Auditory attention late effects in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Potential Anomalous Findings on the Cerberus Subtest of the TEACh 2 in a Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Cohort

INTRODUCTION

The Test of Everyday Attention for Children 2 (TEA-Ch 2) is a rigorously tested measure of attention, often used in pediatric neuro-oncology settings. Data from one Primary Treatment Centre found a high proportion of children scored in the highest range on the Cerberus subtest. This brief report attempts to answer the question: Does the Cerberus subtest of the TEA-Ch 2 provide outlying scores in the pediatric neuro-oncology population?

METHODS

Data representing 62 Cerberus assessments from four primary treatment centers were analyzed.

RESULTS

Data showed a substantially higher level of performance on the Cerberus subtest compared to other TEA-Ch2 subtests. Scores were not only higher than expected relative to children's performance on other subtests but also higher than would be expected in the general population.

DISCUSSION

Within our data, performance on the Cerberus subset of the TEA-Ch 2 yields somewhat questionable data from which to draw conclusions regarding sustained attentional ability in a pediatric neuro-oncology cohort.