Children's cognitive ability from 4 to 9 years old as a function of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence.

This study examined the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, environmental risk, and maternal verbal intelligence on children's cognitive ability. Gender and age were examined as moderators of potential cocaine exposure effects. The Stanford-Binet IV intelligence test was administered to 231 children (91 cocaine exposed, 140 unexposed) at ages 4, 6, and 9 years. Neonatal medical risk and other prenatal exposures (alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana) were also examined for their unique effects on child IQ. Mixed models analysis indicated that prenatal cocaine exposure interacted with gender, as cocaine-exposed boys had lower composite IQ scores. Age at assessment did not moderate this relation, indicating that cocaine-exposed boys had lower IQs across this age period. A stimulating home environment and high maternal verbal IQ also predicted higher composite IQ scores. Cocaine-exposed boys had lower scores on the Abstract/Visual Reasoning subscale, with trends for lower scores on the Short-Term Memory and Verbal Reasoning subscales, as exposure effects were observed across domains. The findings indicate that cocaine exposure continues to place children at risk for mild cognitive deficits into preadolescence. Possible mechanisms for the Exposure × Gender interaction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological test performance and the attention deficit disorders: Clinical utility of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery—Children's Revision.

The Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery—Children"s Revision (LNNB—CR) was administered to 54 clinic-referred children aged 8–12 years. Children reliably diagnosed as attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity were compared with children diagnosed as attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity and with a clinic control group diagnosed with internalizing disorders. Both attention deficit disorder groups were lower than the control group in verbal and Full Scale IQ scores but did not differ from one another. The groups did not differ significantly on any of the LNNB—CR clinical scales, on the right or left hemisphere scores, or on the pathognomonic score using analyses of variance (ANOVA) or analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) with both Full Scale IQ and age as covariates. These findings failed to support the hypothesis that attention deficit disorder, either with or without hyperactivity, is associated with neuropsychological dysfunction as measured by the LNNB—CR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blood pressure in children exposed prenatally to cocaine

Prenatal exposure to cocaine may alter autonomic nervous system function resulting in hypertension. Blood pressure was measured oscillometrically in a convenience sample of cocaine-exposed (n = 32) and nonexposed (n = 23) children, aged 8 to 26 months, by examiners unaware of exposure status. The exposed and nonexposed groups did not differ in systolic pressure (mean +/- SD 102.3 +/- 9.9 mmHg vs 119.1 +/- 19.4). Prenatal exposure to cocaine does not appear to be associated with elevated blood pressure in young children.     

Incremental efficacy of WISC–III factor scores in predicting achievement: What do they tell us?

Four factors underlie the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children—Third Edition (WISC–III; D. Wechsler, 1991). Scores from these factors possess greater reliability than individual subtest scores, and some argue that factor scores relate to important phenomena of educational and clinical interest, such as academic achievement and classification status. However, the predictive efficacy of factor scores from the WISC–III relative to the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) has not been clearly established. This study examined the incremental validity of factor scores from the WISC–III in predicting achievement on the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT; Psychological Corporation, 1992). Two groups were evaluated: a nationally representative nonreferred sample (n?=?283), and a sample of children referred for evaluation (n?=?636). Results indicate that while the factors provide a statistically significant increment, the size of this improvement is generally too small to be of clinical significance for either group. In terms of parsimony and efficiency, the FSIQ is the best predictor of different achievement criteria as measured by the WIAT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of the Satz-Mogel short form WAIS—R for tumor patients with lateralized lesions.

The ability of the P. Satz and S. Mogel (1962) short form Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R) to provide equivalent information about IQ scores and age-corrected scale scores was examined as a function of side of lesion for 34 left hemisphere damaged (LHD) and 29 right hemisphere damaged (RHD) patients having primary brain tumors. Correlations between the 2 forms were significant for all WAIS—R scores with the exception of the Object Assembly subtest for RHD patients. The short form significantly overestimated Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, Full Scale IQ, Similarities, and Picture Arrangement subtest scores. It significantly underestimated Object Assembly subtest scores. A marked percentage of patients showed 1 or more category changes for most WAIS—R scores and 2 or more category changes for some of these scores. The distribution of discrepancies between scores and the number of category changes did not differ significantly for LHD and RHD patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of placement instability on adopted children's inhibitory control abilities and oppositional behavior.

This study assessed relations among placement instability, inhibitory control, and caregiver-rated child behavior. The sample included 33 adopted children who had experienced placement instability, 42 adopted children who had experienced 1 stable placement, and 27 children never placed in foster care. Five- and 6-year-old children completed the day-night task, which requires children to inhibit a prepotent response, and a control task that presents similar memory demands but does not require inhibition (C. L. Gerstadt, Y. J. Hong, & A. Diamond, 1994). Adopted children who had experienced placement instability performed worse on the inhibition task than did both other groups of children, when the authors controlled for age, verbal intelligence (as measured with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence--Revised; D. Wechsler, 1989; or the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Third Edition; L. M. Dunn & L. M. Dunn, 1997), and control task performance (p.05). These results suggest that placement instability may adversely affect the social-emotional development of adopted children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of the Child Premorbid Intelligence Estimate method to predict premorbid Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition Full Scale IQ among children with brain injury.

Determination of neuropsychological impairment involves contrasting obtained performances with a comparison standard, which is often an estimate of premorbid IQ. M. R. Schoenberg, R. T. Lange, T. A. Brickell, and D. H. Saklofske (2007) proposed the Child Premorbid Intelligence Estimate (CPIE) to predict premorbid Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-4th Edition (WISC-IV; Wechsler, 2003). The CPIE includes 12 algorithms to predict FSIQ, 1 using demographic variables and 11 algorithms combining WISC-IV subtest raw scores with demographic variables. The CPIE was applied to a sample of children with acquired traumatic brain injury (TBI sample; n = 40) and a healthy demographically matched sample (n = 40). Paired-samples t tests found estimated premorbid FSIQ differed from obtained FSIQ when applied to the TBI sample (ps ≤ .01). When applied to healthy peers, estimated and obtained FSIQ did not differ (ps > .02). The demographic only algorithm performed well at a group level, but estimates were restricted in range. Algorithms combining single subtest scores with demographics performed adequately. Results support the clinical application of the CPIE algorithms. However, limitations to estimating individual premorbid ability, including statistical and developmental factors, must be considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prognostic indicators for children in a psychiatric hospital.

In an effort to find prognostic indicators of improvement for a group of 34 hospitalized children, the relationship between improvement and initial test score was computed. A combination of rated improvement and improvement in Full Scale Wechsler IQ was used as the criterion of improvement. Initially high scores on the Goodenough Draw-A-Man, Wechsler Performance IQ, Similarities, and Picture Completion subtests were significantly related to subsequent improvement in the hospital setting. Initially low deviation scores on Digit Span and Comprehension relative to the other subtests were found related to subsequent improvement. It is concluded that children with a normal intellectual potential but incapacitated by anxiety or other acute emotional disturbances show the most improvement in a hospital setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor analysis of WISC—R with deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R) was factor analyzed on a sample of 368 hard-of-hearing and deaf children (aged 6–16 yrs). Two factors emerged and were labeled Language Comprehension and Visual-Spatial Organization. The factor structure for the hard-of-hearing (n?=?77) and deaf (n?=?291) groups was identical. Deaf children of deaf parents earned significantly higher Verbal IQ and Performance IQ scores than did deaf children of hearing parents. There were no differences in IQ or subtest scores in interpreted vs signed administrations. Implications for assessing the cognitive abilities of hearing-impaired children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Utility of WAIS–R seven-subtest short form as applied to the standardization sample.

Summary scores from the full Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS–R; D. Wechsler, 1981) and the 7-subtest abbreviated form of the WAIS–R were examined across age and education levels in the standardization sample. Full scale IQ (FSIQ) scores demonstrated the highest comparability between forms, followed by verbal IQ (VIQ) and then performance IQ (PIQ) scores. In comparison with FSIQ and VIQ, correlations between the test versions were consistently lower for PIQ. Lower reliability was found among education groups and tests that included subtests that demonstrated greater variability. Age grouping did not impact the alternative forms reliability. The findings support the use of the 7-subtest short form of the WAIS–R primarily for VIQ and FSIQ summary scores with the additional caution that results from abbreviated scores result in reduced reliability and a larger standard error of measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of the WAIS and the WAIS—R in the upper ranges of IQ.

35 medical students were administered 1 of 2 combination forms of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the WAIS—Revised (WAIS—R) in a single session, with the WAIS and WAIS—R components presented in a counterbalanced order using a procedure that avoided the repetition of identical items. The WAIS IQ scores were higher than were the WAIS—R IQ scores. The higher the WAIS Full Scale IQ, the smaller the Full Scale IQ difference between the 2 tests. Unexpectedly, the Verbal minus Performance discrepancy was greater on the WAIS—R than on the WAIS. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of two screening tests (the Matrix Analogies Test—Short Form and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) with the WISC-III.

This study examined the concurrent validity of two brief intelligence tests, the Matrix Analogies Test—Short Form (MAT; J. A. Naglieri, 1985) and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT; A. S. Kaufman & N. L. Kaufman, 1990), with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition (WISC-III; D. Wechsler, 1991) using a sample of 50 referred students who were attending a large urban school district. The MAT/WISC-III and K-BIT/WISC-III correlations were high and did not differ significantly in magnitude (rs?=?.67 and .78, respectively). Both screening tests tended to give scores that were significantly higher than the WISC-III Full Scale IQ. Administration time was under 10 min for both screening tests. The MAT and K-BIT appeared to be equally useful as screening tests when the WISC-III was the criterion measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

WISC-III premorbid prediction strategies: Demographic and best performance approaches.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; D. Wechsler, 1991) standardization data were used to explore premorbid prediction strategies for use with children. First, demographic variables including parental education, occupation, and ethnicity were entered in regression analyses to determine demographic-based premorbid prediction equations. Predicted IQ scores correlated with Full Scale IQ, Verbal IQ, and Performance IQ at .53, .52, and .45, respectively. Second, demographic and current ability variables were used conjointly. The 10 standard subtests individually served as measures of present ability, and ethnicity and parental education served as demographic predictors. These equations doubled or tripled the amount of variance accounted for by demographic variables alone. Third, a WISC-III best performance approach was explored with use of the subtest/demographic equations that included either Vocabulary or Picture Completion, referred to as the BEST-2 approach. The utility of this BEST-2 approach and the pure demographic approach was investigated in a clinical sample of brain-injured children. Results support the validity of both approaches in estimating premorbid functioning in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a General Ability Index for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Third Edition.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III; D. Wechsler, 1997) permits the calculation of both traditional IQ and index scores. However, if only the subtests constituting the index scores are administered, especially those yielding the Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Organization Indexes, there is no equivalent measure of Full Scale IQ. Following the procedure for calculating a General Ability Index (GAI; A. Prifitera, L. G. Weiss, & D. H. Saklofske, 1998) for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - IIIrd Edition (WISC--III) (D. Wechsler, 1991), GAI normative tables for the WAIS-III standardization sample are reported here. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Twins: Patterns of cognitive development as measured on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.

Appraised cognitive patterning and development for 142 pairs of twins at 4, 5, and 6 yrs of age, based on their test scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Compared with the singleton norms, the twins showed an initial lag at age 4, with Verbal IQ being somewhat more depressed than Performance IQ. By age 6, however, the twins had fully recovered their deficit on both scales and reached parity with singletons. Monozygotic twins displayed relatively high within-pair correlations for Verbal IQ and Performance IQ, and even higher correlations for Full Scale IQ. Dizygotic twins displayed moderate within-pair correlations for the IQ scores, and most were significantly lower than the monozygotic correlations. Further analysis showed that monozygotic twins were also significantly more concordant for the differences between Verbal IQ and Performance IQ, and for the patterning of the subtest scores. Measures of family socioeconomic status and parental education correlated .28-.32 with the twins' IQ at age 6. Results suggest that within a broad range of home environments, the genetic blueprint made a substantial contribution to cognitive patterning and development. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparability of the WAIS and the WAIS—R: A consideration of level of neuropsychological impairment.

Subjects of varying levels of neuropsychological impairment who were administered the revised version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) were found to obtain significantly lower Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQs than a comparable group of subjects who were administered the original version (WAIS). Significant main effects for level of impairment were found for all IQ measures irrespective of the Wechsler scale administered. No significant interactions of Scale?×?Level of Impairment were found for any IQ measure. The results provide the first empirical support for neuropsychologists' use of a standard expected difference between WAIS and WAIS-R IQ scores as a baseline for assessing changes in intellectual functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An abbreviation of the WISC for clinical use.

The present study was designed to test a short form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) on a sample of emotionally disturbed children. The present findings support the usefulness of the abbreviated WISC form, except for subjects in the Bright Normal and Superior Ranges of intelligence. These ranges comprise roughly 25% of the children in the normal population. Although the correlations between the two forms were impressive when analyzed on the combined sample and by age levels, the correlations (scales and subtests) did drop appreciably in the upper IQ ranges when analyzed by level of Full Scale IQ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The developmental implications of prenatal and/or postnatal crack cocaine exposure in preschool children: a preliminary report

Previous studies examining the development of prenatally cocaine-exposed children through 3 years of age have found no significant differences between exposed and control groups. This study explored the developmental correlates of prenatal and/or postnatal crack cocaine exposure in children between 4 and 6 years of age. Three groups were studied: Group 1, 18 prenatally-exposed children whose mothers continue to use crack; Group II, 28 children without prenatal exposure whose mothers presently use crack; and Group III, 28 children whose mothers never used crack. Mothers were street-recruited and were comparable in race and socioeconomic status. The three groups of children did not differ on neurological gross motor and expressive language measures. However, prenatally exposed children performed significantly worse than others on receptive language and visual motor drawing tests. Prenatal crack exposure predicted poor visual motor performance even after control for intrauterine alcohol and marijuana exposure, age, birth weight, and duration of maternal crack use.     

IQ-memory discrepancies in normal and clinical samples.

The potential utility of IQ—Memory Index discrepancy scores derived from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R) and the Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (WMS—R; D. Wechsler, 1987) was examined in a clinical sample, whose scores were then compared to those of subjects from the WMS—R standardization sample. The clinical sample included patients with diagnoses associated with memory deficits. Discrepancy scores between Full-Scale IQ and the Delayed Memory Index differentiated the groups, but material-specific discrepancies between IQ scores and immediate recall memory scores did not. The largest mean discrepancy and the greatest prevalence of scores beyond a criterion score of 15 were found in patients with presumed Alzheimer's disease. Issues related to limitations in the application of such discrepancy scores are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of differences between native and non-native psychiatric offenders on the MMPI.

Compared Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores of 57 native and 218 non-native Canadian Prairie psychiatric offenders. All Ss were adult males. In uncontrolled comparisons, considerable cross-cultural profile similarity was observed. Separate native and non-native multiple regressions were performed, using the 13 MMPI scales as criterion variables with age, time served, education level, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Full Scale IQ, and Verbal Comprehension as the predictors. WAIS Full Scale IQ and education level were the strongest predictors of native and non-native MMPIs, respectively. When controlled MMPI comparisons were made using IQ and education as covariates, the previous differences were erased. With covariates, significantly lower native scores were found on Mf, Pa, and Si, while K was significantly higher. The lowered native profile was due primarily to the IQ covariate. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)