title: Trail Making Test in assessing children with reading disabilities: a test of executive functions or content information.
abstract: The speed of performance on Part A, Part B, and on an experimental version containing alphabetical series (Part A Alphabetic) of the Trail Making Test was studied with 19 children with reading disabilities and 34 controls from Grades 4 to 6. When the test was used in discriminant profile fashion, children with reading disabilities showed a deficit compared with control children on Part B relative to part A but did not relative to the new Part A Alphabetic. The results indicate that the performance of the children with reading disabilities on Part B is likely to be affected by their slowness on the alphabetical series. Based on these results we recommend that the speed of following the alphabetical series be assessed when using Part B of the Trail Making Test.
authors.affiliation: Niilo Mäki Institute, Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. vnarhi@nmi.jyu.fi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Närhi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Räsänen
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Metsäpelto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ahonen
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003210:Concept Formation; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D014145:Trail Making Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*