Strategies Used by Puerto Rican Children in the Cognitive Assessment System and Their Relationship with Planning Performance

Abstract

Studies involving the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) planning scale typically use only the subtest and scale scores without assessing the strategies employed by the participants. This study addressed this gap and examined the planning strategies used by children in the CAS2: Spanish version and their relationship with planning performance. We conducted an exploratory cross-sectional study with 26 Puerto Rican children aged 8 to 11. Results showed that no strategies were consistently used by participants according to examinees’ reports (f = 0–46%), but examiners observed consistent use of some strategies such as “coded left to right, top to bottom”, f = 92%; “scanned the page for the next number or letter”, f = 100%. Welch’s t-tests did not show relationships between participants’ performance and the strategies observed by examiners, | mean differences | = 0.05–0.81, ps ≥ 0.05, nor with the strategies reported by participants, | mean differences | = 0.05–1.69, ps ≥ 0.05. These findings suggest that although the examiners may observe the use of strategies, the examinees are unaware of the strategies they use, and the strategies used are not associated with their performance. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.