Comparing attentional skills in children with acquired and developmental central nervous system disorders

Abstract

Attentional impairments in children occur in the context of both developmental and acquired disorders involving the central nervous system (CNS) and may have implications for ongoing development, potentially impeding cognitive, educational, and behavioral functions. Using a continuous performance paradigm (CPT), this study compared attentional profiles of children with developmental and acquired conditions impacting on the CNS: (i) attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD: n 5 27); (ii) moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI: n 5 41); (iii) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n 5 31); and (iv) insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (n 5 39). A healthy control group (n 5 46) was also examined. Groups were compared on measures of sustained attention, selective attention, and response inhibition. In addition, measures of performance variability and deterioration and processing speed were examined. Results showed that children with ADHD exhibited global and severe attentional impairments in contrast to all other groups. Children with moderate TBI displayed mild attentional difficulties, restricted to selective and sustained attention domains. In conclusion, although CPT parameters differentiated the ADHD group from all others, a disorder-specific profile was not observed. (JINS, 2006, 12, 519-531.)

Functional Plasticity in Childhood Brain Disorders: When, What, How, and Whom to Assess

“…Children with ADHD have difficulty sustaining attention (Seidel and Joschko, 1990), and, over time, show increased reaction time (RT) and commit more omission errors, as in Trajectory D (Anderson et al, 2006; Brewer et al, 2001; but see Huang-Pollock and Nigg, 2003). In children with SBM, in contrast, RT does not increase over time, as in Trajectory B (Brewer et al, 2001; Swartwout et al, 2008).…”

An overview of attention deficits after paediatric traumatic brain injury

“…Two longitudinal studies that evaluated children with moderate/severe TBI showed that they displayed persistent significant difficulties compared with a healthy control group. The injured children had a significantly longer reaction time, fewer accurate responses [14] and higher rates and length of lapses in attention [40]. Another longitudinal study found poorer performances for children with severe TBI when compared to children with mild and moderate TBI and controls [22].…”

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Neuropsychological Perspective Towards DSM-V

“…Nevertheless, data support this theory and find children with ADHD repeatedly not performing as well as matched controls on neurocognitive tests of vigilance and sustained attention, such as the continuous performance task or CPT Halperin et al, 1990;Inoue et al, 1998;Seidman et al, 1998) where inattentiveness is indexed as errors of omission. Performance on such tasks appears positively correlated with ADHD symptoms (Anderson, Anderson, & Anderson, 2006;Epstein et al, 2003;Mahone, Pillion, Hoffman, Hiemenz, & Denckla, 2005;Marks et al, 2005;Nichols & Waschbusch, 2004). Correlations with behavioral measures of inattention vary and are at best moderate.…”