Healthcare, educational, and vocational transitions in young adults with pediatric-onset disabilities: Associations with social determinants of health.

Objective: We aim to describe healthcare, vocational, and educational transitions in young adults with pediatric-onset disabilities and to examine the associations with social determinants of health and depressive symptoms.

Design: This cross-sectional study used multinomial and binary logistic regression to examine the associations of sociodemographic factors and depressive symptoms with healthcare, educational, and vocational transitions.

Setting: Participants were recruited from outpatient specialty clinics in a Rehabilitation Medicine department at a quaternary academic children's hospital.

Having more resilience factors only gets you so far in the context of neighborhood disadvantage: understanding differential predictors of internalizing symptoms and body mass index in youth with spina bifida.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine if neighborhood disadvantage predicted internalizing symptoms and body mass index (BMI) in youth with spina bifida (SB), while accounting for several sociodemographic factors. We also explored whether resilience factors helped explain associations between neighborhood disadvantage and internalizing symptoms or neighborhood disadvantage and BMI.

Methods: Participants (n = 69, Mage=14.

Caregiver report of social-emotional functioning in infants and young children after inflicted traumatic brain injury.

Social-emotional difficulties are common sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Children who have experienced inflicted TBI (iTBI) may be at increased risk for social-emotional problems due to the risk factors associated with both early neurologic injury and with child maltreatment. We characterized the associations among injury severity, caregiver type (i.

Quality of Life in Youth Soccer Players After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Context: Pediatric mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) represent an evolving field of interest in youth athletics. Although most players recover within 4 weeks, some have symptoms that last longer. Little is known about youth health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after mTBI.

Processing Speed is Related to the General Psychopathology Factor in Youth.

The relationship between the p factor and cognition in youth has largely focused on general cognition (IQ) and executive functions (EF). Another cognitive construct, processing speed (PS), is dissociable from IQ and EF, but has received less research attention despite being related to many different mental health symptoms. The present sample included 795 youth, ages 11-16 from the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center (CLDRC) sample.

Cognitive disengagement syndrome in pediatric spina bifida.

The primary aim of this study was to characterize Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (CDS) symptomatology in youth with spina bifida (SB). One hundred and sixty-nine patients aged 5-19 years old were drawn from clinical cases seen through a multidisciplinary outpatient SB clinic at a children's hospital between 2017 and 2019. Parent-reported CDS and inattention were measured using Penny's Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Scale and the Vanderbilt ADHD Rating Scale.

Child, Parent, and Family Adjustment for Patients Followed in a Multidisciplinary Spina Bifida Clinic.

Objectives: To characterize child, parent, and family adjustment for patients followed in a multidisciplinary spina bifida (SB) clinic.

Methods: Participants were drawn from clinical cases seen through a multidisciplinary outpatient SB clinic at a children's hospital between 2017 and 2019. Participants included 209 youth under 19 years old who were diagnosed with SB and their parents.

Sequencing Deficits and Phonological Speech Errors, But Not Articulation Errors, Predict Later Literacy Skills.

Purpose: Speech sound disorder (SSD) in conjunction with a language disorder has been associated with poor literacy acquisition; however, no study has evaluated whether articulation, phonological, or sequencing skills are differentially related to reading skills. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between speech error types at ages 5-6 years and literacy at ages 7-9 years. Phonological errors were hypothesized to predict phonological awareness (PA) and literacy even while accounting for other speech error types and language skills.

Pediatric mTBI during the COVID-19 pandemic: considerations for evaluation and management.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed healthcare utilization patterns and clinical practice, including pediatric mTBI evaluation and management. Providers treating pediatric mTBI, including neuropsychologists, have a unique role in evaluating and managing an already complex injury in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic with limited empirically based guidelines. In the present paper, we review usual, evidence-based pediatric mTBI care, highlight changes experienced by healthcare providers since the onset of the pandemic, and provide possible considerations and solutions.

How Specific Are Learning Disabilities?

Despite historical emphasis on "specific" learning disabilities (SLDs), academic skills are strongly correlated across the curriculum. Thus, one can ask how specific SLDs truly are. To answer this question, we used bifactor models to identify variance shared across academic domains (academic ), as well as variance unique to reading, mathematics, and writing.

Concussion Symptom Treatment and Education Program: A Feasibility Study.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and potential benefits of a manualized, brief cognitive-behavioral therapy-based intervention program for children and adolescents with persistent postconcussive symptoms.

Setting: Two outpatient pediatric concussion programs in the United States.

Participants: Patients aged 8 to 17 years who sustained concussions between 2 and 12 months prior to enrollment.

The Multiple Deficit Model: Progress, Problems, and Prospects.

The multiple deficit model (MDM) was proposed because the prevailing single-deficit model provided an inadequate account of atypical neuropsychological development. Across methods and levels of analysis, there has been support for the two fundamental tenets of the MDM, that multiple predictors contribute probabilistically to neurodevelopmental disorders and shared risk factors contribute to comorbidity. Diagnostically, the multiplicity of factors means that no single cognitive deficit or combination of deficits can be used to rule in or out most neurodevelopmental disorders.

A Longitudinal Investigation of Symptom Recovery following Concussion in Youth Soccer.

Objective: To prospectively evaluate symptom outcomes after youth soccer-related concussion.

Study Design: Using a prospective cohort design, we enrolled male and female competitive soccer players age 8-17 years into 3 groups: concussed (n = 23), matched control (n = 23), and orthopedic injury (n = 24). Postconcussive symptoms were monitored serially via both athlete and parent report at days 1-2, 4, 7, 10, 30, and 90.

Featured Article: Interpersonal Stressors and Resources as Predictors of Adolescent Adjustment Following Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: The present study sought to examine adolescents' perceptions of their interpersonal stressors and resources across parent, sibling, friend, and school relationships, and the longitudinal associations with self-reported adjustment after traumatic brain injury (TBI) over a 12-month period.

Methods: We examined the main effects of stressors and resources on internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 152 adolescents who had sustained complicated mild-to-severe TBI. We also investigated the conjoint effects of stressors and resources and the moderating effects of TBI severity with stressors and resources on outcomes.

Utility of matrix reasoning as an embedded performance validity indicator in pediatric mild traumatic brain injury.

The present study examined the utility of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (WASI-II) Matrix Reasoning (MR) subtest in detecting suspect effort among a pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) sample. The sample consisted of 526 clinically referred patients aged 8-16 years. Sixteen percent of participants failed the Medical Symptom Validity Test, which was used to categorize the sample into adequate and suspect effort groups.

Literacy acquisition influences children's rapid automatized naming.

Previous research has established that learning to read improves children's performance on reading-related phonological tasks, including phoneme awareness (PA) and nonword repetition. Few studies have investigated whether literacy acquisition also promotes children's rapid automatized naming (RAN). We tested the hypothesis that literacy acquisition should influence RAN in an international, longitudinal population sample of twins.

Explaining the sex difference in dyslexia.

Background: Males are diagnosed with dyslexia more frequently than females, even in epidemiological samples. This may be explained by greater variance in males' reading performance.

Methods: We expand on previous research by rigorously testing the variance difference theory, and testing for mediation of the sex difference by cognitive correlates.

The Role of Neuropsychological Evaluation in the Clinical Management of Concussion.

Most people are expected to recover quickly and completely after sustaining a single, uncomplicated concussion. When unexpected difficulties are apparent or recovery is not progressing as expected, a neuropsychological evaluation may help to clarify the injury and noninjury variables that could be serving to prolong recovery. Interventions tailored to the needs of a specific patient can then be implemented to assist in improving functioning and minimizing distress.

The impact of pediatric neuropsychological consultation in mild traumatic brain injury: a model for providing feedback after invalid performance.

Objective: In recent years, pediatric practitioners have increasingly recognized the importance of objectively measuring performance validity during clinical assessments. Yet, no studies have examined the impact of neuropsychological consultation when invalid performance has been identified in pediatric populations and little published guidance exists for clinical management. Here we provide a conceptual model for providing feedback after noncredible performance has been detected.

Cognitive Prediction of Reading, Math, and Attention: Shared and Unique Influences.

The current study tested a multiple-cognitive predictor model of word reading, math ability, and attention in a community-based sample of twins ages 8 to 16 years ( N = 636). The objective was to identify cognitive predictors unique to each skill domain as well as cognitive predictors shared among skills that could help explain their overlap and thus help illuminate the basis for comorbidity of related disorders (reading disability, math disability, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Results indicated that processing speed contributes to the overlap between reading and attention as well as math and attention, whereas verbal comprehension contributes to the overlap between reading and math.

Parent satisfaction with neuropsychological consultation after pediatric mild traumatic brain injury.

Few studies have focused on consumer satisfaction following neuropsychological evaluation. We sought to examine parent satisfaction with neuropsychological consultation following a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in school-age children. We surveyed 71 parents of 8- to 17-year-olds participating in a prospective longitudinal study examining neuropsychological consultation as an intervention for persistent postconcussive symptoms.

A Pilot Study Investigating Neuropsychological Consultation as an Intervention for Persistent Postconcussive Symptoms in a Pediatric Sample.

Objective: To examine the efficacy of a one-time neuropsychological consultation as an intervention for youth with persistent postconcussive symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury.

Study Design: Using a prospective interrupted time series design, we enrolled 80 patients aged 8-17 years referred consecutively for clinical neuropsychological consultation. Patients needed to have sustained injury between 2 and 12 months prior to enrollment.

Preinjury Emotional-Behavioral Functioning of Children With Lingering Problems After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

This study aimed to characterize preinjury emotional-behavioral functioning in pediatric patients with lingering problems after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). The clinical case series design included 278 patients 8-17 years old. Parents retrospectively rated children's preinjury emotional-behavioral functioning on a broadband questionnaire.

The Medical Symptom Validity Test Measures Effort Not Ability in Children: A Comparison Between Mild TBI and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Samples.

Inadequate effort during neuropsychological examination results in inaccurate representations of an individual's true abilities and difficulties. As such, performance validity tests (PVTs) are strongly recommended as standard practice during adult-based evaluations. One concern with using PVTs with children is that failure reflects immature cognitive ability rather than non-credible effort.