An evaluation of the dyslexia training program: a multisensory method for promoting reading in students with reading disabilities.

The development of reading and spelling skills in students with dyslexia, by definition, is delayed and often remains delayed despite years of instruction. Three qualities are thought to facilitate reading development in these children: the provision of a highly structured phonetic-instruction training program with heavy emphasis on the alphabetic system, drill and repetition to compensate for short-term verbal memory deficits, and multisensory methods to promote nonlanguage mental representations. The Dyslexia Training Program, a remedial reading program derived from Orton-Gillingham methods, embodies these qualities. Following their 2-year program, students displaying dyslexia demonstrated significantly higher reading recognition and comprehension compared with a control group. The two groups did not differ in spelling. In addition, the degree of improvement in reading demonstrated by students who received the Dyslexia Training Program by videotape and by those who received it live from instructors did not differ.

The relationship between continuous performance tasks and neuropsychological tests in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

We examined the relationship between measures of sustained attention and impulsivity, as obtained by computerized continuous performance tasks of the Gordon Diagnostic System and a battery of intellectual, achievement, and neuropsychological tests. Subjects were 119 boys (between the ages of 6 yr., 0 mo. and 12 yr., 11 mo.), diagnosed with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, using DSM-III or DSM-III--R criteria. Only two measures, the number of correct responses for Vigilance and Distractibility tasks, correlated consistently with other measures (e.g., intellectual measures, the WRAT--R Arithmetic subtest, Beery Test of Visual and Motor Integration, and various sensory-motor variables from the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery). The results suggest a unique contribution of continuous performance tasks in the measurement of attention, in a population of children with ADHD, which is not assessed by more traditional tests.

Attention deficit disorder and the mediating effect of age on academic and behavioral variables.

Seventy-nine children, independently diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder (ADD) with or without hyperactivity and ranging in age from 6 years, 0 months, to 12 years, 11 months, were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC). Multiple regression analyses indicated a significant multiple correlation between age and achievement variables (R = 0.42, p = 0.003) and age and behavioral (CBC) variables (R = 0.55, p = 0.01). Post hoc analyses indicated that much of this variance was accounted for by a significant negative association between age and Full Scale IQ-WRAT Arithmetic difference scores, and significant positive correlations between age and scores on the Social Withdrawal and Uncommunicative scales from the CBC. A nonparametric chi-square analysis indicated that older children with ADD are significantly more likely (p = 0.037) than younger ADD children to have a discrepancy of 15 or more points between IQ and math achievement scores. Results suggest that older ADD children are more likely than younger ADD children to experience academic and socioemotional difficulties.

The mediating effect of age on the relationship between Child Behavior Checklist hyperactivity scores and neuropsychological test performance.

The relationship between hyperactivity and neuropsychological test performance at different age levels was examined. It was found that for young children (6 to 8 years of age, n = 90), there was no significant association between hyperactivity/attentional problems (as measured by the Hyperactivity scale of the Child Behavior Checklist) and performance on neuropsychological tasks thought to contain an attentional component (WISC-R Coding, Arithmetic, and Digit Span; WRAT Arithmetic; and the Benton Visual Retention Test). However, for older children (9 to 12 years of age, n = 92), there were significant and large negative correlations between CBC Hyperactivity scores and Coding, WRAT Arithmetic, and Benton VRT scores. Multiple regression analyses supported the above results (for Coding and WRAT Arithmetic), indicating that hyperactivity/inattention has a particularly deleterious effect on test performance (relative to same-age peers) as age increases.

Personality/behavioral characteristics in children: differential effects of putative anterior versus posterior cerebral asymmetry.

The current study was carried out to examine the possible relationships among personality/behavioral characteristics and anterior/posterior (A/P) functional cerebral asymmetry in children referred for learning problems. Two hundred nineteen children between 7 and 12 years of age were administered a battery of neuropsychological measures, and their parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) and the Personality Inventory for Children-Revised (PIC). Anterior and posterior composite scores were obtained for each subject using scores on the neuropsychological measures. Out of this subject pool, 33 children had sufficient anterior/posterior (A/P) score differences (i.e., greater than one standard deviation difference) to permit their categorization into either an A (n = 19) or P (n = 14) group. The MANOVA results showed that the A group scored significantly higher than the P group on the CBC scales of social withdrawal, aggressiveness, hyperactivity and externalizing, while the P group scored higher, though not significantly, on the (PIC) scale of anxiety. Thus, it appeared that, by using neuropsychological measures along the A/P dimension to classify children with learning problems, significant differences could also be identified on personality/ behavioral variables for some children. In addition, in the current study, children with A type functional cerebral asymmetry exhibited a relatively greater number of behavioral problems.

The clinical significance of congenital agenesis of the corpus callosum.

Three cases of congenital agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) are presented along with typical clinical features observed on computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Most congenital ACC cases do not display hemi-syndromes or callosal syndromes, but do exhibit some deficit in terms of hemispheric integration. The most common neuropsychological impairments are in the areas of motor and perceptual-motor functioning. Clinical guidelines in the assessment of ACC patients are given.