Working memory functions in children with different degrees of intellectual disability

Abstract

Similar patterns of results emerged for both subgroups of children with intellectual disability, indicating that problems with phonological information processing seem to be one of the causes of cognitive impairment in individuals with intellectual disability.

Strategic verbal rehearsal in adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities: A multi-centre European study

“…A consistent finding is their impaired immediate verbal serial recall (Henry & MacLean, 2002;Henry & Winfield, 2010;Hulme & Mackenzie, 1992;Russell, Jarrold, & Henry, 1996;Schuchardt, Gebhardt, & Mähler, 2010;Van der Molen, Van Luit, Jongmans, & Van der Molen, 2007). This is found with chronological age-matched peers, but, more significantly, with mental age (MA) matched peers (e.g., Henry & MacLean, 2002;Henry & Winfield, 2010;Hulme & Mackenzie, 1992;Russell et al, 1996).…”

The evaluation of a screening tool for children with an intellectual disability: The Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Screening Questionnaire

“…These needs will not be uniform and will be influenced by factors such as the child's individual cognitive profile, level of adaptive skills, and learning environment. Research does, however, suggest common difficulties that are shared by many people with an intellectual disability (Emerson, Hatton, Bromley, & Caine, 1998), including with working memory (Schuchardt, Gebhardt, & Mäehler, 2010) and understanding more abstract concepts such as time (Owen & Wilson, 2006). As a result, many children with an intellectual disability may require some additional support in relation to areas such as education (Simonoff et al, 2006), relationships (Heiman, 2000) and behaviour (Rzepecka, McKenzie, McClure, & Murphy, 2011).…”

Emotional Profile and Intellectual Functioning

“…We further extended previous studies by examining simultaneously three levels of intellectual functioning: (a) BIF, (b) AIF, and (c) GIF. We choose to study two opposite intellectual conditions because both BIF and GIF are often under-recognized and misdiagnosed (Revol & Bléandonu, 2012;Schuchardt et al, 2010). Moreover, epidemiological research reveals that increasing demands of contemporary society for higher levels of intellectual functioning enable these groups to be at considerable risk of psychopathology from early childhood.…”

“…Specifically, children with BIF show late information processing abilities, narrow working memory capacity, limited executive functioning, and selective-attention problems (Ninivaggi, 2001;Schuchardt, Gebhardt, & Maehler, 2010). Social abilities such as perspective taking and the interpretation of social situations are particularly impaired.…”