The previous processing rating scale (PPC) has limitations

4. Uses of the CPPS • LD Evaluations (Primary Purpose) • Identify psych processing deficits • Pattern of strengths and weaknesses • Planning further assessment • Screening • Identifies need for intervention • Predicts academic skills development • Useful in planning comprehensive assessment • Measure progress during interventions • Through the use of change-sensitive W-scores

5. What is psychological processing? • Brain processes, operations, functions • Any time mental contents are operated on • When information is perceived, transformed, manipulated, stored, retrieved, expressed • Whenever we think, reason, problem-solve • Basic and higher level processes • Can’t learn and perform without processing • Learning depends on these processes • Doesn’t include knowledge or academic skills

6. What is a Processing Disorder? • A group of symptoms involving abnormal behaviors • A within child, brain-based deficit • That impairs academic learning • Not many official processing disorders • E.g. CAPD, aphasia, amnesia, dyspraxia

7. Evidence for a Processing Disorderand SLD Diagnosis • It’s not specific to one environment • A normative weakness (below average score) • Intra-individual: score is significantly weaker than predicted from discrepancy analysis • Best if it’s an intra-individual weakness and a normative weakness (this is a deficit; these are rare) • It’s impacting academic learning • The low psychological processes and low academics have research-based links • The linked process and academic skills both have low scores (consistency approach)

8. Processes and Academic Learning • Psychological processes are like “aptitudes” • Relations established through research • Flanagan et al., & McGrew’s review of research • Swanson, Geary, and others • The influence of processes varies by age • Look for academic area and related psychological processes to both be low

9. Characteristics of CPPS Processes • Brain-based • Interrelated • Necessary for academic learning • They underlie academic performance • They are broad processes • Observable in classroom • Processes can be validly assessed through ratings; similar to BRIEF

10. Psychological Processes Measured by the CPPS • Attention • Auditory Processing • Executive Functions • Fine Motor • Fluid Reasoning • Long-Term Recall • Oral Language • Phonological Processing • Processing Speed • Visual-Spatial Processing • Working Memory • General Processing Ability (Composite)

11. Attention • In classroom: Necessary for learning • Attention deficits part of LD; not necessarily ADHD • Types: Selective, focused, divided, sustained • The problem is attentional control & lack of inhibition • On CPPS, links to Executive Functions and Working Memory

12. Auditory Processing • Ability to perceive, analyze, synthesize, and discriminate auditory stimuli, mainly speech • In classroom: Perceiving and comprehending instruction; being able to understand words with background noise

13. Executive Functions • Management of cognitive functions and psychological processes • Effectiveness depends on self-monitoring, self-regulation, and metacognition • Has a longer course of development • More to do with classroom performance than learning of academic skills

14. Fine Motor • Hits developmental plateau by age 7 • On CPPS, has weaker relations with cognitive processes in general but has strong relations with academics • On CPPS, pairs up with visual-spatial process.

15. Fluid Reasoning • Deductive, inductive reasoning, especially with novel materials • Has a longer course of development • More important for applied academics

16. Long-Term Recall • Close connection with other processes and with academic learning in general • Includes encoding, consolidation, storage, and retrieval • Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) is part of

17. Oral Language • Not the content (vocabulary) or receptive language but the oral expression processes

18. Phonological Processing • Processing of phonemes, e.g. blending • Phonemic awareness is part of

19. Processing Speed • How quickly information flows through the processing system; a matter of efficiency • Too slow: info. lost, process not completed

20. Visual-Spatial Processing • The ability to perceive, analyze, synthesize, manipulate and think with visual patterns • A strength in most LD cases • Weak relations with all academics; more of a “threshold” process

21. Working Memory • Processing while retaining information • On CPPS includes short-term memory • Both verbal and visual

22. General Processing Ability (GPA) • GPA score is the average of all process scores • Emerges from factor analysis; similar to concept of general intelligence • Processes function in an inter-related fashion • Most processes contribute to any given behavior, task • On CPPS defined as “the underlying efficiency of processing automaticity”

23. CPPS Items • For report, grouped by subscale • In developmental (ability) order from lowest item to highest item

24. CPPS Development • Initial pilot study with 75 items and 10 scales • Result: More range needed • Item tryout with 147 items • 11 scales in standardization version • Items reduced to 121 • Rasch item analysis used throughout • W-scale used throughout • Exploratory factor analysis

25. CPPS Standardization • 1,121 students rated by 278 teachers • 128 communities in 30 states • All data collected online • Demographics match U.S. Census well • Scores were weighted • Included children with disabilities • Demographics details

26. Reverse Scoring • Relative to achievement & cognitive tests • High scores mean high difficulty and low ability • All items stated negatively • 0 = Never; 1 = Sometimes; 2 = Often; 3 = Almost Always • Inconsistent ratings when positively stated items were tried during item tryout

27. Norms and Scores • 4 age groups (5-6; 7-8; 9-10; 11-12) • T-scores derived from linear transformation of actual standardization distribution • T-Scores, W-Scores, confidence intervals, and conversion to standard scores

28. Sex Differences • Boys have more processing problems • No sign. Sex differences in fluid reasoning, phonological, and visual-spatial • Norms not divided by sex • Combined sex norms better for identification

29. CPPS Administration • Online rating scale 12-15 minutes for teachers to complete • Can print free paper copy and enter later • Must answer all items (but can save incomplete) • Responses: Never, Sometimes, Often, Almost Always • This file is stored, and then accessed for report

30. CPPS Report • Brief narrative, graph, and a table of scores • Change-sensitive W-scores • T-scores; percentiles; confidence intervals • Intra-individual strengths and weakness discrepancy table • T-score to standard score converter • Can be re-run with different options (without a charge)

31. Item Printout • Teacher ratings can be viewed and printed, even before report generated • Numerical values will be shown • Grouped by subscale • Arranged in developmental/difficulty sequence from low to high

32. Discrepancy Analysis • Use discrepancy table to determine pattern of strengths and weaknesses • Predicted score based on mean of other 10 • Regression toward the mean included • +/- 1.00 to 2.00 SD of SEE discrepancy options • Strengths and Weakness labeling is opposite of discrepancy, e.g. “-” value = a strength • Non LD also have a pattern

33. Reliability • Internal consistency subscale reliability ranges from .88 to .98 Link • .99 on Total Score • Inter-rater reliability • Range of .21 to .90 • Median coefficient of 76.5

34. Validity Evidence • Content Validity • Developmental Evidence • WJ III Achievement • WJ III Cognitive • BRIEF • LD • Diagnostic Accuracy

35. Validity: Developmental Evidence • Skewed distributions because • Very few children have processing problems • Fewer processing problems in older children • Most processes fully develop early • Teachers rate relative to that grade level • Dev. changes observed in younger children • Changes observed in upper half of problem distribution • W values used to arrange items in order

36. Factor and Cluster Analysis • A general factor; all subtests load on • General processing ability (GPA) may reflect processing efficiency or automaticity • More GPA presence with younger children • Second factor is Attention, EF, sometimes WM: Self-Regulatory Processes • Third factor is Fine Motor and Visual-Spatial: Visual-Motor processes • Results fairly consistent across age groups