Abstract
INTRODUCTION: although there are investigations which results suggest deficits in neuropsychological habilities underlie to learning disorders (LD) there is not consensus in definition, diagnostic criteria and the correspondent assessment.
OBJECTIVE: to describe neuropsychological profile of children with LD of: motor, attention, memory, language and executive abilities.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: 746 screening questionnaires for LD (CEPA) were administered to children of 43 schools, belonging to socioeconomic strata 1, 2, 3 of Barranquilla-Colombia. 31 children were diagnosis as LD, using a gold standard diagnosis with the WISC III Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) and the school achievement of the Woodcock-Muñoz-Sandoval Psycho-educational Battery. Neuropsychological skills were measured with the following tests: Rey-Osterrieth complex figure, verbal learning curve, forward and backward digit span, auditory continuous performance, Trail Making, Boston Vocabulary and phonologic/ semantic verbal fluency. Comparisons of the neuropsychological scores between LD group and the norms from the child general population, using the student‘s t test for one independent sample, were done.
RESULTS: children with LD presented lower significant performances on tests that evaluated attention, visuomotor coordination, and memory, especially working memory.
CONCLUSION: children with LD presented alterations in different neuropsychological domains as memory, attention, constructional and visual-spatial abilities, which could be explained as working memory deficit, causing of an executive dysfunction.
References
Bravo L. Psicología de las dificultades del aprendizaje escolar introducción a la educación especial (5a ed.). Chile: Editorial Universitaria, 1998; 105- 173.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: Text revision DSM- IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.
Acosta MT. Aspectos neurobiológicos del déficit de atención/hiperactividad. Estado actual del conocimiento. Revista de Neuropsicología, Neuropsiquiatría y Neurociencias. 2000; 1: 319-324.
Roselli M, Báteman JR, Guzmán M, Ardila A. Frecuencia y características de los problemas específicos en el aprendizaje en una muestra escolar aleatoria. Revista de Neuropsicología, Neuropsiquiatría y Neurociencias. 1999; 1:128 - 138.
Roselli M, Matute E, Ardila A. Predictores neuropsicológicos de la lectura en español. Rev Neurol 2006; 4:202-210.
Willcutt EG, DeFries JC, Pennington BF, Olson RK,Smith SD, Cardon LR. Genetic etiology of comorbid reading difficulties and ADHD. In Plomin R, DeFries JC, McGuffin P, Craig I, eds. Behavioral Genetics in a Postgenomic Era, 2003; 227-246.
Bravo, L. Cuestionario de evaluación de problemas de aprendizaje CEPA. Estudios pedagógicos, 1979; 4: 113-123.
Sheehan D, Lecrubier Y, Colón-Soto M. MINI KID. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview para niños y adolescentes. Versión en español; Madrid, 2000.
Wechsler D. Escala de inteligencia infantil (WISC-III). Buenos Aires: Paidós, 1995.
Woodcock R, Muñoz-Sandoval AF. Pruebas de Habilidad Cognoscitiva Revisada. Illinois: Riverside Publishing Company; 1996.
Rey A. Test de copia y de reproducción de memoria de una figura compleja. Adaptación española. Madrid: TEA ediciones; 1942.
Rosvold HE, Mirsky AF, Saranson I, Bransome ED, Beck LH. Continuous Performance Test of brin damage. J Consult Clin Psicol. 1956, 20:343-50.
Partington J, Leiter R. Partington’s. Test de trazos Trail Making Test (TMT) Pathways Test. Psychological Service Center Bulletin; 1949.
Goodglass H, Kaplan E. La evaluación de la afasia y de trastornos asociados, 2ª ed (Versión García-Albea y Sánchez Bernados). Madrid: Editorial Medica Panamericana,1996.
De Renzi E, Faglioni P. Normative data and screening power of a shortened version of the Token Test. Cortex 1978;14:41-9.
Spreen O, Benton AL. Neurosensory Center Comprehensive Examination for Aphasia (NCCA). Victoria: University of Victoria Neuropsychology Laboratory; 1969.
Bará J, Vicuña P, Pineda D, Henao G. Perfiles neuropsicológicos y conductuales de niños con trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad, de Cali, Colombia. Rev Neurol 2003; 37: 608-15.
Sattler JM. Evaluación infantil: aplicaciones conductuales y clínicas. Volumen II. 4 edición. Mexico: Manual Moderno; 2003.
Barkley RA. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: Guilford Press; 1998.
Fletcher JM. Neuropsychological Prediction of reading disabilities. Obrúzt, J. E. and Hynd, G. W. (Eds.) Neuropsychological foundations of learning disabilities: A handbook of issues, methods and practice (pp. 387-410). San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1986:387-410.
Aguilera JA. Introducción a las dificultades de aprendizaje”. 1° Ed. Edit. Madrid McGraw Hill. 2004.
Etchepareborda MC, Abad-Mas L. Memoria de trabajo en los procesos básicos del aprendizaje. Rev Neurol 2005; 40: S79-S83.
Borkowski JG, Burke JE. Theories, models, and measurements of executive functioning: An Information processing perspective. In Lyon GL, Krasnegor NA, eds. Attention, memory, and executive function. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes, 1996: 235-261.
Brown AL. The development of memory: Knowing, knowing about knowing, and knowing how to know. In Reese HW, eds. Advances in child development and behavior. New York: Academic Press, 1975:103-152.
Brown AL. Knowing where, what, and how to remember: A problem of metacognition. In R. Glasserm eds. Advances in instructional psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1978: 77-165.
Baker A, Wong DL. En Betancourt MJ, eds. Teorías y prácticas sobre creatividad y calidad. Cuba: Academia, 1992
Snowling M, EnCatts H, Gillispie M, Laurence B, Kail R, Millér C. The Rote of Speed of Processing, Rapid Narrating, and Phonological Awareness in Reading Achievement. J Learn Disabil 2002; 35: 509-524.
Matterson, Hazan & Wijayatilake. En Cutting L, Carlisle J, Denckla MB, eds. A model of the reladiscrete disorder for the Scientific Study of Reading. Hum Mov Sci 1998; 17:471-90.
Murphy LA, Pollastsek A. En Flynn JM, Rhabar MH, eds. Prevalence of reading failure in boys compared with girls. Psychol Sch 1994; 331: 66-71.
Hooper et al. En Etchepareborda, M. Abordaje neurocognitivo y farmacológico de los trastornos específicos del aprendizaje. Rev Neurol, 1999;28 (Supl 2): 81-93.
Shaywitz SE, Shaywitz BA, Pugh KR et al. Disruption of posterior brain systems for reading in children with developmental dyslexia. Biol Psychiatry 1998; 52 (2): 101-110.
Temple E, Poldrack RA, Protopapas A, Nagarajan S, Salz T, Tallal P, et al. En Garnett, K. Math learning disabilities: Teaching and learners, J Read Writ Learn Disabil Int 2000; 3: 1-8.
Knopik VS, Alarcón M, DeFries JC. Comorbidity of mathematics and reading deficits: Evidence for a genetic etiology. Behavior Genetics 1997; 27: 447-453.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.