Prenatal substance exposure is associated with physical birth defects and increased risk of regulatory and neuropsychological difficulties of children born to mothers using substances while pregnant. ...Myriad factors, such as maternal psychopathology, stress, and poor living circumstances, may influence childhood development in addition to the teratological effect of prenatal substance exposure. This study explores the long-term developmental consequences in children from birth to age 7 born to women using substances and are in treatment. A series of t tests were performed to explore group effects on the cognitive and social dimensions of Griffiths Mental Development Scales compared with Swedish norms. The results showed significant effects on eye and hand coordination in children aged birth to 7 years and on hearing and speech, practical reasoning, and the general quotient in children aged 3 to 7 years. Children who were exposed primarily to alcohol in utero scored significantly lower on the personal and social skills subscale, eye and hand coordination subscale, and the general quotient than children exposed primarily to substances other than alcohol. These effects did not appear to be mediated by the mothers' social background or treatment history. The results suggest that children who are exposed to substances, in particular alcohol, in utero are vulnerable overall, but especially in eye and hand coordination and personal and social skills.
The correlation between MRI findings and sensorimotor development was investigated in a group of 48 infants with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy (CP). The ages at MRI examination and cognitive ...assessment were fairly homogeneous (mean 15 months and 17 months, respectively). The following MRI parameters were scored: size of lateral ventricles, extension of white matter lesions and of white matter reduction, thinning of corpus callosum, presence and size of cystic areas, dimension of subarachnoid spaces and presence of cortical abnormalities. Cognitive assessment included Griffiths Developmental Scales and Uzgiris-Hunt Scales. The patients were subdivided into six classes according to intellectual level (DSM-III-R). For the whole group a highly significant correlation was found between all MRI parameters and the level of cognitive development. This result was probably due to the inclusion of 14 untestable, severely mentally retarded infants, who showed very severe MRI abnormalities. However, when the untestable infants were excluded from the analysis, it was the presence of cysts and the entity of white matter reduction that correlated with both Griffiths Scales and Uzgiris-Hunt Scales. These results indicate the clinical value of MRI findings and particularly of white matter abnormalities for early identification of sensorimotor impairment in infants with bilateral spastic CP.
SCALES WERE DEVELOPED BY SEX FOR MINNESOTA COUNSELING INVENTORY ITEM RESPONSE CHANGE BETWEEN GRADE 9 AND COLLEGE UTILIZING A DOUBLE CROSS-VALIDATION DESIGN WITH A LONGITUDINAL SAMPLE OF 148 MALES AND ...111 FEMALES. SCALES WERE SCORED IN THE 9TH GRADE DIRECTION. THE 4 INITIAL SCALES CROSS-VALIDATED. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND SCALE VARIANCE RANGED FROM RBIS = -.84 TO -.75 ON SCALE DERIVATION GROUPS TO -.52 TO -.47 ON CROSS-VALIDATION GROUPS. THE FINAL 2 SCALES WERE DERIVED FROM ITEM REPLICATION: MALES RBIS = -.73 (51 ITEMS), FEMALES RBIS = -.71 (31 ITEMS), 11 ITEMS COMMON. ABILITY TENDED TO BE UNRELATED; AND ACHIEVEMENT SIGNIFICANTLY BUT NEGATIVELY RELATED FOR THE FINAL SCALES WITH R = -.26 TO -.17. (15 REF.)
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