Applied Neuropsychology: Child最新文献

Sport concussions can have deleterious effects on the health of children. Despite the high risk of concussions for certain sports, previous research indicates many parents would let their children play these sports. Understanding which high-risk sports parents will let their children play, and why parents let them play high-risk sports is critical to understanding how best to educate parents about concussion risk and its consequences. The present study replicated previous research by Fedor and Gunstad (2016) and Ferraro et al. (2021) to determine whether parents would let their children play a variety of high-risk sports. It also examined some high-risk sports not previously studied, and how gender and grade level of a child affected parents' decisions. Lastly, it determined if concussion knowledge, gender beliefs, parental history of a concussion diagnosed by a physician, estimates about how many high school athletes play varsity college sports, and demographic variables predicted parental willingness to let their children play high-risk sports. A total of 390 parents participated in the survey. Most parents expressed willingness to let their children play the high-risk sports sampled except for tackle football. Gender beliefs, if a parent had a concussion, and education predicted if parents would let their children play high-risk sports. Recommendations are made about how to improve parents' decisions about whether to let their children play high-risk sports.

Visuomotor function impairment is commonly observed in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). In this case report, a 13-year-old child diagnosed with NF1 and impaired visuomotor skills participated in an 8-week tablet computer-based cognitive training for visuomotor function. The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, 6th Edition (VMI-6) and the Korean Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale for Youth were administered before and after the intervention to assess effectiveness. The Beery-Buktenica VMI-6 raw score improved from 17 to 24, and the Korean Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale for Youth score changed from 45 to 42. These results demonstrate the potential of tablet computer-based cognitive training as a therapeutic intervention to enhance visuomotor function in children with impaired visuomotor skills, without the influence of digital media addiction.

Aim: The aim of this study was to adapt the Children Participation Questionnaire (CPQ) into Turkish culture and evaluate its psychometric properties in typically developing children aged 4-6 years. This study involved 235 typically developing children and 61 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents completed the Turkish CPQ (CPQ-T) and demographic form. The adaptation process followed the World Health Organization's guidelines. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted, and construct validity was assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test to compare participation levels between typically developing children and those with ASD. Reliability was measured through Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability, with agreement assessed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and McDonald's ω. Sensitivity and specificity were determined using ROC curves. The study demonstrated significant differences in participation levels between the study group and children with ASD across all domains (p < 0.001). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit (CMIN/DF = 2.692, GFI = 0.862, IFI = 0.932). The CPQ showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.978) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.943 to 0.983). Sensitivity and specificity analyses yielded high values, with Area Under the Curve (AUC) ranging from 0.956 to 0.978. The Turkish version of the CPQ is a valid and reliable tool for assessing child participation, effectively distinguishing between typically developing children and those with ASD. This study contributes significantly to the limited literature on the CPQ, highlighting its utility in clinical and research settings for evaluating children's participation.

The present study examined the effects of orthographic knowledge (OK), phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and phonological working memory (PWM) on the reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension of elementary school students. Results from a sample of 176 typically developing children in the second through fourth grades (mean age = 8.9 years) revealed that the correlation between reading and the other variables (PWM, PA, RAN, and OK) was significant. In Persian, which has an abjad writing system and opaque orthography, OK and RAN were the best predictors of reading. The relationship between reading skills and other factors was most evident in the fourth grade. We also found that female students in the fourth grade performed significantly better than male students on reading, RAN and OK. This study highlights of the fact that rapid naming and orthographic processing are more important than phonological processing for predicting reading skills in Persian.

This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between gender, age, and pragmatic language development in n = 77 Italian preschool children (49-84 months) with and without neurodevelopmental disorders. The sample included 62 children without psychiatric history (n = 34 females, n = 27 males) and n = 15 children with psychiatric history (2 females, n = 13 males). Eight cases (n = 6 males, n = 2 females, 59-75 months) were matched for age and gender. The neurodevelopmental disorder group used the Targeted Observation of Pragmatics in Children's Conversations (TOPICC) tool. Pragmatic language skills were assessed with the Pragmatic Language Abilities (APL), Children's Communication Checklist-Version 2 (CCC-2), and TOPICC scales. Results showed no significant relationship between gender and pragmatic language development subscales, except for a marginally significant relationship with figurative metaphor scores. Age was positively correlated with verbal metaphor, metaphor, implied meaning, and overall pragmatic language skills, but not with figurative metaphor or situations scores. Paired samples t-tests and Wilcoxon tests compared matched groups, revealing significant differences between children with and without neurodevelopmental disorders on the TOPICC, APL, and CCC-2 tools. The findings highlight the importance of early identification and intervention for children with pragmatic language impairment (PLI) and the need for further research with larger samples.

Motor-free visual perception abilities are important reference indicator for children's literacy skills. In the absence of Chinese norms, this study utilized the motor-free visual perception test-4 (MVPT-4) to assess the visual perception abilities of children aged 5-12 years in Xuzhou, China, to lay the foundation for establishing standardized norms in China. From May to July 2023, a stratified random sampling method was used to conduct MVPT-4 evaluation on 525 kindergarten and primary school children in Xuzhou, China. MVPT-4 raw scores in each age group showed an increasing trend with age, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in raw scores between genders in each age group (P > 0.05). Standard scores in each age group showed no significant difference compared to the American norms (P > 0.05). The results of this study indicated that in the absence of national or regional norms in China, American norms can be used to assess the visual perception abilities of Chinese children. This study provides a reference for clinicians and educators to identify children with potential dyslexia.

Play skills in children with autism are limited due to autism symptoms. It is important to determine the effect of sensory processing skill, which is one of these symptoms, on play skills. Therefore, we aimed to investigate of the relationship between play skills and sensory processing of children with autism. A total of 58 children with autism (n = 29) and typically developing children (n = 29) participated. We used the Sensory Profile and the Revised Knox Preschool Play Scale. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used. Children with autism demonstrated a significantly lower developmental play age and were rated lower on all dimensions of the RKPPS than typically developing children. Moreover, the results of this study showed that there are complex correlations between play skills and sensory processing in children with autism. Sensory processing and play skills have complex relationships in children with autism.

Continued advancements in the treatment of pediatric brain tumors have resulted in a growing proportion of children surviving previously incurable diagnoses. However, survivors of pediatric brain tumors show reduced Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) compared to healthy populations and non-CNS childhood cancer survivors. This review systematically evaluates the existing literature on the influence of supratentorial and infratentorial brain tumor locations on Health-Related Quality of Life outcomes in survivors of pediatric brain tumors. Five electronic databases were searched for relevant articles published between their inception and January 2022. A purpose-developed evaluative tool was constructed to assess the quality of eligible studies. 16 of the 5270 identified articles were included in this review (n = 1391). This review found little evidence relating to the impact of brain tumor location on HRQoL, with only one study finding a significant difference between supratentorial and infratentorial tumor survivors. Key limitations of the current evidence include poor statistical reporting, ambiguous construct definitions, and insufficient adjustment for confounds. Findings from this review show that recovery from a pediatric brain tumor extends beyond recovery post-treatment and that further study into the factors influencing survivor HRQoL, including the influence of tumor location, is necessary.

Background: Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit impairments in inhibitory control, which can impact their cognitive functioning. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Infra-Low Frequency (ILF) neurofeedback in improving inhibitory control among high-functioning adolescents with ASD.

Methods: A single-blind, two-armed randomized controlled trial was conducted with 24 adolescents with ASD randomly divided into two groups (active and sham; n = 12 per group). Both groups participated in 15 sessions of one-hour ILF neurofeedback, three times per week. The ILF neurofeedback protocol was applied to the active group, while the sham group received an inactive intervention. Outcomes were measured at the pretest, post-test, and follow-up stages.

Results: ILF neurofeedback significantly improved inhibitory control in adolescents with ASD, as indicated by improvements in behavioral measures and absolute power analysis. The most significant differences were observed in alpha, theta, and gamma waves located in the central areas of the left gyrus. However, no significant effect was observed at the follow-up level on either behavioral measures or absolute power.

Conclusion: The results suggest that ILF neurofeedback is effective in improving inhibitory control in high-functioning adolescents with ASD. This non-invasive intervention has the potential to improve inhibitory control in this population. However, future research is needed to determine the long-term effects of ILF neurofeedback.

The effect of bilingualism on verbal learning and memory was explored in different studies. Different researchers assume that the Arabic diglossia, represents a case of bilingualism in the lingual context. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the impact of diglossia in Arabic on the phonological working memory among beginner readers. Forty-one Arabic first graders (M = 7.13, SD = .73) were administered three tasks of phonological working memory in two versions (i.e., spoken and standard language); Two tasks were designed to test verbal retrieval and one task was designed to test remembering of instructions. The participants showed significant diglossic differences between spoken and standard stimuli in verbal retrieval tasks while no such significant differences appeared in remembering of instructions' task, especially, when the processing demands increased. In addition, the findings may shed light on the importance of developing research tools and tasks with a higher level of sensitivity in order to examine the diglossic effect on memory functions in general and verbal working memory in particular. The results were discussed considering the impact of the Arabic diglossia on cognitive and memory processing skills.