Describing the attention profile of children and adolescents with acquired brain injury using the Virtual Classroom.
Brain Inj 2015;
29:1691-700. [PMID:
26399584 DOI:
10.3109/02699052.2015.1075148]
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study were: (1) to describe the attention deficits profile of children with significant acquired brain injury (ABI) in comparison to matched controls, using the virtual classroom (VC); (2) to assess the utility of the VC in detecting attention deficits in children with ABI, as compared to classical neuropsychological tests and questionnaire-based assessment of attention; and (3) to determine how performance in the VC is affected by demographic and injury severity variables.
METHODS
Forty-one children with ABI and 35 age- and gender-matched controls, aged 8-16, were assessed with the VC. The results of the VC were compared to sub-tests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch), the Conners' Parent Rating Scales-Revised: Short (CPRS-R:S) questionnaire and analysed according to demographic and injury severity variables.
RESULTS
Significant differences were found between the groups regarding the number of targets correctly identified in the VC. Significant inter-correlations were obtained between the VC variables. Significant correlations were found between the VC variables, the sub-tests of TEA-Ch and the CPRS-R:S and the demographic characteristics of the sample.
CONCLUSION
The VC appears to be a sensitive and ecologically valid assessment tool for use in the diagnosis of attention deficits among children with ABI.
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