Performance on the ROCF at 8 Years Predicts Academic Achievement at 16 Years in Individuals with Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries.

Objective: This study examined longitudinal associations between performance on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure-Developmental Scoring System (ROCF-DSS) at 8 years of age and academic outcomes at 16 years of age in 133 children with dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA).

Method: The ROCF-DSS was administered at the age of 8 and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, First and Second Edition (WIAT/WIAT-II) at the ages of 8 and 16, respectively. ROCF-DSS protocols were classified by Organization (Organized/Disorganized) and Style (Part-oriented/Holistic).

Visual-spatial processing style is associated with psychopathology in adolescents with critical congenital heart disease.

Objective: To determine whether visual-spatial processing style is associated with psychopathology in a large sample of adolescents with critical congenital heart disease (CHD). Local (part-oriented) style was hypothesized to increase risk for internalizing (but not externalizing) forms of psychopathology.

Method: Participants included 278 adolescents with critical CHD (dextro-transposition of the great arteries = 134, tetralogy of Fallot = 58, single-ventricle cardiac anatomy requiring the Fontan procedure = 86).

Clinical encounters of the ADHD kind: the unique role of neuropsychology.

"Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD) is currently so accessible in public discourse that almost any disturbance in what appears to be attention will invoke the construct in both professional and lay audiences. However, the neural substrates that support attentional functioning are so widely distributed that deficits in attention can be provoked by disturbance in a broad array of psychological processes. This discussion highlights some of the potential players in the differential diagnosis of ADHD.

School-age effects of the newborn individualized developmental care and assessment program for preterm infants with intrauterine growth restriction: preliminary findings.

Background: The experience in the newborn intensive care nursery results in premature infants' neurobehavioral and neurophysiological dysfunction and poorer brain structure. Preterms with severe intrauterine growth restriction are doubly jeopardized given their compromised brains. The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program improved outcome at early school-age for preterms with appropriate intrauterine growth.

Acute cognitive and behavioral effects of systemic corticosteroids in children treated for inflammatory bowel disease.

Systemic corticosteroids are a mainstay of treatment for many pediatric medical conditions. Although their impact on the central nervous system has been well-studied in animal models and adults, less is known about such effects in pediatric populations. The current study investigated acute effects of corticosteroids on memory, executive functions, emotion, and behavior in children and adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

School Age Effects of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program for Medically Low-Risk Preterm Infants: Preliminary Findings.

Background: By school age, even low risk moderately preterm-born children show more neuro-cognitive deficits, underachievement, behavioral problems, and poor social adaptation than full-term peers.

Aim: To evaluate the outcomes at school-age for moderately preterm-born children (29-33 weeks gestational age), appropriate in growth for gestational age (AGA) and medically at low-risk, randomized to Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) or standard care in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. At school-age, the experimental (E) group will show better neuropsychological and neuro-electrophysiological function, as well as improved brain structure than the control (C) group.

A practice-based approach to group identification in nonverbal learning disorders.

Evidence-based practice, the rigorous conduct of clinical analysis and intervention, includes practice-based evidence. Here, practice data were the source of three "clinical portraits" used for exploratory analysis of an array of cognitive and social problems in 30 children whose neurobehavioral profiles fulfilled psychometric criteria for a nonverbal learning disability (NLD). Qualitative analysis of the children's academic and adjustment difficulties revealed patterns of dissociable deficits.

Information processing deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, inattentive type, and children with reading disability.

We examined the information processing capabilities of children diagnosed with the inattentive subtype of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who had been characterized as having a sluggish cognitive tempo. Children referred for school-related problems (n = 81) and nonreferred community controls (n = 149) participated. Of the referred children, 24 met criteria for ADHD, 42 met criteria for reading disability (RD), and 9 of these were comorbid for RD and ADHD.