Academic readiness among young children treated for brain tumors: a multisite, prospective, longitudinal trial.

Background: Young children treated for central nervous system (CNS) malignancies are at high risk for difficulties with academic functioning due to increased vulnerability of the developing brain and missed early developmental opportunities. Extant literature examining academics in this population is limited. We investigated academic readiness, its clinical and demographic predictors, and its relationship with distal academic outcomes among patients treated for CNS tumors during early childhood.

Predictors of Cognitive Performance Among Infants Treated for Brain Tumors: Findings From a Multisite, Prospective, Longitudinal Trial.

Purpose: Infants treated for CNS malignancies experience a significantly poorer response to treatment and are particularly at risk for neuropsychological deficits. The literature is limited and inconsistent regarding cognitive outcomes among this group. We investigated predictors of cognitive outcomes in children treated for brain tumors during infancy as part of a large, prospective, multisite, longitudinal trial.

Cognitive Implications of Ototoxicity in Pediatric Patients With Embryonal Brain Tumors.

Purpose: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is associated with intellectual and academic declines in children treated for embryonal brain tumors. This study expands upon existing research by examining core neurocognitive processes that may result in reading difficulties in children with treatment-related ototoxicity.

Patients And Methods: Prospectively gathered, serial, neuropsychological and audiology data for 260 children and young adults age 3 to 21 years (mean, 9.

Computerized assessment of cognitive impairment among children undergoing radiation therapy for medulloblastoma.

Purpose: Advantages to computerized cognitive assessment include increased precision of response time measurement and greater availability of alternate forms. Cogstate is a computerized cognitive battery developed to monitor attention, memory, and processing speed. Although the literature suggests the domains assessed by Cogstate are areas of deficit in children undergoing treatment for medulloblastoma, the validity of Cogstate in this population has not been previously investigated.

Posterior fossa syndrome and long-term neuropsychological outcomes among children treated for medulloblastoma on a multi-institutional, prospective study.

Background: Patients treated for medulloblastoma who experience posterior fossa syndrome (PFS) demonstrate increased risk for neurocognitive impairment at one year post diagnosis. The aim of the study was to examine longitudinal trajectories of neuropsychological outcomes in patients who experienced PFS compared with patients who did not.

Methods: Participants were 36 patients (22 males) who experienced PFS and 36 comparison patients (21 males) who were matched on age at diagnosis and treatment exposure but did not experience PFS.

Working memory abilities among children treated for medulloblastoma: parent report and child performance.

Objective: We investigated the 5-year postsurgical developmental trajectory of working memory (WM) in children with medulloblastoma using parent and performance-based measures.

Method: This study included 167 patients treated for medulloblastoma. Serial assessments of WM occurred at predetermined time points for 5 years.

Examination of risk factors for intellectual and academic outcomes following treatment for pediatric medulloblastoma.

Background: The aim of this study was to prospectively examine the effects of hearing loss and posterior fossa syndrome (PFS), in addition to age at diagnosis and disease risk status, on change in intellectual and academic outcomes following diagnosis and treatment in a large sample of medulloblastoma patients.

Methods: Data from at least 2 cognitive and academic assessments were available from 165 patients (ages 3-21 years) treated with surgery, risk-adapted craniospinal irradiation, and 4 courses of chemotherapy with stem cell support. Patients underwent serial evaluation of cognitive and academic functioning from baseline up to 5 years post diagnosis.

Processing speed, attention, and working memory after treatment for medulloblastoma: an international, prospective, and longitudinal study.

Purpose: The current study prospectively examined processing speed (PS), broad attention (BA), and working memory (WM) ability of patients diagnosed with medulloblastoma over a 5-year period.

Patients And Methods: The study included 126 patients, ages 3 to 21 years at diagnosis, enrolled onto a collaborative protocol for medulloblastoma. Patients were treated with postsurgical risk-adapted craniospinal irradiation (n = 36 high risk [HR]; n = 90 average risk) followed by four cycles of high-dose chemotherapy with stem-cell support.

Parent-reported social outcomes after treatment for pediatric embryonal tumors: a prospective longitudinal study.

Purpose: To examine longitudinal parent-reported social outcomes for children treated for pediatric embryonal brain tumors.

Patients And Methods: Patients (N=220) were enrolled onto a multisite clinical treatment protocol. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 at the time of their child's diagnosis and yearly thereafter.

Object-based visual processing in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus: a cognitive neuropsychological analysis.

The aim of the study was to use cognitive neuropsychological analysis to investigate object-based visual processing skills in children with spina bifida myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus (SBH). Fourteen children with SBH (aged 8-12) and 21 age-, socio-economic status-, and Verbal IQ-matched healthy controls were assessed using the Birmingham Object Recognition Battery. Overall, the performance of the children with SBH on the object-processing tasks was intact, indicating normal development of the ventral visual processing pathway.

Exploring the neural organization of person-related knowledge: lateralization of lesion, category specificity, and stimulus modality effects.

While it is generally agreed that the right fusiform gyrus is specialized for face recognition, the question of whether knowledge about persons is lateralized in the temporal lobes is more contentious. Does knowledge about people differ from other kinds of object knowledge with respect to brain laterality? Are side-of-lesion effects mediated by stimulus modality? This study aimed to investigate these questions by comparing patients with left temporal (LT) (n=8) and right temporal (RT) (n=11) lesions to control subjects (n=12) on verbal and visual tests of people, buildings, and objects. The RT group was impaired at recognizing famous faces, but not at choosing the picture of a famous building or a famous name from nonfamous distracters.