Sex Differences in WISC-III Profiles of Children with High-functioning Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Few studies have examined sex differences in presentation in individuals with ASDs.
Aim: Examine cognitive profiles of males and females on the WISC-III (intellectual assessment)
Sample: 26 girls, 116 boys (ages 5-16) with ASD (any ASD diagnosis) with IQ above 70; sample from Japan
Measures: WISC-III; Japanese version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale
Results:
1. Girls scored higher than boys on the Processing Speed Index score.
2. Girls scored higher than boys on the Coding and Symbol Search subtest scores.
3. Girls scored lower than boys on the Block Design subtest.
4. Profiles of scores were similar for boys and girls in the Verbal domain.
5. Boys had a different profile of scores in the non-verbal domain; higher score on the Block Design subtest. This was not observed in the group of girls.
Do girls with ASDs demonstrate less difficulty in the area of distractibility, slowness in performance??
Caution: small sample size of girls; reduces the power of the statistical test
More research is needed!
Need much larger sample sizes
Need to examine a narrower age range
Need to look at differences within more clearly defined diagnostic categories - e.g., HFA
Need to look at findings for North American youth
Need to look at cognitive profiles of girls with ASDs versus neurotypical females
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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Why such a small number of girls studied? Is it because that's all the girls they could find to participate or is it to reflect the 1:4 or 1:5 real world ratio???
ReplyDeletePlease explain Coding and Symbol Search and Block Design if possible
Thanks
Theresa
Hi Theresa,
ReplyDeleteFinding participants for research studies can be challenging - I've been there! If there are fewer girls with a diagnosis, you will likely end up recruiting fewer girls for your study even if you want to have an equal number of participants in each group. This is one of the reasons why research programs need to collaborate and have multi-site studies that pool data - to increase sample sizes if you want to have a large enough set of girls for your study.
Our program also specializes in working with girls so we have families contact us through email to indicate that they would like to be on our research and clinical programming lists. We are able to attract more families of girls this way.
Regarding your question about the subtests from the WISC:
From: http://www.vdps.net/special/test.html
Block Design:
measures the child’s ability to analyze and synthesize abstract visual stimuli. This test requires the child to view a constructed model or a picture in the stimulus book, and use red-and-white blocks to re-create the design within a specified time limit.
Coding:
measures the child’s short-term memory, learning ability, visual perception, visual-motor coordination, visual scanning ability, cognitive flexibility, attention, and motivation. It requires the child to copy symbols that are paired with simple geometric shapes or numbers.
Symbol Search:
measures processing speed, short-term visual memory, visual-motor coordination, cognitive flexibility, visual discrimination, and concentration. This test requires the child to scan a search group and indicate whether the target symbol(s) matches any of the symbols in the search group within a specified time limit.
I'd love to hear more about research that includes girls, especially if it deals with social behavior.
ReplyDelete