Neuropsychological deficit and learning disability in children with psychiatric disorders: a preliminary report.

Abstract

The Family Psychology Institrrts of Binghamton, IVY Based on an examination of the papers of Geschwind and Galaburda (1985), who postulated an association between learning disabilities and unilateral delays in cortical development and the research of Porter and Rourke (1985) who identified specific subtypes of socioemotional dysfunction among children with learning disabilities, an investigation of the relationship between type of psychopathology (i.e., somatic vs affective vs behavioral dysfunction) and nature of neuropsychological impairment was initiated at our Institute. The purpose of this initial study was to test the hypothesis that children displaying both academic and behavioral, affective or somatic problems would also show evidence of neuropsychological impairment. In our study were examined 42 Caucasian children (34 boys, 8 girls, with an average of 11.7 yr.) who were referred for treatment for academic problems and psychiatric disorders. Each child was evaluated via methods described by Selz and Reitan (1979). By using a criterion of performance of two years below chronologicaI age on a measure of academic achievement, The Peabody Individual Achievement Test, a WISC-R Full Scale IQ 1 90, a scaled score of at least 2 on any of the Reitan tests, and a T score of at least 70 on any of the clinical scales on The Personality Inventory for Children, 4396 of our sample (4 girls and 14 boys) displayed significant neuropsychological deficits, in addition to psychopathology and academic problems. Given the large percentage of children displaying this pattern in our preliminary study, therapists are cautioned to examine thoroughly the neuropsychological functioning of children displaying a combination of academic and psychiatric problems prior to initiating treatment.