Implications of the reflectivity-impulsivity dimension for special education

The cognitive development of exceptional children has been a topic of discussion for many years. Cognitively based explanations for faulty academic and social performance, however, have not been forthcoming. A major problem has been that theorists and researchers alike have viewed cognition as a global process. Reliance upon standardized global intelligence tests for research data has contributed to the dilemma. Therefore, theories have been presented in universal terminology, and research has neglected many subtle differences among individuals. If special educators are to understand the cognitive processes of exceptional children, the search for global explanations of behavior must be attenuated and redirected toward the understanding of individual differences in cognition. The task can be accomplished by dissecting the process of cognition into smaller, more discrete units so that the dynamics of cognition can be observed.