Abstract
Two studies were conducted to determine the frequency of processing speed difficulties relative to estimates of other problem-solving abilities in children with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI). The two samples consisted of 213 normally functioning school-age children and 65 TBI children and 19 trauma controls. All children were administered the WISC-III/IV Vocabulary, Block Design, and Coding subtests. The frequency of children in each sample having a Coding subtest score of 3 or 4 scale points below the Vocabulary or Block Design score (whichever one was lower) was calculated. Using a 3-point scale difference, the presence of processing speed deficits relative to other cognitive abilities in the school sample was low (5.2%), and was equivalent to that demonstrated by trauma controls (5.3%). However, in the TBI sample, 18 out of 65 TBI patients (27.7%) showed this same pattern. Using a 4-point discrepancy scale, 3.3% of normal children and 16.9% of TBI children showed this pattern. The frequency of this pattern increased with severity of TBI, using two different but related classification systems. These preliminary findings require cross validation in a larger sample before definite conclusions can be reached.
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