Child Neuropsychology最新文献

Early childhood executive functioning (EF) predicts later adjustment and academic achievement. However, measuring EF consistently and efficiently across settings in early childhood can be challenging. Most researchers use task-based measures of EF, but these methods present practical challenges that impede implementation in some settings. The current study of 380 3-5-year-old children in the United States evaluated the psychometric properties of a new 14-item parent-reported measure of EF in a diverse urban school district. This questionnaire aimed to capture a normative range of EF skills in ecologically valid contexts. There was evidence for two specific subscales - one that measures children's EF challenges and another that measures children's EF skills. Results suggested that several items demonstrated differential item functioning by age and race. After adjusting for measurement differences across demographic groups and controlling for age at screening, the EF challenges subscale was more strongly related to task-based measures of EF than was the EF skills subscale. EF challenges predicted third-grade math achievement, controlling for demographic variables and a performance-based measure of children's early cognitive and academic skills. Results suggest that this parent report of EF could be a useful and effective early childhood screening tool.

International guidelines highlight the importance of using appropriate and culturally fair test materials when conducting clinical psychological assessments. In the present study, the generalizability of the Swedish WISC-V with Scandinavian normative data was explored in 6-16-year-old Swedish-speaking children in Finland (N = 134), as no local test versions or norms are available for this minority. First, metric measurement invariance was established, i.e., the constructs measured were equivalent between the standardization data and the present sample. Second, the performance of this minority group on the Swedish WISC-V was compared to the Scandinavian normative mean. The findings showed that the Finland-Swedish children performed overall higher than the normative mean on the Swedish WISC-V, with an FSIQ of 103. The performance was significantly higher also in the indexes VSI, FRI, and WMI as well as in several subtests. However, in the subtest Vocabulary, the Finland-Swedish children achieved significantly lower scores than the Scandinavian mean. Further analyses showed significant associations between cognitive performance and age as well as parental education. For the VCI and the FSIQ, performance increased significantly with age, despite the use of age-standardized scaled scores. The general high performance was suggested to relate to the overall high educational level of the Finland-Swedes as well as to other cultural and test-related factors. The results have implications for clinicians conducting assessments with this minority, but also highlight the importance of establishing test fairness by validating tests when used in different cultural groups.

Learning to read and write are essential academic skills that children develop during their early years of primary school. These skills are supported by various predictive indices that emerge in early childhood. This review has three main goals: to identify which factors are closely examined as predictors for reading and writing, specifically decoding and encoding skills, in different populations and languages (Objective 1); to assess the longitudinal relationship between these predictors and reading and writing skills (Objective 2), considering difficulties or disorders in these areas (Objective 3), during school-age. Using the PRISMA methodology, 81 articles were reviewed. As a first result, there is a significant difference in the number of studies investigating the relationship between predictors and reading (n = 75) compared to writing (n = 18). The most extensively studied predictors for both skills are phonological awareness, language skills, executive functions, rapid automatized naming, and non-verbal cognitive skills. English is the most studied language. Results indicated variability in the relationship between predictors and reading/writing, possibly due to differences in the analyzed populations, chosen outcome measures, and statistical analyses. Additionally, few studies explored the long-term connection between predictors and learning difficulties. In summary, recognizing the multifaceted nature of predictive factors for reading and writing is crucial, and early screening is important for tailored preventive interventions in case of early deficiencies. Future research should delve into writing, conduct cross-cultural studies with diverse languages, and explore the role of predictive factors in understanding reading and writing difficulties or disorders.

Diagnosis of sports-related concussion (SRC) primarily relies on an athlete's self-report of injury and associated symptoms. Social pressures and attitudes surrounding SRC influence athlete reporting behavior. Unfortunately, underreporting of SRC symptoms is an issue among adolescent athletes. Nondisclosure of SRC symptoms may lead to premature return-to-play and potential persistent symptoms. This scoping review summarizes prevailing theories that explain SRC symptom reporting intent and behavior among adolescent athletes. Literature was reviewed following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Review guidelines. Inter-rater reliability was calculated at each stage. Thirty-four articles published between 2013-2024 were included. Inter-rater reliability was fair to perfect across all review stages. Of the 16 unique theories described, the Theory of Reasoned Action/Theory of Planned Behavior (TRA/TPB) was the most frequently cited theory explaining SRC symptom reporting behavior. Although the TRA/TPB framework was useful when predicting SRC symptom reporting intent, it did not adequately predict reporting behavior, consistent with the broader health behavior literature which has established that intention is not a good predictor of behavior. In light of these findings, new frameworks must be considered that consider neurodevelopmental, cognitive, and cultural factors, as these may be more useful for understanding SRC symptom reporting behavior in adolescence.

This study sought to determine the influence of various demographic variables on pass/failure on a pediatric performance validity test, the Memory Validity Profile (MVP) in a mixed clinical sample (n = 393; 62% male, 62% White, median age 11 years). Children who failed the MVP (n = 72, 18%) according to a uniform cutoff of ≤30/32 correct were younger and were more likely to have a special education history than those who passed it (n = 321, 82%). There were no statistically significant group differences on other variables such as sex, race, parental education, history of treatment for ADHD or other psychiatric disorder. Possible false positive findings were relatively most common in children under the age of 10 years and in children who received special education services under the Physical/Other Health Impairment or Speech & Language Impairment qualifications. We conclude that a uniform cutoff for pass/failure on the MVP across any and all ages and diagnostic categories is ill-advised. Instead, we recommend the development of various adjusted cutoffs for this test that maintain 90% specificity at both ends of the age spectrum as well as with different medical or developmental conditions.

While several rating scales reliably and cost-effectively assess behavioral executive functioning (EF) in youths with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), questions remain about the impact of comorbidities and dual NDDs on EF as measured by these scales in clinical samples. This study compared behavioral EF profiles among youths with NDDs, both with and without psychiatric comorbidities, non-NDDs (e.g. anxiety), and controls, as well as youths with single versus dual NDDs. The comparisons were made using the Swedish version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2) parent form. Participants included 79 youths (mean [SD] age 12.1 [3.0]; 50.6% girls) diagnosed with various psychiatric conditions, and 151 matched controls (mean [SD] age 12.4 [2.8]; 51.7% girls). Results showed significant differences with very large effect sizes in all behavioral EF domains among youths with NDDs, regardless of whether they had non-NDD psychiatric comorbidities, compared to youths with non-NDDs or controls. The latter two groups differed in six of eight behavioral EF domains, with the Shift domain showing the largest effect size (Cohen's d = 0.94). Surprisingly, no significant differences were found between the NDD-only group and the NDD group with non-NDD psychiatric comorbidities. Youths with dual NDDs had more deficits in four of the nine behavioral EF domains compared to those with a single NDD, with the Shift domain again showing the largest effect size (Cohen's d = 0.91). This study highlights the essential role of NDD in distinguishing clinically significant parent-rated behavioral EF deficits in youths, regardless of other psychiatric diagnoses.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders in children. According to developmental literature findings, there is a link between executive function (EF) and ADHD. Although EF deficits vary across ADHD presentations in children, working memory capacity is commonly associated with attention impairments. Notably, deficits in working memory capacity are also observed in frequent mind wandering reports for typically developing children. Mind wandering is shifting attention away from a current task to an unrelated thought. To explore the relationship between EF and mind wandering in children with ADHD (n = 47) and further compare our current sample to a typically developing (control) group from a previous study (n = 47), all participants completed three EF-related tasks. They concurrently reported if they were on task or mind wandering. Our results indicate better short-term memory capacity predicted lower mind wandering frequency in children who reported high levels of ADHD symptoms. Similar trends were observed for working memory capacity and ADHD symptomatology. Children with ADHD also reported more overall and unintentional mind wandering on questionnaires compared to children without ADHD. However, the relationship between EF and mind wandering did not differ between these groups. The current study suggests memory-related cognitive abilities may inform our understanding and management of mind wandering in children, driving the development of interventions targeting attention regulation.

The aim of this study was to examine the concordance between parental and self-rated and performance-based tests of executive function in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). A secondary aim was to explore how this concordance is related to parents' self-rated life satisfaction and status as a carrier mother versus non-carrier mother. In a cross-sectional study design, 70 boys with DMD, aged 5-14, and their parents were included. Results indicated no significant correlation between performance-based measures and parental or self-rated assessments of executive function (EF). However, parents with low life satisfaction and/or carrier status rated their child's EF skills significantly lower. But self-rated life satisfaction did not correlate with status as a carrier mother or the performance-based measures of the boys' and the boys' performance-based EF skills did not correlate with either their parents' life satisfaction or status as a carrier mother. These findings indicate that the two sources of information may not measure the same construct. One possible explanation for this is that our data supports the framework of hot and cold executive function (EF) skills and that these EF skills must be identified using different methods. Another possible explanation could be that parental ratings of child EF skills may also include measurement of carrier burden, parents EF skills, and the families' abilities for psychosocial adjustments in everyday life.

Fetal inflammation, typically measured indirectly through prenatal maternal cytokine markers, has been shown to impact early childhood executive functions (EFs), which are central to later cognitive and life outcomes. Here, we assessed the impact of prenatal inflammation on EF developmental trajectories using direct placenta histopathology measures in 131 mothers who predominantly self-identified as Black (90.8% Black; 0.8% Asian American, 1.5% biracial, 0.8% Latinx, 3.1% White, 3.1% Missing). We found that placental measures of inflammation were associated with limited gain in EF development from 3 to 5 years old. In follow up analyses, we addressed whether screening questionnaires in infancy might aid in classification of infants as higher risk for subsequent EF problems. We found that parent responses to the Ages & Stages Questionnaire and the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile at 12 months predict the development of EF abilities in children exposed to chronic inflammation. These findings open promising opportunities for early screening of children at risk for poor executive functioning in children exposed to prenatal inflammation.

This study aimed to assess the extent of cognitive impairment in children and adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). While cognitive deficits are recognized in other systemic rheumatic diseases, exploration within the pediatric JIA population remains limited. The investigation utilized a comprehensive approach to examine neuropsychological test performance. A cohort of 160 participants (79 JIA, 81 healthy controls aged 8-17) underwent evaluations using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL), and the computerized neurocognitive test battery Central Nervous System Vital Signs (CNSVS). Children with JIA exhibited statistically significant cognitive deficits across various parameters (p < .05). This was associated with an increased prevalence of lifelong psychiatric illnesses and diminished overall quality of life compared to healthy counterparts (p < .05). Analysis highlighted that specific JIA subtypes, excluding Oligoarthritis, significantly elevated the risk of neurocognitive impairments, emphasizing the impact on various cognitive outcomes (OR range: 3.1-5.1, 95% CI: 1.163-19.980). Additionally, the active disease stage was identified as a specific risk factor, amplifying the likelihood of low executive functions by 4.3 times (OR: 4.363, 95% CI: 1.095-17.378). This study underscores the critical importance of recognizing and addressing neurocognitive impairments in children with JIA. Specific attention to disease subtypes and activity levels is crucial, with the potential for targeted interventions to enhance overall cognitive well-being and quality of life in this vulnerable population.