Learning disabilities and intellectual functioning in school-aged children with prenatal cocaine exposure.

Risk for developing a learning disability (LD) or impaired intellectual functioning by age 7 was assessed in full-term children with prenatal cocaine exposure drawn from a cohort of 476 children born full term and enrolled prospectively at birth. Intellectual functioning was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (Wechsler, 1991) short form, and academic functioning was assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT; Wechsler, 1993) Screener by examiners blind to exposure status. LDs were categorized based on ability-achievement discrepancy scores, using the regression-based predicted achievement method described in the WIAT manual.

Childhood and adolescent psychologic development.

Child and adolescent psychologic development is a complex process that is governed by the interactions of multiple biologic, genetic, sociocultural, and environmental variables. Viewed from an ecological context, the individual influences, and is influenced by, a multilayered set of systems, including the family, school, neighborhood, and peer group, as well as the more indirect effects of the workplace, health care and social services systems, and the larger cultural belief and value systems of the society in which the individual lives. This article reviews the major developmental themes and transitions through which children and adolescents must move on the path to adulthood.