Investigation of biases in the general public in evaluating mild head injury using neuropsychological and CT scan results: forensic implications.

The purpose of this study was to determine how the general public considers neuropsychological (NP) vs. CT scan data in assessing the effects of a possible mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). Ten scenarios depicting an MTBI from a motor vehicle accident were presented to community volunteer participants.

Neural substrates of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: electroencephalographic and magnetic resonance imaging evidence.

Research methods based on electroencephalogram (EEG) and anatomical and functional MRI have been used with increasing frequency in the study of childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Both methods are safe and noninvasive, and their results can complement each other because of the good temporal (but relatively poorer spatial) resolution of EEG and the good spatial (but relatively poorer temporal) resolution of MRI. These methods are described, and associated recent research on childhood ADHD is summarized and critically examined.

Neurobehavioral factors associated with referral for learning problems in a community sample: evidence for an adaptational model for learning disorders.

We evaluated community general education (CGE; n = 178), community special education (CSE; n = 30) and hospital-referred (HR, n = 145) children (ages 7-6 to 11-11) prospectively over a 2-year period. During this period, 17 CGE children were referred for evaluation (community referred; CR). Prior to referral, CR children performed more poorly than community-nonreferred (CNR) children on cognitive ability, academic achievement, attention problems, and information processing.

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.

Neurodevelopmental characteristics of children with learning impairments classified according to the double-deficit hypothesis.

The double-deficit model has been examined primarily in relation to reading. We investigated whether children classified according to the double-deficit model would exhibit differences in other neuropsychological domains. Children referred for learning problems (N = 188), ages 7 to 11, were classified by double-deficit subtype.

The developmental course of processing speed in children with and without learning disabilities.

This study contrasted the development of processing speed in children with and without learning disabilities. We examined whether the same global mechanism presumed to be responsible for the normal developmental improvement in processing speed might also be associated with the processing speed deficiencies observed in children with learning impairments. One hundred and twenty-two children with learning disabilities in reading and/or math and 206 non-disabled community controls participated.

Motor sequence learning and reading ability: is poor reading associated with sequencing deficits?

Although it is widely assumed that children with learning disabilities have "sequencing problems," these have not been well specified. A non-verbal serial reaction time (SRT) paradigm was used to evaluate motor sequence learning in 422 children between ages 7 and 11 in relation to reading, cognitive ability level, and attention problems. The children demonstrated the response profile typically associated with motor sequence learning, but the component of the profile indicative of implicit sequence learning was not reliably associated with any of the predictors.