Behavior rating and personal adjustment scales of neurologically and learning handicapped children during adolescence and early adulthood: Results of a follow-up study

Abstract

One hundred and seventy-seven learning handicapped children seen for neuropsychological testing and educational counselling between the ages of 8 and 12, were followed up 4 to 12 years later. At the time of original assessment the subjects were divided into three diagnostic groups, based on neurological examination data: brain damaged, minimally brain damaged, and learning handicapped with no neurological signs. These clinic-referred groups were compared with a matched control group of 67 normal adolescents and young adults without learning problems or history of brain damage. Behavioral symptoms and personal adjustment at the time of follow-up were examined by means of a behavior rating scale completed by the parents of the subjects, and a self-rated objectively scored personality questionnaire. The results demonstrate a consistently significant relationship between an earlier diagnosis of neurological impairment and behavioral deviance at the time of follow-up, even when the effects of sex, age and intelligence are taken into account, and indicate a persistence of behaviors associated with cerebral dysfunction into adolescence and young adulthood. Behavioral abnormalities significantly discriminated (with a 73% accuracy rate) between neurologically handicapped subjects and those without neurological signs. In addition, all clinic-referred learning handicapped subjects showed significantly more deviant behavior and greater signs of maladjustment than the normal peer group. Both intelligence and sex proved to be important for the outcome of learning disability: less intelligent subjects and females showed more maladaptive behavior and poorer personal adjustment than the more intelligent groups and the male subjects. Other environmental variables relevant for a reliable prediction of outcome in the context of this study are discussed.