Attentional skills following traumatic brain injury in childhood: a componential analysis.

Recent research has documented residual deficits in attention following traumatic brain injury in childhood. The present study aimed to investigate whether such deficits are global, or affect specific components of attention differentially. Four attentional domains were examined using a newly developed test of attention, the Test of Everyday Attention for Children: sustained attention, focussed attention, divided attention, and response inhibition. Eighteen children with a history of traumatic brain injury, aged between 8 and 14 years, and 18 non-injured matched controls participated in the study. Results indicated that attentional skills may be differentially impaired after TBI, with children who have sustained moderate-to-severe TBI exhibiting significant deficits for sustained and divided attention, and response inhibition, but relatively intact focussed attention.

[1]  K. Walsh.  Understanding Brain Damage: A Primer of Neuropsychological Evaluation , 1985 .

[2]  D. Stuss,et al.  Traumatic brain injury: A comparison of three clinical tests, and analysis of recovery , 1989 .

[3]  J. Halperin,et al.  Developmental analysis of three aspects of information processing: sustained attention, selective attention, and response organization , 1994 .

[4]  G. Hynd,et al.  Attentional control systems and the Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD) , 1989 .

[5]  B. Jennett,et al.  Assessment of coma and impaired consciousness. A practical scale. , 1974, Lancet.

[6]  V. Anderson,et al.  Age at injury as a predictor of outcome following pediatric head injury: A longitudinal perspective , 1995 .

[7]  D. Wechsler.  Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children , 2020, Definitions.

[8]  M. Ylvisaker.  Head Injury Rehabilitation: Children and Adolescents , 1985 .

[9]  J. Fletcher,et al.  Intellectual, motor, and language sequelae following closed head injury in infants and preschoolers. , 1989, Journal of pediatric psychology.

[10]  V. Anderson,et al.  A prospective analysis of the recovery of attention following pediatric head injury , 1999, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

[11]  D. Shum,et al.  Attentional deficits in head-injured children: An information processing analysis , 1992, Brain and Cognition.

[12]  Donald T. Stuss,et al.  Biological and psychological development of executive functions , 1992, Brain and Cognition.

[13]  Karl H. Pribram,et al.  Stages of Brain and Cognitive Maturation , 1990 .

[14]  M. Posner,et al.  Images of mind , 1994 .

[15]  M. Dennis.  Language and the young damaged brain. , 1988 .

[16]  B. Deelman,et al.  Deficits of attention after closed-head injury: slowness only? , 1996, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[17]  B. Rourke.  Syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities: The final common pathway of white-matter disease/dysfunction? , 1987 .

[18]  W. Brouwer,et al.  Clinical Neuropsychology of Attention , 1994 .

[19]  B. Shaywitz,et al.  Attention deficit disorder: current perspectives. , 1987, Pediatric neurology.

[20]  V. Anderson,et al.  Impairments of attention following childhood traumatic brain injury. , 1999, Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence.

[21]  J. Ponsford,et al.  Attentional deficits following closed-head injury. , 1992, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[22]  G. August,et al.  Comorbidity of ADHD and reading disability among clinic-referred children , 1990, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[23]  Vicki Anderson Linda Pentland.  Residual Attention Deficits Following Childhood Head Injury: Implications for Ongoing Development , 1998 .

[24]  B. Wilson,et al.  Is there a central executive deficit after severe head injury? , 1992 .

[25]  J. Fletcher,et al.  Attentional Disturbance After Pediatric Closed Head Injury , 1993, Journal of child neurology.

[26]  K. Nuechterlein,et al.  Hyperactive and hypoxic children: signal detection, sustained attention, and behavior. , 1984, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[27]  V. Anderson,et al.  Adverse outcomes of bacterial meningitis in school-age survivors. , 1995, Pediatrics.

[28]  Robin G. Morris,et al.  Attention in children: A neuropsychologically based model for assessment , 1990 .

[29]  P. Szatmari,et al.  ADDH and conduct disorder: degree of diagnostic overlap and differences among correlates. , 1989, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[30]  J. Sattler.  Assessment of Children , 1992 .

[31]  H. Taylor,et al.  Age-related differences in outcomes following childhood brain insults: An introduction and overview , 1997, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

[32]  K. Heilman,et al.  Right hemispheric dominance for mediating cerebral activation , 1979, Neuropsychologia.

[33]  S. Shapiro,et al.  The occurrence of behavior disorders in children: the interdependence of Attention Deficit Disorder and Conduct Disorder. , 1986, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry.

[34]  B. Rourke.  Child neuropsychology : an introduction to theory, research, and clinical practice , 1983 .

[35]  Peter C. Van Wolffelaar,et al.  Divided Attention 5 to 10 Years after Severe Closed Head Injury , 1989, Cortex.

[36]  D. Stuss,et al.  Reaction time after head injury: fatigue, divided and focused attention, and consistency of performance. , 1989, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[37]  B. Shaywitz,et al.  Comorbidity: A Critical Issue in Attention Deficit Disorder , 1991, Journal of child neurology.

[38]  P. Fedio,et al.  Attentional deficits in long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). , 1984, Journal of clinical neuropsychology.