Psychosocial correlates of learning disability subtypes in children with tourette's syndrome

Abstract

Children with different types of learning disabilities are thought to be at risk for specific profiles of behavior problems. This study sought to determine if learning disabilities are related to behavioral adjustment specifically in children with Tourette's syndrome (TS). We examined the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) profiles of 61 children with TS who were between the ages of 6 and 18 years. The children were classified into one of three subtypes of learning disabilities or a nondisabled control group, based on performance on the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised. Children with learning disabilities displayed higher scale elevations on the CBC than did controls, but not after controlling for the presence of attention deficit disorder. The results are inconsistent with previous research on the behavioral adjustment of subtypes of learning disabilities. Thus, the expression of learning disabilities may be idiosyncratic in children with discrete neuropsychiatric disorders such as TS.