No abstract

Selective mutism (SM) is classified in DSM-5 as an anxiety disorder. The aim of the study was to investigate the psychological features of children with SM and their parental psychological profiles, compared to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) children and their parents. The parents of 26 preschool children with SM and 32 with children with GAD filled out the child behavior check list for 1½-5 years (CBCL1½-5) and the symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R). Information about the children and their parents' histories was collected through clinical interviews. Children with SM scored higher than children with GAD on the CBCL1½-5 withdrawn scale and lower on the attention problems, aggressive behavior, and externalizing problems scales. Mothers of children with SM scored higher on the SCL-90-R obsessive-compulsive subscale and Global Severity Index than mothers of children with GAD, while fathers of children with SM scored higher on the SCL-90-R Phobic Anxiety subscale and on the Global Severity Index than fathers of children with GAD. Parents of children with SM displayed a greater presence of stressful life events than parents of children with GAD. Data appeared to confirm that SM and GAD share a common anxious core, though some differences in the children's psychological profiles and the parents' history and personality emerged. Future research should focus on the role of external factors, such as parent-child relationship, in the development of SM.

Recognizing a person’s identity is a fundamental social ability; facial expressions, in particular, are extremely important in social cognition. Individuals affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display impairment in the recognition of emotions and, consequently, in recognizing expressions related to emotions, and even their identity. The aim of our study was to compare the performance of participants with ADHD, ASD, and typical development (TD) with regard to both accuracy and speed in the morphing task and to determine whether the use of pictures of digitized cartoon faces could significantly facilitate the process of emotion recognition in ASD patients (particularly for disgust). This study investigated the emotion recognition process through the use of dynamic pictures (human faces vs. cartoon faces) created with the morphing technique in three pediatric populations (7–12 years old): ADHD patients, ASD patients, and an age-matched control sample (TD). The Chi-square test was used to compare response latency and accuracy between the three groups in order to determine if there were statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the recognition of basic emotions. The results demonstrated a faster response time in neurotypical children compared to ASD and ADHD children, with ADHD participants performing better than ASD participants on the same task. The overall accuracy parameter between the ADHD and ASD groups did not significantly differ.

Intellectual functioning and executive functions in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific learning disorder (SLD). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 60, 440-446.Several studies have shown neuropsychological deficits across multiple domains in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific learning disorder (SLD), but differences and similarities between these disorders have been little considered. We were interested in analyzing the intellectual and executive profiles in a sample of children and adolescents, divided according to the diagnosis into the ADHD group and the SLD group, and in identifying the differences and similarities between these disorders. The sample included two clinical groups: the first included 36 children and adolescents with a diagnosis of ADHD (5-15 years; mean = 9.42; SD = 2.22) while the second included 36 children and adolescents with a diagnosis of SLD (7-15 years; mean = 9.43; SD = 2.25). The WISC-IV was used to measure intellectual ability and the NEPSY-II was employed to measure executive functions. The results showed that the SLD group had significantly higher scores than the ADHD group on the NEPSY-II in the inhibition, cognitive flexibility, short-term verbal memory and verbal working memory domains. The ANCOVA showed differences regarding the FSIQ of WISC-IV, in that the SLD group obtaining higher scores than ADHD group. Findings showed that ADHD children are more impaired than SLD children, in particular in cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, verbal memory, working memory and intellectual functioning. The recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of children and adolescents with ADHD and SLD allows to outline an educational and clinical intervention focused on their specific executive and intellectual functioning.

Background: Topographic memory is the ability to reach various places by recognizing spatial layouts and getting oriented in familiar environments. It involves several different cognitive abilities, in particular executive functions (EF), such as attention, working memory, and planning. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show impairments in inhibitory control, regulation of attention, planning, and working memory.Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the topographic memory in children with ADHD-combined subtype (ADHD-C).Method: Fifteen children (8–10 years) with a diagnosis of ADHD-C (DSM-5) (ADHD-C group) were compared to 15 children with typical development (TD group) of the same age. All children performed Raven's colored progressive matrices (CPM) test to obtain a measure related with cognitive functioning. The walking Corsi test (WalCT), a large-scale version of the Corsi block-tapping test, was used to assess topographic memory in experimental environment.Results: A higher impairment was observed in ADHD-C than TD with significant differences in the WalCT, in particular on the topographic short-term memory (TSTM) task, on the topographic learning (TL) task, and on the repetition number (RN) task during the TL task. Perseverative errors were reported in performing the square-sequence in the WalCT. Zero-order correlations showed a positive correlation between TSTM and auditory attention, and memory of design of NEPSY-II and digit span of WISC-IV. No statistically significant differences were found between the ADHD-C group and TD group in the TL task in the WalCT condition.Conclusion: In ADHD-C, initial topographic learning was compromised whereas the long-term retention of learned topographical material seemed to not be impaired. In particular, these impairments seem to be linked with difficulties in sustained attention, in spatial memory for novel visual materials, in a poor working memory, and in perseverative behaviors.