title: Cognitive profiles of boys with the fragile X syndrome.
abstract: Testing 20 boys with the fragile X (or Martin-Bell) syndrome with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) showed a consistent pattern of strengths and weaknesses that may be useful in predicting a fragile X positive result from cytogenetic testing. This K-ABC pattern included 1) Sequential Scale score less than the Simultaneous Scale score; 2) Mental Processing Composite less than the Achievement Scale score; 3) Spatial Memory subtest score less than the Matrix Analogies subtest score; and 4) Arithmetic subtest score less than the mean of the Achievement subtest scores. A comparison group of 20 boys did not demonstrate such a pattern. Testing with the K-ABC should be considered for boys who present as learning disabled, hyperactive with attentional problems, or mildly retarded. Boys with three or four of the four features of the K-ABC fragile X pattern should be considered for medical evaluation and cytogenetic testing.
authors.affiliation: Child Development, Children's Hospital, Denver, CO 80218.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kemper
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hagerman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Altshul-Stark
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005600:Fragile X Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012729:Sex Chromosome Aberrations / Q000523:psychology*