A Retrospective Neurocognitive Study in Children With Spastic Diplegia

Abstract

The study presents the results on neonatal cranial ultrasonography (US) and later intelligence (Wechsler Intelligence Scale-Third Edition and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised) and Neuropsychological assessments of 15 children with spastic diplegia. The assessments were undertaken when the children were 5 to 12 years of age. The children's IQ scores were, as a group, at the lower end of the normal distribution. The neuropsychological assessment indicated that deficits in visuomotor and visuospatial processing were characteristic of the children. No association was found between the neonatal cranial US findings and the IQ and neurocognitive scores. However, the cranial US findings strongly predicted functional motor limitations of the children.