Introduction to the Special Issue on Normal Neuropsychological Development in the School-Age Years

Developmental Profile in Children Aged 3-6 Years: Down Syndrome vs. Autism Spectrum Disorder

This research aims to compare the developmental profiles of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with Down Syndrome (DS) between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The study examines whether these developmental disorders share common developmental milestones or exhibit distinctive characteristics. A total of 43 children, 23 with DS and 20 with ASD, participated in the study. Cognitive and language skills were assessed using standardized tools, including the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Reynell Developmental Language Scales III, and NEPSY-II battery. The results indicated that children with ASD outperformed children with DS in the areas of fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and communication. Additionally, children with ASD demonstrated higher scores in language comprehension and expressive language, compared to children with DS. Significant correlations were found between motor skills and communication abilities. Neuropsychological evaluations revealed significant differences between the two groups in various tasks, such as the comprehension of instructions, body part naming and identification, and recognition of emotions. These findings contribute to our understanding of the similarities and differences between ASD and DS, shedding light on the dissociation between cognition and language and its impact on adaptive functioning in these populations.

When a funnel becomes a martini glass: Adolescent performance on the Boston Naming Test

The Boston Naming Test (BNT), a component of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, is often used by neuropsychologists to assess confrontation naming. Research indicates that performance on the BNT is impacted by a variety of factors including age, gender, measured intelligence, educational attainment, vocabulary knowledge, level of acculturation, and ethnicity. Extant normative data are available for adults and for younger children; however, descriptive data are lacking for neurologically intact adolescents. The current study obtained normative data for the BNT, second edition in 15- to 18-year-old adolescents. The sample included 200 participants (100 male, 100 female) who were screened to exclude individuals with neurologic, psychiatric, or academic difficulties. There were no statistically significant differences in BNT scores based on gender, age, or grade. Normative means and standard deviations, collapsed across age and gender, are provided. The relationship of the current data to existing child and adult norms, as well as the clinical utility of examining individual item responses for the BNT in this sample are addressed.

The Impact of Cultural Background on Structural Figure Perception: Cultural Biases in the Reproduction of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure

Visuo-spatial tests are often thought to be less subject to cultural bias than verbal tests. It has, however, been demonstrated that scores obtained, particularly using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, vary according to the cultural context. In a previous study, we noted that the socio-cultural environment had an impact on structural figure perception. We compared the techniques used to draw the figures by school-children in France from different cultural backgrounds, with the hypothesis that the culture handed down by the parents has an impact on structural figure perception (N = 914). Subjects were classified according to type of approach, based on the order in which tasks were performed using a computer recording of lines traced. Results demonstrate substantial contrasts among groups of children of different cultural origins. Inherited culture appears to influence structural figure perception, which could explain the variation in scores obtained. The impact of the familiarity with this type of task and educational level of the families are discussed.

Comparison of Neuropsychological Performance between Students from Public and Private Brazilian Schools

Neuropsychological assessment reveals that certain cognitive changes that take place during the neural development process may be associated with biopsychosocial issues. A substantial body of research has focused on cognitive development in children and adults, but few such studies have been carried out on adolescents. Therefore, research into the processing of neuropsychological functions in adolescents, taking into account the role of major socio-cultural factors such as school type (public vs. private), is highly relevant. The present study sought to assess whether differences in neuropsychological development exist between adolescent students of public (government-funded) and private schools. A total of 373 grade-matched students between the ages of 12 and 18, 190 from public schools and 183 from private schools, took part in the study. All subjects had no self-reported neurologic or psychiatric conditions and sensory disorders. The NEUPSILIN Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery was administered to this sample. Comparison of mean scores (one-way ANCOVA with socioeconomic score and age as covariates) showed that adolescents attending private schools generally outperformed their public-school peers in tasks involving sustained attention, memory (working and visual), dictated writing, and constructional and reflective abilities. We conclude that school type should be taken into account during standardization of neuropsychological assessment instruments for adolescent and, probably, child populations.

Relations between Executive Function and Academic Achievement from Ages 5 to 17 in a Large, Representative National Sample

This study examined age-related changes in complex executive function (EF) in a large, representative sample (N = 2,036) aged 5 to 17 using the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS; Naglieri & Das, 1997a). Relations between complex EF and academic achievement were examined on a sub-sample (N = 1,395) given the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised (Woodcock & Johnson, 1989). Performance on the three complex EF tasks improved until at least age 15, although improvement slowed with increasing age and varied some across tasks. Moreover, the different developmental patterns in the correlations between completion time and accuracy provide clues to developmental processes. Examination of individual achievement subtests clarified the specific aspects of academic performance most related to complex EF. Finally, the correlation between complex EF and academic achievement varied across ages, but the developmental pattern of the strength of these correlations was remarkably similar for overall math and reading achievement, suggesting a domain-general relation between complex EF and academic achievement.

A national study on the development of visual attention using the cognitive assessment system

OBJECTIVE

Developmental changes in the performance of children and adolescents are studied using the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) which is an individually administered test of 4 basic cognitive processes.

METHOD

The test measures the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processes as a theory of intelligence that can provide the framework for an alternative to traditional IQ tests. The CAS, which includes a scale of attention comprising 3 subtests, each of which is presented visually, provides an opportunity to study the development of visual attention for 2,200 children and adolescents aged 5- to 17-years-old who participated in the national standardization sample. A subsample ( n = 1,395) is also administered the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement - Revised (WJ-R).

RESULTS

On all 3 CAS attention subtests, the mean scores improve with age, and the rate of change between adjacent age groups is moderate-to-large up to 15-years-old. At all ages the CAS Attention standard score is moderately related to WJ-R Achievement Cluster scores.

CONCLUSION

The results are discussed in light of conclusions about the development of attention based on the standardization sample of the NEPSY-A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment.

Verbal and nonverbal fluency in Spanish-speaking children

Fluency measures are commonly used in clinical developmental neuropsychology to assess executive functions. Little is known about the effect of age on performance in these tests. This article analyzes the effect of age on measures of verbal (semantic and phonologic) and nonverbal (semantic and nonsemantic) fluency in 171 children (81 boys, 90 girls) between ages 6 and 15. Participants were selected from public and private schools in Guadalajara and Tijuana, Mexico. A significant age effect was found on all tests but no interaction between age and type of test was found. Significant correlations among the 4 fluency tasks ranged from.36 to.46. Results are consistent with the findings of normative studies carried out in other countries and support the cross-language validity of verbal fluency tests.

The impact of culture and education on non-verbal neuropsychological measurements: a critical review

Clinical neuropsychology has frequently considered visuospatial and non-verbal tests to be culturally and educationally fair or at least fairer than verbal tests. This paper reviews the cross-cultural differences in performance on visuoperceptual and visuoconstructional ability tasks and analyzes the impact of education and culture on non-verbal neuropsychological measurements. This paper compares: (1) non-verbal test performance among groups with different educational levels, and the same cultural background (inter-education intra-culture comparison); (2) the test performance among groups with the same educational level and different cultural backgrounds (intra-education inter-culture comparisons). Several studies have demonstrated a strong association between educational level and performance on common non-verbal neuropsychological tests. When neuropsychological test performance in different cultural groups is compared, significant differences are evident. Performance on non-verbal tests such as copying figures, drawing maps or listening to tones can be significantly influenced by the individual's culture. Arguments against the use of some current neuropsychological non-verbal instruments, procedures, and norms in the assessment of diverse educational and cultural groups are discussed and possible solutions to this problem are presented.