Childhood maltreatment is a significant risk factor for a host of psychiatric, developmental, medical, and neurocognitive conditions, often resulting in debilitating and long-term consequences. However, there is no available neuropsychological resource reviewing the literature on the associated neurocognitive deficits in children and adolescents. This review comprehensively examines the 23 prior studies that evaluated the intellectual, language, visual-spatial, memory, motor, and/or attention/executive functions in children and adolescents following an experience of childhood abuse and/or neglect. Neurocognitive impairments were frequently reported. Impairments in executive functions were the most frequent and severe reported impairments, although intelligence, language, visual-spatial skills, and memory are also at serious risk for compromised development following maltreatment. However, specific factors such as abuse/neglect duration, severity, type, and timing during development were all associated with neurocognition. This indicates that these factors are of greater importance than just the presence of abuse/neglect in identifying risk for neurocognitive compromise. Such neurocognitive deficits appear to be a consequence to the known neurobiological and brain development abnormalities of this population, suggesting traumatic stress can be a potential cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. These findings have critical implications for the clinical practice and research involving children following childhood maltreatment and other types of traumatic stress.

Neurons from patient-derived iPSCs demonstrate mutation-specific responses to potential therapeutic strategies for Christianson syndrome.

The present study examined the intellectual and adaptive functioning in a sample of children and young adults with Sturge-Weber Syndrome (SWS). A total of 80 research participants from a SWS study database underwent full neurological evaluation as part of their participation or concurrent medical care. Twenty-nine of the participants received neuropsychological evaluations. Analyses indicated no significant demographic or neurological differences between those who did and did not receive neuropsychological evaluations. Overall, the neuropsychological evaluation sample displayed significantly lower functioning relative to published normative data across domains of intellectual and adaptive functioning. Thirty-two percent of the sample displayed impaired performance (standard score ≤ 75) in intellectual functioning and 58% displayed impaired performance in adaptive functioning. Hemiparesis status independently predicted overall adaptive functioning while seizure frequency independently predicted overall intellectual functioning. Younger participants displayed significantly higher (more intact) ratings in adaptive functioning compared to older participants, specifically in overall adaptive functioning, motor skills, and community living skills. A composite measure of neurological status (SWS-NRS) incorporating seizure and hemiparesis status effectively distinguished between individuals with impaired or nonimpaired adaptive and intellectual functioning and showed promise as a screening method for identifying individuals with more involved intellectual and/or adaptive needs.

Introduction: Despite preliminary research, there remain inconsistent findings with regard to the role of executive functioning (EF) deficits in childhood anxiety and depression. This report examined the association of The National Institute of Health (NIH) Toolbox to clinical neuropsychological measures and to childhood, anxiety/depressive symptomatology. Methods: One-hundred eight children and adolescents completed the three EF measures from the NIH Toolbox (List Sorting Working Memory Test [LSWMT], Dimensional Change Card Sorting Test [DCCST], and Flanker Test of Attention and Inhibition [Flanker]) in an outpatient neuropsychology program. These tests were compared to established measures of EF in terms of linear correlations and detection of impairment. Heaton’s Global Deficit Score (GDS) was utilized to calculate impairment. The Toolbox-EF measures were paired with parent-reported EF symptoms (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function [BRIEF2]) to identify the role of EF in childhood anxiety/depressive symptomatology. Results: Toolbox-EF measures displayed medium sized correlations with their clinically comparable counterparts, and generally did not differ in their detection of impairment. Toolbox-GDS was associated with depression diagnosis and clinically significant child-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms. Together, Toolbox/BRIEF2 accounted for 26.8–30.9% of elevated depressive symptom variance, but only 13.2-14% of elevated anxiety symptom variance. Further, EF impairment was associated with depression across self report, parent report, and clinical diagnosis. Discussion: The NIH Toolbox-EF measures display comparable psychometric properties to clinically available EF measures in a pediatric (primarily psychiatric) neuropsychology setting. The Toolbox appears to display an appropriate ability to detect EF deficits secondary to self-reported depression in childhood.