Kate Wilson’s research while affiliated with Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and other places

Parent questionnaires pertaining to executive and emotional/behavioral functioning are routinely included in neuropsychological evaluations to complement face-to-face cognitive tests. We evaluated in a clinical sample of 198 6-16 year-old children the degree of overlap and divergence between two common parent rating scales: the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Third Edition (BASC-3) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Second Edition (BRIEF-2). This sample was 66% male, 70% white, and included both neurological diagnoses (e.g., 33% traumatic brain injury, 12% cerebral palsy) and neurodevelopmental ones (e.g., 10% attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). Inter-correlations between composite indices from the respective instruments were moderate (.41-.77). They disagreed about the presence or absence of impairment in 26% of the cases. Cluster analysis revealed four subtypes: Cluster 1 had mild externalizing and executive concerns, Cluster 2 had global emotional/behavioral and executive concerns, Cluster 3 had normal functioning, and Cluster 4 had mild internalizing and executive concerns. Clusters 2 and 3 differed in age and parental education, whereas Clusters 1 and 4 differed in Full Scale IQ. We conclude that BASC-3 and BRIEF-2 provide complementary information about a child's functioning that can inform treatment of neurobehavioral dysfunction. Elevations as well as patterns of the respective profiles on these instruments may help direct such treatment (e.g., cognitive rehabilitation, behavioral management and/or psychotherapy).

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate performance on the Memory Validity Profile (MVP) in a mixed pediatric clinical population. Goal 1, assessing MVP pass rates, yielded a slightly higher pass rate (98.58%) compared to research on other performance validity tests (PVTs) in youth when using manual-based cutoffs and a slightly lower pass rate (84.40%) using an experimental cutoffs (PASS Total ≥31) similar to others’ research. Goal 2, determining if MVP performance was contingent on variables other than effort, yielded significant differences in age, sex, and intelligence (p < 0.05); but not parental education or occurrence/nonoccurrence of previous neurological issues, ADHD, or psychiatric disorders. Goal 3, investigating the agreement of an embedded PVT (Children and Adolescent Memory Profile [ChAMP] List Recognition [LR] subtest) with the MVP in classification of adequate vs. suboptimal effort, showed that the highest levels of consistency (81%) were achieved when experimental MVP and LR ss ≤5 cutoffs were utilized. In conclusion, the MVP is a useful tool in detecting suboptimal effort in children in a broad clinical sample and the ChAMP LR subtest adds to identification of suboptimal effort as an ePVT with the MVP. The established cutoffs stated in the MVP manual should be used, as these better identify suboptimal effort in children by age than experimental cutoffs (i.e., 31 and 32 PASS). The ChAMP LR cutoff should be ss ≤5, with MVP manual-based (75%) or experimental cutoffs (81%).

Sixty-one children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury completed the Child and Adolescent Memory Profile (ChAMP; Sherman & Brooks, 2015) within 1 to 12 months post injury. Most of the ChAMP index scores demonstrated statistically significant negative correlations with time to follow commands following traumatic brain injury. Compared with demographically matched neurologically healthy controls, selected from the ChAMP standardization sample, participants with traumatic brain injury had statistically significantly lower scores on all ChAMP index scores but sensitivity and specificity were suboptimal. We conclude that the ChAMP has modest clinical utility as part of a more comprehensive evaluation of sequelae of traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate performance of an outpatient, clinical pediatric sample of 141 children of different ages, diagnoses, and intellectual levels on the Memory Validity Profile (MVP, Sherman & Brooks, 2015). Pass/fail rates of the sample as set by both the published cut-off scores and an experimental, more stringent cut-off score were examined. It was concluded that the experimental cut-off score was too stringent for younger children and confounded by intellectual functioning.