PND28 Children with Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy Have a Delay in the Development of Executive Abilities

Abstract

It is known that children, born with Hypoxic-ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE), have a risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. The goal of this research was to examine the hypothesis that children, born with HIE, have a specific deficit in executive abilities. The experimental group included 26 children aged 7–8 years (mean age = 7.3). They were born full-term with perinatal Hypoxic-ischaemic Encephalopathy. The control group included 26 typically developing children. The children from experimental and control group were matched for gender and age. Children from both groups were assessed with subtests from Luria’s child neuropsychological assessment battery. These subtests are designed to assess voluntary attention and abilities for programming. One-way ANOVA has revealed group differences in voluntary attention. However, we have not revealed significant (p<.05) differences between children from experimental and control group in abilities for programming. In view of the obtained results it can be assumed that the Hypoxic-ischaemic Encephalopathy has specific (not global) negative effect on development of executive abilities in children. Particularly, children, born with HIE, have deficit in voluntary attention.