Socioemotional functioning and language impairment in children with prenatal alcohol exposure
Subtitle: a comparison with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Number of pages: 152
Subjects: Fetal alcohol syndrome.; Children of prenatal alcohol abuse.; Language disorders in children.; Emotions in children.; Social skills in children.; Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.; Attention-deficit-disordered children.
Description: These findings substantiate the need for early screening and intervention efforts in children with PAE specifically targeting the areas of language, social cognition, and emotion processing. Further, this study has identified some of the unique characteristics of PAE, which may help to distinguish them from other clinical populations including ADHD.Prenatal exposure to alcohol is the leading cause of intellectual impairment in the western world. Arguably some of the most debilitating repercussions of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) are the impairments in social, emotional, and behavioural functioning and the increased risk for severe psychopathology.The study included 97 children, 33 with PAE, 30 non-exposed with ADHD, and 34 normal controls. Groups were compared on standardized measures of intellectual, language, and socioemotional functioning. Experimental measures assessing aspects of social cognition and emotion processing were also used to compare groups.This study aimed to determine whether children with PAE, who present with language and attention problems, show a different pattern of socioemotional disturbance than non-exposed children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Another aim was to determine whether there is a significant relationship between the severity of language impairment and severity of socioemotional problems in these children.Results indicated that the PAE group was impaired on many of the measures in the study. The ADHD and normal control groups performed within normal limits on all intellectual and language measures. While the PAE and ADHD groups were similar in caregiver/teacher ratings of social skills problems, differences were found in the severity of their emotional and behavioural profiles. Severity of language impairment was significantly related to severity of socioemotional problems in the children sampled. Performance on experimental measures of social cognition and emotion processing was distinct, with the PAE group performing below average on specific tasks and the ADHD group performing comparably, for the most part, to normal controls.
Notes: Adviser:  Joanne Rovet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2004.

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 65-10, Section: B, page: 5400.