Estudos de Psicologia I Campinas I 32(3) I 383-393 I julho -setembro 2015 AbstractThis article aims to present the process of construction of a screening test to assess signs of dyslexia. Two phases were performed: (a) identifying scientific productions and national and international instruments on the assessment of dyslexia and selection of the most frequently evaluated cognitive-linguistic skills; (b) construction of a draft and analysis by specialist judges. From these phases the "Identifying Signs of Dyslexia Test" instrument was prepared, designed for children aged 8-11 years, and composed of the assessment of eight skills: reading, writing, visual attention, calculation, motor skills, phonological awareness, rapid naming, and immediate memory. Future studies are needed to verify the validity and reliability evidence of the instrument.Keywords: Dyslexia; Neuropsychology; Psychological assessment. Resumo

This study reviewed the use of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity-symptoms and Normal-behaviors (SWAN) rating scale in diagnostic and evolutive approaches to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and in correlational studies of the disorder. A review of articles published in indexed journals from electronic databases was conducted and 61 articles on the SWAN scale were analyzed. From these, 27 were selected to a) examine use of SWAN in research on attention disorders and b) verify evidence of its usefulness in the areas of genetics, neuropsychology, diagnostics, psychiatric comorbidities, neuroimaging, pharmacotherapy, and to examine its statistical reliability and validity in studies of diverse populations. This review of articles indicated a growing use of the SWAN scale for diagnostic purposes, for therapy, and in research on areas other than ADHD, especially when compared with other reliable scales. Use of the scale in ADHD diagnosis requires further statistical testing to define its psychometric properties.

Purpose: to compare suggestive signs of stress in children with learning disorders (with and without speech-language intervention) and in children without learning problems, and to identify suggestive signs of stress among groups according to the gender of the participants. Methods: the study included 25 children with learning disorder. Of these children, 10 were diagnosed, but without intervention and 15 children were receiving speech-language intervention. Also 25 children without any learning problems participated in the study. In all groups, a children's stress scale was applied.Results: it was observed that 43% of children with learning problems without intervention, 56% of children with learning problems in intervention and 83% of children without learning problem, showed warning signs for child stress. These differences were not statistically significant. In addition, ware not found differences between genders. Conclusion: in all groups, there was a high frequency of warning signs for child stress, showing that this may not be a determining factor in academic achievement in the study sample. Keywords: Stress, Psychological; Learning; Learning Disorders RESUMO Objetivo: comparar sinais sugestivos de estresse entre crianças com transtornos de aprendizagem (com e sem intervenção fonoaudiológica) e em crianças sem qualquer dificuldade escolar, além de verificar sinais sugestivos de estresse entre os grupos de acordo com o sexo dos participantes. Métodos: participaram do estudo 25 crianças com transtorno de aprendizagem, 10 com diagnóstico, porém sem intervenção e 15 em intervenção fonoaudiológica, e 25 crianças sem queixas de aprendizagem. Em todos os grupos foi aplicada uma escala de estresse infantil.Resultados: observou-se que 43% das crianças com transtorno de aprendizagem sem intervenção, 56% das crianças com transtorno de aprendizagem em terapia e 83% das crianças sem o transtorno, apresentaram sinais de alerta. Estas diferenças não foram estatisticamente significantes. Também não foi encontrada esta diferença entre os sexos. Conclusão: nos dois grupos houve alta frequência de sinais de alerta para o estresse infantil, mostrando que este pode não ser um fator determinante no desempenho escolar na amostra estudada.

A depressão inclui diversos sintomas cognitivos, tais como problemas de atenção que, por sua vez, podem prejudicar o desempenho escolar. De modo a verificar as relações entre essas variáveis, foram obtidas as notas escolares e aplicados o Teste de Atenção Concentrada e o Inventário de Depressão de Beck a 62 estudantes do ensino médio, de ambos os sexos, com idades entre 15 e 24 anos. Destes, 33,8% apresentaram sintomas depressivos, distribuídos entre os níveis leve e grave, sendo que as mulheres apresentaram maior severidade de sintomas que os homens. A severidade de sintomatologia depressiva mostrou-se negativamente correlacionada tanto com o desempenho escolar quanto com a qualidade da atenção. A comparação entre grupos com e sem sintomas de depressão revelaram que o primeiro apresentou desempenho escolar pior e déficit da atenção. Tais resultados corroboram a hipótese de relação entre depressão, atenção e desempenho escolar em alunos do Ensino Médio.

The objective of this study was to characterize the children referred to the Neuro-Learning Disorder Clinic at the Public Hospital of the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (State University of Campinas) in 2010 focusing on the demographics, parents' concerns, and the diagnoses given by the health care professionals. A total of 203 male and female children and young people, aged 4-17 years old, attending kindergarten to high school were analyzed. The children that were referred due to school-related problems underwent interdisciplinary evaluations aiming to establish a diagnosis. After thorough evaluation, the children were treated according to their specific needs. The study sample was predominately comprised of males (67.0%), fifth graders with average age of 10 years and 11 months. The main problems identified were global learning difficulties and inattention. The evaluation results indicated 43.8% of pedagogy-related learning difficulties and 32.2% of intellectual disability issues. The findings corroborate those of other studies on the characterization of behavior and school-related problems of children and adolescents in specialized centers. The results obtained emphasize the importance of an interdisciplinary team work to evaluate school-related problems.

The present study aims to compare the performance between Brazilian children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD) and children without learning difficulties on tests of attention and Executive Functions.The study sample consists of study group (20 subjects) attending the Learning Disability clinic of University Hospital and control group (20 subjects) from public school in Campinas-SP. The instruments utilized were: WISC-III factor indexes and subtests, cancellation test, Trail Making Test, Stroop Color Word Test, Tower of London, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and verbal fluency test. The results revealed differences between groups in scores of different instruments. The findings suggest that children with dyslexia have difficulties in performing visuospatial and auditive attention tasks, as well as tasks involving different components of executive functions, such as flexibility, inhibitory control, strategy use, working memory and verbal fluency. Such changes may be part of dyslexia and accompany the core deficit in the phonological component of language.

The study aimed to compare the performance of children with ADHD and children without learning and/or attention diffi culties in tasks of visual attention, executive functions, self-esteem and self--concept. Participants were34 children, 17 with ADHD and 17in the control group, with a mean age of 9.92 years. For the evaluation, the following tests were used: Cancellation Test, Trail Making Test, Stroop Color Word Test, Tower of London, Children's Depression Inventory, Self-Esteem Multidimensional Scale, and Children's Self-Concept Scale. The results indicated that children with ADHD showed worse out comes in attention and executive functions evaluations, in the belief of doing things the wrong way, in feelings of guilt and in low self-esteem, both in the general result as well as in self-perception. Keywords: Attention defi cit and hyperactivity disorder, cognition, self-esteem, self-concept, children. Attention Defi cit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder of early onset, characterized by psychomotor restlessness, sustained attention diffi culty and cognitive and social impulsivity. The main characteristics of ADHD are diffi culties in maintaining attention on tasks that require concentration, completing tasks and remaining seated, low performance on assessments, disorganized material and work, constant speech, conversations and/or noises at inappropriate times, low performance in attentional and executive functions tasks (Barkley, 2008; Resumo

RESUMOObjetivo: analisar características em um caso de dislexia com depressão infantil. Método: descrição dos resultados da avaliação interdisciplinar em um caso com dislexia e depressão. Participou deste estudo uma criança, do gênero masculino, com 10 anos e 7 meses, cursando o 4° ano do Ensino Fundamental em uma escola pública. Resultados: os resultados deste estudo evidenciaram alterações não somente na linguagem, em que há dificuldades no processamento fonológico da informação, como também na atenção e funções executivas e quadro comórbido de depressão infantil. Conclusão: o estudo revelou a necessidade da avaliação de uma equipe interdisciplinar para um diagnóstico preciso e, conseqüentemente uma melhor intervenção em crianças com dislexia e suas comorbidades.