Child Neuropsychology最新文献

Herein, we report a 12-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who showed a cognitive decline at age 7 and tested positive for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptor (GluR) antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). His cognitive function developed between ages 3 and 5, reaching a total domain developmental quotient (DQ) of 61 on the revised Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development 2001. Despite multiple treatments, his total domain DQ declined to 21 at 10 years and 3 months of age and further to 16 at 12 years and 0 month. The child regressed in cognitive function, losing previously acquired knowledge and skills, resulting in an unbalanced profile. Previously recorded strengths, weaknesses, and preferences were no longer evident. The anti-NMDA-type GluR antibodies might hinder the regaining of cognitive functions once lost and the reconstruction of developmental characteristics in patients with ASD/ADHD. Patients with ASD and ADHD who test positive for NMDA-type GluR antibodies (ELISA) may not follow a typical clinical course.

Preterm birth affects both white matter microstructure and mathematical skills, but little is known about the association between these outcomes. Using a hypothesis-driven ROI approach, we studied five white matter tracts previously associated with mathematical cognition: the corpus callosum, corticospinal tract (CST), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), inferior frontal occipital fasciculus (IFOF), and superior longitudinal fasciculus. Forty-eight children born before 33 weeks of gestation and twenty-seven children born full-term received a diffusion weighted MRI scan and completed a standardized mathematics test at age 5 and again at age 7. Term status significantly moderated the effect of fractional anisotropy (FA) of the right and left CST, left ILF, and left IFOF when predicting mathematical skills at 5 and 7 years of age. Post-hoc analyses of these effects revealed a positive association of FA in these tracts with mathematical skills in the full-term group, while this association was absent or negative in the preterm group. These differences may reflect adaptive processes following preterm birth and the recruitment of alternative pathways during mathematical problem-solving.

Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody-Associated Disorder (MOGAD) is a recently identified demyelinating condition affecting children and adults. Its impact on children's cognitive outcomes remains poorly understood but is a growing area of interest due to potential long-term implications. A systematic PubMed search was conducted to identify English-language studies that assessed cognition in individuals under 18 with MOGAD using neuropsychological tests, screening tools, or questionnaires. Children with MOGAD, particularly those with phenotypes such as AcuteDisseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and Neuromyelitis Optica SpectrumDisorder (NMOSD), often exhibit impairments in intellectual functioning, memory, processing speed, and working memory. However, some children maintain cognitive performance within the normal range. Cognitive difficulties are linked to disease relapses and may develop over time, although brain lesions do not consistently correlate with cognitive outcomes. Current studies, limited by small sample sizes, indicate that children with MOGAD are at risk for cognitive impairments. Regular neuropsychological monitoring is essential for pediatric MOGADpatients to identify and address cognitive challenges early, mitigating risks of academic and occupational underachievement. Multicentre multinational studies are needed to understand the cognitive profile of MOGAD better and assess the influence of disease-related variables on cognitive outcomes.

Dyscalculia, a specific learning disability in mathematics, is linked to deficits in executive functions, yet integrative studies in Arabic-speaking contexts remain scarce. This study examined working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility collectively in children with dyscalculia. Using 64 children (32 per group), advanced techniques including Ridge regression, PCA, and ROC analysis assessed these functions. Both groups demonstrated average intelligence (Raven's Progressive Matrices), with the dyscalculia group showing profound mathematical deficits across nine arithmetic domains. Significant group differences emerged in all three executive functions (p < .001), with large effect sizes (d = -2.15 to -1.80; r = 0.80), extremely high predictive accuracy (ROC-AUC = 0.999, requiring replication), and significant correlations with mathematical performance (r = .32 to .62, all p < .01). Unexpectedly, no significant mediation was observed (ACME: p > .05), with dyscalculia exerting direct effects, and a significant interaction limited to cognitive flexibility (β = 0.62, p = .043). These findings contribute to understanding executive function architecture in dyscalculia and mark the first integrative analysis in an Arabic-speaking context. Results may support early diagnostic tools and targeted interventions addressing specific executive function deficits, offering potential advancements for educational practices in Arabic-speaking regions, though cross-cultural validation remains essential.

Children with ADHD, autism, and/or IDD often demonstrate EF challenges. Many children with these conditions likely demonstrate overlapping and differing EF presentations and profiles of strengths and difficulties. The extant literature investigating the impact of co-occurring ADHD and IDD on the EF of autistic children is limited and contradictory, potentially due to varying levels of symptom severity, undiagnosed co-occurring ADHD and ID, and overlapping areas of EF. Consequently, we examine how autism symptomology, ADHD symptomology, and cognitive functioning predict the EF of autistic children. Participants were 65 autistic children between the ages of 6 and 17 years and their caregivers. Multilevel modeling was used to determine the impact of ADHD symptom severity, autism symptom severity, and cognitive functioning on the EF of children with autism. Aspects of ADHD symptomology - specifically hyperactivity - and autism symptomology - namely social communication difficulties - had a significant and positive relation with EF functioning. After controlling for hyperactivity and social communication skills, there were significant differences in EF domains with emotion regulation being the most negatively impacted. The severity of ADHD and autism symptoms is positively related to EF difficulties in autistic children. Specifically, greater levels of hyperactivity and social communication difficulties predict more EF challenges. Emotion regulation appears to be the EF skill most impacted. A significant association between cognitive functioning and EF was not found in this sample.

Williams syndrome is caused by a microdeletion of genes on chromosome 7q11.23. It is estimated that 75% of individuals with Williams syndrome meet criteria for intellectual disability. The existing literature, primarily using the Differential Ability Scales, supports a pattern of relative weakness in visuospatial construction and language abilities commensurate with or slightly stronger than overall cognitive functioning. However, it is unclear how cognitive profile patterns are captured by current versions of the Wechsler system of assessment, which is more commonly used in community settings. Further, few longitudinal data on cognitive profiles exist, limiting conclusions about developmental trends. The current study included 59 individuals with Williams syndrome aged 4-24 years assessed with the age-appropriate Wechsler test a median of twice over 3 ± 1.5 years. The results of this study confirmed the profile found in the extant literature, but there was evidence of heterogeneity in relative strengths and weaknesses that necessitates individual evaluation. Careful longitudinal modeling of between- and within-person effects suggested stability of standard scores in all domains. The results of this study inform a developmental understanding of the Williams syndrome cognitive profile and improve the interpretability of research findings for clinical and school settings where the Wechsler system is commonly used.

Worldwide, approximately 1 in 100 children are born with a congenital heart defect, with 25% of those being classified as critical and posing risks for neurocognitive deficits due to cyanosis. Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS) has yet to be examined in children with critical congenital heart defects (cCHD) despite calls for research in pediatric populations with acquired brain injury and associated deficits. Children with cCHD, ages 9-13, were identified through patient registries and comparison classmates CC were matched after completing sociometric surveys of peer relationships in schools. Caregiver ratings of CDS symptoms and children's self-report of peer interaction and social adjustment were obtained at home visits with both groups (N_cCHD = 108, N_CC = 72). Children with cCHD exhibited greater CDS symptoms than CC (d = 0.31, p = .011). CDS symptoms were associated with peer and self-reports of social difficulty, in particular the experience of peer victimization and fewer reciprocated friendships at school relative to healthy peers. CDS symptoms partially accounted for higher self-reported victimization and social problems in cCHD survivors but did not account for group differences in peer-reported social difficulties. These indirect effects were no longer significant after controlling for parent reports of broader symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Future research is needed to better disentangle the comparative influence of CDS and ADHD symptoms on the psychosocial outcomes of children with cCHD and other chronic conditions involving brain injury and heightened neurodevelopmental risk.

Research consistently shows that autistic children often exhibit cognitive challenges, particularly in executive functions (EFs), since the preschool years. EFs are cognitive abilities that help regulate impulses, manage information, filter distractions, and shift focus between tasks. Various performance-based measures have been developed to assess EFs in autistic children. However, inconsistencies in findings have raised concerns about the ability of traditional EF measures to capture the real-life challenges these children face, largely due to reductionist approaches and the overlooked issue of task impurity. Here, we employed a broader comprehensive battery - the Measures of Executive Attention - to assess EFs in 43 autistic children aged 8-14 years, compared to 43 neurotypicals matched for age, sex, and fluid reasoning index. The results revealed that neurotypicals outperformed autistic children in most tasks. Specifically, autistic children showed lower performance in cognitive flexibility and generative thinking in a graphical task, as well as in working memory capacity under novel and emotionally stressful conditions. However, when fine motor and verbal skills were excluded from the composite score calculation, no group differences emerged in certain tasks, such as visual search and working memory capacity in a familiar exercise. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing executive attention through multidimensional and context-sensitive tools and offer new insights into cognitive variability in autism.

This study examines the direct and indirect effects of working memory on reading comprehension in a sample of 395 Chilean fourth-grade students (Mean age 9.97, SD = 0.51; 46% are females) within the context of Spanish, a transparent orthographic system. Using both linear and non-linear approaches, the research investigates the relation between working memory and reading comprehension, as well as whether this relation is mediated by a set of linguistic variables. The linear component was analyzed using path analysis, and the results showed that working memory has a significant direct effect on reading comprehension, as well as indirect effects through vocabulary, word reading, and reading speed. The indirect effect via vocabulary was the most substantial. The non-linear component was assessed using latent profile analysis, and the results revealed three distinct working memory cognitive profiles defined by child performance, which were associated with significantly different outcomes in reading comprehension and its predictors. These findings suggest that working memory is not only foundational for the development of fluent and meaningful reading but also interacts with language-related skills to support comprehension. The study highlights the importance of considering both inter and intra-individual differences in cognitive functioning to understand better the mechanisms underlying reading development in transparent orthographies.

The growing fields of genetics and neurogenetics have brought increased attention to developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), a group of rare epilepsy disorders that span genetic and neurological pathology. Among the genetic causes of DEEs, single-gene variants represent a significant and increasingly recognized category. These variants often lead to complex and distinct clinical presentations, including variable seizure types, neurocognitive profiles, and developmental trajectories. Foundational knowledge about these disorders, including their molecular and cellular etiologies, accompanying clinical symptoms, and developmental trajectories, can better inform neuropsychological practice, especially in guiding test selection and recommendations as well as highlighting limitations for evaluation. The primary objective of this paper is to provide an evidence-based primer on single-gene developmental epileptic encephalopathies for pediatric neuropsychologists working with these growing clinical and research populations. The manuscript begins with a broad overview of definitions relevant to the care of those with single-gene epilepsies. The paper then describes the clinical features and neurocognitive outcomes associated with the eight most common single-gene pediatric-onset epilepsies, which is subsequently followed by a brief overview of 13 additional single-gene pediatric-onset epilepsies. The paper concludes with a summary of the treatment landscape and discusses current considerations for neuropsychological assessment with this population.