Measure Of Intellectual Ability Research Articles

Language Abilities are Associated with Both Verbal and Nonverbal Intelligence in Children on the Autism Spectrum

ABSTRACT Intellectual abilities factor into levels of functioning used to characterize autism. Language difficulties are highly prevalent in autism and may impact performance on measures of intellectual abilities. As such, nonverbal tests are often prioritized in classifying intelligence in those with language difficulties and autism. However, the relationship between language abilities and intellectual performance is not well characterized, and the superiority of tests with nonverbal instructions is not well established. The current study evaluates verbal and nonverbal intellectual abilities in the context of language abilities in autism and the potential benefit of tests with nonverbal instructions. Participants were 55 children and adolescents on the autism spectrum who underwent a neuropsychological evaluation as part of a study examining language functioning in autism. Correlation analyses were performed to examine relations between expressive and receptive language abilities. Language abilities (CELF−4) were significantly correlated with all measures of both verbal (WISC-IV VCI) and nonverbal intelligence scores (WISC-IV PRI and Leiter-R). There were no significant differences between nonverbal intelligence measures with verbal or nonverbal instructions. We further discuss the role of assessment of language abilities in interpreting results of intelligence testing in populations with higher prevalence of language difficulties

Assessing IQ in adolescents with mild to moderate cerebral palsy using the WISC-V

Objective: To examine the influence of subtests that require fine motor responses on measures of intellectual ability, and compare three approaches to minimizing motor demands while assessing cognitive abilities in adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) to the traditional method of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fifth edition (WISC-V). Method: Seventy adolescents with CP (M = 14 years 6 months, SD = 10 months) who were able to provide either a verbal or point response were assessed using the WISC-V administered via Q-interactive. The pencil-to-paper version of Coding was also administered. Performance on Block Design and pencil-to-paper Coding was compared to Visual Puzzles and Coding on Q-interactive, respectively. Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) scores derived according to the Traditional method of the WISC-V were compared to alternative estimates of FSIQ derived according to the Q-interactive, Nonmotor, and Motor-free methods, which minimized motor demands. Results: An additional 7–12% of participants were able to respond to Visual puzzles and Coding on Q-interactive compared to Block Design and pencil-to-paper Coding, respectively, and performance was marginally but significantly better. For 54 adolescents (Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) Level I-III) who were able to obtain FSIQ scores, the Traditional method underestimated FSIQ by 3–6 points compared to the alternative methods and the difference was most pronounced for those with more severe CP as measured by the GMFCS. Conclusion: Adolescents with CP are at an inherent disadvantage when cognitive ability is assessed using the Traditional method of the WISC-V. Findings suggest clinicians should employ the Nonmotor or Motor-free methods when assessing IQ in adolescents with CP.

Executive function as measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2: children and adolescents with Williams syndrome.

Difficulties with executive functions (EF) are very common among individuals with Williams syndrome (WS). To characterise the pattern of relative strengths and weaknesses in EF for children and adolescents with WS, we considered the performance of a large sample on the parent version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2 (BRIEF-2). Associations between distinct components of EF and adaptive behaviour, behaviour problems and intellectual ability were investigated. The concurrent effects of components of behaviour regulation and emotion regulation on attention problems and anxiety problems also were evaluated. Participants were 308 6-17-year-olds with genetically confirmed classic WS deletions. Parent report of EF was measured by the BRIEF-2 questionnaire. Most participants (223/308) completed the Differential Ability Scales-II as a measure of intellectual ability. The parents of these individuals also completed the Child Behavior Checklist and the interview form of the Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised. As a group, the participants evidenced considerable parent-reported EF difficulty. A profile of relative strength and weakness was found at the index level, with performance on both the Behavior Regulation Index and the Emotion Regulation Index significantly better than performance on the Cognitive Regulation Index. Within each index, a statistically significant pattern of relative strength and weakness also was identified. Difficulties with behaviour regulation and emotion regulation were related to both behaviour problems and adaptive behaviour limitations. Higher inflexibility and more difficulty with self-monitoring were associated with lower overall intellectual ability. Difficulty with inhibition was uniquely associated with attention problems, and inflexibility was uniquely associated with anxiety problems. Executive function difficulties are highly prevalent among children and adolescents with WS and are associated with adaptive behaviour limitations, both internalising and externalising behaviour problems and more limited intellectual ability. These results highlight the importance of designing and delivering research-based interventions to improve the EF of children and adolescents with WS.

Cognitive, Graphomotor, and Psychosocial Challenges in Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS).

Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection (PANDAS) is characterized by the sudden onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other neurobehavioral symptoms following group A streptococcal infection. The cardinal neuropsychiatric symptoms are believed to reflect an aberrant autoimmune or inflammatory response that may selectively disrupt basal ganglia function. The investigators examined whether neuropsychological skills associated with frontostriatal networks (executive functions and motor skills) are affected in patients with PANDAS following resolution of acute symptoms and the degree to which there are persistent social, emotional, and academic difficulties. Twenty-seven patients ages 6-14 years (mean age=9.63 years [SD=1.78]; male, N=22) completed neuropsychological testing as part of routine clinical care. Performances on measures of intellectual ability, executive function, motor skills, and academic skills are reported, as well as parent-reported emotional, behavioral, and social skills. On neuropsychological measures, patients exhibited average intellectual functioning with relative and mild difficulties in skills supporting cognitive efficiency, including attentional regulation, inhibitory control, and processing speed. Dexterity was normal but graphomotor skills were reduced. Core reading, math, and writing skills were within expectations, but reading and math fluency were reduced, and the majority of patients received special education services or accommodations. Parents reported high levels of concern about anxiety, depression, inattention, hyperactivity, and social skills. These findings indicated relative difficulties with aspects of executive and motor functions. Although evaluations were performed following the resolution of acute symptoms, ongoing and significant academic difficulties and emotional, behavioral, and social concerns were targets for clinical intervention and support.

Evaluating the construct validity of the King–Devick test in a psychological outpatient clinical sample

The King–Devick test (K–D) has demonstrated sensitivity as a screener measure of ocular motor and cognitive problems. Despite its empirical support in the assessment of patients with certain injuries and disorders (e.g., concussion, reading disorders), less is known about the construct validity of the K–D. This study examined this topic in an outpatient, diagnostically heterogeneous clinical sample. A total of 70 individuals seen for an outpatient psychoeducational evaluation completed the K–D in addition to measures of intellectual abilities, speeded reading ability, simple and sustained attention, and executive functioning. Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that poorer K–D performance was associated with poorer processing speed, speeded reading ability and response time to target stimuli (r = .26–.31, p < .05). K–D performance was unrelated to other intellectual abilities, other aspects of attention, or executive functioning (all p > .05). Results suggest that the K–D demonstrates good convergent and discriminant validity in a heterogeneous outpatient clinical sample including individuals with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, specific learning disorders, and a number of different depressive and anxiety disorders. Findings support its wider use as a measure of reading ability and processing speed in clinical contexts.

Speech act recognition in Spanish speakers

Language comprehension involves the recognition of speech acts. The term speech act refers to what a speaker intends to accomplish when saying something. Holtgraves (2008) demonstrated that English speakers can automatically recognize speech acts, and proposes that this allows an efficient (good-enough) processing of conversation turns. Other studies have found that speech act recognition requires cognitive process like executive functions, theory of mind, and empathy. However, there are few studies that have empirically investigated which are the cognitive functions needed for speech act recognition in healthy adults. The aim of this work was to study if Spanish speakers automatically recognize speech acts, and if this recognition is related to intellectual ability and other cognitive functions. We examined this question using the methods described by Holtgraves (2005, 2008). First, we translated and adapted the scenarios, and selected those that were better understood. Then, we designed two experiments to test the automatic recognition of speech acts. Participants underwent a battery of psychometric and cognitive tests. We found significant differences in reaction times between control and experimental scenarios, which indicates that Spanish speakers automatically recognize speech acts. A measure of intellectual ability, as well as the ability to reason about mental states of others, predicted in part the ability to recognize speech acts.

The Search for Personality-Intelligence Relations: Methodological and Conceptual Issues.

Prior to empirical investigation of trait level measures, it had been suggested that, on balance, well-adjusted individuals tended to have a higher level of intelligence than poorly adjusted individuals. The underlying inference was that there should be positive correlations found between personality traits associated with “adjustment” and intelligence, at least at the level of general mental abilities. Over the last several decades, empirical research has suggested that, while there are sources of common variance among personality and intellectual ability measures, the relations are more scattered and provide few general findings (other than broad assessments of neuroticism and so-called engagement traits and intellectual abilities). The status of the empirical research foundation is briefly reviewed. Conceptual and methodological issues, such as non-linear relations, typical and maximal behaviors, contextualized assessment, and missing linkages are discussed in an effort to explore personality and intelligence traits in a manner that might better reveal underlying relations between these domains.

Real-Life Impact of Executive Function Impairments in Adults Who Were Born Very Preterm.

Children and adolescents who were born very preterm (≤32 weeks' gestation) are vulnerable to experiencing cognitive problems, including in executive function. However, it remains to be established whether cognitive deficits are evident in adulthood and whether these exert a significant effect on an individual's real-lifeachievement. Using a cross-sectional design, we tested a range of neurocognitive abilities, with a focus on executive function, in a sample of 122 very preterm individuals and 89 term-born controls born between 1979 and 1984. Associations between executive function and a range of achievement measures, indicative of a successful transition to adulthood, were examined. Very preterm adults performed worse compared to controls on measures of intellectual ability and executive function with moderate to large effect sizes. They also demonstrated significantly lower achievement levels in terms of years spent in education, employment status, and on a measure of functioning in work and social domains. Results of regression analysis indicated a stronger positive association between executive function and real-life achievement in the very preterm group compared to controls. Very preterm born adults demonstrate executive function impairments compared to full-term controls, and these are associated with lower achievement in several real-life domains. (JINS, 2017, 23, 381-389).

Does numerical processing uniquely predict first graders’ future development of single-digit arithmetic?

The present longitudinal study investigated whether children's numerical processing skills at the start of formal schooling predict subsequent development in single-digit arithmetic and fact retrieval. At the start of first grade, we administered measures of numerical processing (digit naming, symbolic numerical magnitude comparison, nonsymbolic numerical magnitude comparison) as well as measures of intellectual ability, preschool mathematical abilities, working memory and processing speed. Our longitudinal data indicate that children's numerical processing skills at primary school entrance were predictively related to their future competence in single-digit arithmetic and their reliance on arithmetic fact retrieval. This association was not explained by children's intellectual ability, preschool mathematical abilities, verbal working memory, visual-spatial short-term memory and processing speed. These findings indicate that numerical processing skills precede children's development in single-digit arithmetic.

Context-specific memory in children with ADHD

Objectives:Memory for where and when information is learned, or contextual aspects of memory, as opposed to fact or item memory, has been suggested to be more dependent on frontal brain and related executive control systems. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders involving frontal brain systems have been noted to have problems on contextual memory tasks. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties with forgetfulness and are known to have deficits in aspects of executive control with associated dysfunction in frontal brain systems; therefore, while their item memory is not typically impaired, they may have difficulty on tasks requiring contextual memory abilities. The goal of this study was to compare children with ADHD to typically developing children, on two different contextual memory tasks (source memory and memory for temporal recency) and to compare this with their respective performance on traditional fact/item memory tasks.Methods:Participants included 36 children with combined type ADHD and 36 typically developing controls ages 6–13 years, matched by age and gender. In addition to a measure of intellectual ability, children completed two different contextual memory tasks; one assessing recall for the source of new information and one assessing recall of the temporal context of information (recency). Incorporated into these tasks were standard measures of item/fact memory recall.Results:Results revealed that children with ADHD performed similarly to control participants on memory recognition tasks, but differed from controls on the contextual memory tasks. Children with ADHD outperformed control participants when recalling the source from which they had learned information, but performed more poorly than control on a task that required them to make a recency/temporal order judgment.Conclusion:The data suggest that while children with ADHD may have somewhat similar capacity to recognise new information, they differ in aspects of their performance on contextual aspects of memory. These differences are not uniform and mirror neuroscience findings supporting dissociable contextual memory systems. Potential theoretical explanations for the dissociations seen are discussed.

Non-academic internet use in the classroom is negatively related to classroom learning regardless of intellectual ability

The use of laptops and cell phones in the classroom is increasing but there is little research assessing whether these devices create distraction that diminishes learning. Moreover, the contribution of intellectual ability to the relationship between learning and portable device use has not been thoroughly investigated. To bridge this gap, students in an introductory psychology class were surveyed about the frequency and duration of their use of various portable devices in the classroom. Internet use negatively predicted exam scores and added to the prediction of classroom learning, above a measure of intellectual ability. Furthermore, students discounted the effect of using portable devices on learning over time. Concomitantly, those with higher intellectual ability reported using the internet more in class over time. Thus, higher rates of internet use were associated with lower test grades and students' beliefs about this relationship did not reflect their ability to multi-task effectively.

Follow-up at mid-school age (9–13 years) of children assessed for autism spectrum disorder before the age of four

Background: Studies of diagnosis and outcome in mid-school age children (9–13 years) referred early in life for a suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are scarce. Aims: This study aimed to describe outcome, developmental change and the stability of the early diagnosis in mid-school age. Methods: Children consecutively referred to a specialized autism unit at a regional psychiatric diagnostic centre in Denmark before the age of 4 were contacted in mid-school age (9–13 years). 14 children with ASD and 9 children diagnosed outside the spectrum were included. Current clinical diagnosis, autism characteristics, intellectual abilities and adaptive functioning were assessed at follow-up, and investigated in relation to early measures of intellectual abilities and difficulties in social and communicative situations. Results: The stability of an early ASD diagnosis was confirmed. However, a high degree of change into the autism spectrum was found for children who were initially diagnosed with another developmental disorder. A positive change with regard to IQ level was evident at the individual level. At group level, there was a tendency for lower functioning in the children diagnosed early with ASD. Early measures of intellectual abilities, and of social and communicative difficulties, predicted between 16% and 50% of the variance in intellectual abilities and adaptive functioning. Conclusions: The findings are in line with follow-up studies in preschool and early school age but highlight the need to monitor early diagnostic decisions, and the need for more nuanced baseline and outcome measures that may help increase our prognostic understanding.

Emotional intelligence and psychopathy: A comparison of trait and ability measures.

A dysfunction in the processing of emotional material has been suggested to underpin the concept of psychopathy, hence we hypothesized that individuals high in psychopathic traits should have low scores on measure of emotional intelligence (EI). We measured EI by using both an ability-based measure (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test) and a self-report measure (Trait Meta-Mood Scale) in a sample of offenders. Psychopathy was measured by using both a clinical checklist (Psychopathy Checklist-Revised) and a self-report scale (Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Revised). We also took a measure of intellectual ability (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence) to assess any unique contribution from EI over that of IQ. We found that the concepts of EI (both ability-based and self-report) were related to IQ. We also found that there was a negative relationship between self-report EI and ability EI. In relation to psychopathy, the results did not support the hypotheses of a general deficit in EI. While the results relating different facets of psychopathy to different aspects of EI were complex, there was some evidence that some aspects of psychopathy were positively related to the unique variance related to EI once IQ was partialled out. We suggest that there is not a general deficit in EI in psychopathy, and that future research needs carefully to carefully consider just what aspects of psychopathy and of EI are being measured, and the influence of intellectual ability, before drawing conclusions on this matter.

Upward Social Comparison Generates Attentional Focusing When the Dimension of Comparison is Self-Threatening

The present research examines when and how upward social comparison (USC) affects basic attentional processing. We first propose that USC affects attention only when the dimension of comparison is self-threatening. Second, using a visual probe task, two studies tested whether self-threatening USC results in withdrawing attention from peripheral elements of the task (attentional focusing) or potentiation of prepotent responses (mere effort). results support the attentional focusing hypothesis: USC resulted in less attention being devoted to a peripheral element, even though typically associated with prepotent responses. Moreover, and in contradiction with a mere effort account, findings did not show a general decrease in response latencies (Study 2). This attentional focusing nevertheless only occurred when the task was self-threatening (i.e., presented as a measure of intellectual ability). results are discussed with regard to the potential role of anxiety and arousal in attention narrowing under self-threat.

School-age Outcomes of Extremely Preterm or Extremely Low Birth Weight Children

Research is required to monitor changes in the nature of neurobehavioral deficits in extremely preterm (EP) or extremely low birth weight (ELBW) survivors. This study examines cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes at age 8 years for a regional cohort of EP/ELBW children born in 1997. The EP/ELBW cohort comprised all live births with a gestational age <28 weeks (EP) or birth weight <1000 g (ELBW) born in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 1997. Of 317 live births, 201 (63.4%) survived to 2 years of age.A term/normal birth weight (T/NBW) cohort was recruited comprising 199 infants with birthweights ≥2500 g or gestational age ≥37 weeks [corrected]. Measures of intellectual ability, educational achievement, and behavior were administered at age 8. Retention was 94% for the EP/ELBW group and 87% for the T/NBW group. The EP/ELBW group performed poorer than the T/NBW group on measures of IQ, educational achievement, and certain behavioral domains, even after adjustment for sociodemographic factors and exclusion of children with neurosensory impairment. The rate of any neurobehavioral impairment was elevated in the EP/ELBW group (71% vs 42%), and one-half of subjects had multiple impairments. The outcomes for those with <750 g birth weight or <26 weeks' gestational age were similar to those with a birth weight of 750 to 999 g or a gestational age of 26 to 27 weeks, respectively. Despite ongoing improvements in the management of EP/ELBW infants, the rate of neurobehavioral impairment at school-age remains too high relative to controls.

A Comparison of the SB5 and the CAS in Educational Psychology Practice

Two tests of intellectual ability were compared in terms of quantitative measures and professional utility in the context of 41 students who were referred for psychoeducational investigation of their learning. Full-scale, Composite, and Factor scores from The Stanford Binet Intelligence Scales — Fifth Edition (SB5) and the Das Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) were compared and individual profiles were examined. The SB5 is the latest version of a traditional test referenced to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll factor model of intelligence, while the CAS was developed from an information processing theory of intelligence. Full-scale measures of intellectual ability were found to differ significantly, with the SB5 approximately 8 points higher than the CAS. Analysis of the profiles assisted in understanding specific learning abilities and guided interventions. The implications of this for the relative utility of the two instruments, their interchangeablity, the meaningful interpretation of results, and their complementary contribution to practice are discussed.

Validity of the RIAS for Assessing Children With Traumatic Brain Injury: Sensitivity to TBI and Comparability to the WISC-III and WISC-IV

Intelligence tests are commonly administered to children following moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS) is a recently developed measure of intellectual ability that has a number of appealing features for assessing individuals with brain damage, but as yet has little validity information when applied to children with TBI or other forms of brain injury. It is therefore unclear whether RIAS scores are sensitive to brain injury and how they compare to older more well-established tests such as the Wechsler scales. The current article reports two studies that examine these matters in youth with TBI. The first study examined sensitivity of the RIAS to TBI in 110 children. Results indicated the TBI sample performed significantly worse compared with the standardization sample on all RIAS index scores. The second study included 102 children who were administered either the RIAS, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III), or WISC-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV; 34 children in each group). Comparisons among the RIAS, WISC-III, and WISC-IV groups indicated no significant differences among the measures on verbal, nonverbal, and Composite Index/Full-Scale IQs. Results provide support for the sensitivity of the RIAS to TBI in children and also suggest that IQs produced by the RIAS, WISC-III, and WISC-IV do not significantly vary from one test to the other, which is particularly true of the verbal and Composite Index/Full-Scale IQs.

Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging: The coordinated use of multiple, mutually informative probes to understand brain structure and function

Differing imaging modalities provide unique channels of information to probe differing aspects of the brain's structural or functional organization. In combination, differing modalities provide complementary and mutually informative data about tissue organization that is more than their sum. We acquired and spatially coregistered data in four MRI modalities--anatomical MRI, functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)--from 20 healthy adults to understand how interindividual variability in measures from one modality account for variability in measures from other modalities at each voxel of the brain. We detected significant correlations of local volumes with the magnitude of functional activation, suggesting that underlying variation in local volumes contributes to individual variability in functional activation. We also detected significant inverse correlations of NAA (a putative measure of neuronal density and viability) with volumes of white matter in the frontal cortex, with DTI-based measures of tissue organization within the superior longitudinal fasciculus, and with the magnitude of functional activation and default-mode activity during simple visual and motor tasks, indicating that substantial variance in local volumes, white matter organization, and functional activation derives from an underlying variability in the number or density of neurons in those regions. Many of these imaging measures correlated with measures of intellectual ability within differing brain tissues and differing neural systems, demonstrating that the neural determinants of intellectual capacity involve numerous and disparate features of brain tissue organization, a conclusion that could be made with confidence only when imaging the same individuals with multiple MRI modalities.

Autism spectrum disorder in visually impaired young children

Parr et al. report on a study of autism and autistic-like behaviour in children with optic nerve hypoplasia and/or septo-optic dysplasia.1 The paper mainly addresses two important, and still controversial topics: (1) autism in visually impaired children; and (2) methods for assessing development and autism in visually impaired children. The most commonly reported developmental disorder in blind children is autism. The possible factors accounting for this have been discussed over the years, ever since blindness and autism was first described by Keeler in 1958. Cass discussed the strong evidence that neurological disorders play a major part in deviant development and autism and stated: ‘A phenomenon with such a remarkably high prevalence among the visually impaired population might be expected to arouse a considerable concern among parents, educators, therapists and doctors, and yet it has received relatively little attention in the literature’ (p 118).2 Optic nerve hypoplasia is now a leading cause of vision loss in young children, a six-fold increase has been reported since 1977 and is now estimated at 10.9 per 100 000.3 Several authors have reported high frequencies of autism and developmental disorders in children with optic nerve hypoplasia. Tornqvist et al.4 reported additional impairments in 63% of a Swedish population. Our group5 reported six children with autism and three with an autistic-like condition, with high frequencies of hormonal deficiencies and midline malformations (shown on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging), in a group of 13 blind children. In a prospective study focusing on neuroradiographic, endocrinological, and ophthalmic correlates of adverse developmental outcome, developmental delay was found in 71% of a population of 73 children.3 Hypoplasia of the corpus callosum was highly correlated with deficiencies in the areas of personal, adaptive, communication, and cognitive functioning as well as with the overall development of the children. In cases of hypothyroidism, 93% had overall delay at the age of 5.3 The study by Parr et al. describes a large population (n=83) with severe or profound visual impairment. This is very unusual in studies of a specific ophthalmologic group like this; normally we have to be satisfied with much smaller groups. The main weakness, however, is the retrospective design of the study. Over the study period (1977–2009) our knowledge of developmental disorders in visually impaired children and the methods for assessing it have changed. The retrospective study of case notes, estimating behaviour disorders and cognitive performance during one clinic visit, is questionable. These methods most certainly underestimate the true rate of autism spectrum disorders. Furthermore, it is not stated how many children in the study were blind (no light perception). Blindness in combination with brain disorder poses a definite risk of autism. Intelligence testing in blind children is difficult and the problem has received extensive study. Few modern, well-standardized tests for visually impaired children are available. As the panorama of visual impairment has changed over the years, with more children now being diagnosed as visually impaired owing to causes affecting the posterior visual pathways and the brain, these norms are not accurate. Instead, we need in-depth clinical assessments using a variety of methods. The test performance by itself should be only one measure of intellectual ability. Observations of behaviour as well as teachers’ and parents’ reports and interviews are equally important. The assessment of autism in blind children is a delicate process. The most common methods for scoring autistic behaviour include several items dependant on vision. Furthermore, no agreement has been reached as to distinguishing blindisms (stereotype, repetitive behaviour commonly found in blind children) from autism. The Autism Diagnostic Interview6 is a comprehensive interview with parents that is useful also in blind children. Hypothyroidism and hypoplasia of the corpus callosum are reported to be associated with developmental delay and autism. We look forward to the next paper by Parr et al. reporting their findings on imaging and hormonal data in this study group.

Executive function in children with high and low attentional skills: Correspondences between behavioural and cognitive profiles

Cognitive performance was compared between two groups of typically developing children, who had been observed and rated as differing significantly in their attentional skills at school. The participants were 24 8- and 9-year-old children scoring poorly relative to peers, on a classroom observation scale and teacher rating scale for attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity [low-attentional skills (LAS) group] and 24 sex- and age-matched children scoring at a high level compared to peers [high-attentional skills (HAS) group]. The two groups were compared on a series of cognitive tasks to assess executive function (EF). The LAS group performed within the typical range yetat a significantly lower level than the HAS group on the majority of the EF tasks administered, namely working memory and inhibition measures, even though there were no significant differences between the groups on a measure of intellectual ability. Working memory measures followed by measures of inhibition emerged as the best predictors of group membership. These findings provide empirical evidence that there are individual differences in attentional skills. Specifically, that there is a relationship between behavioural inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity and cognitive performance on working memory and inhibitory control tasks.