title: Learning disability subtypes in children with neurofibromatosis.
abstract: A high incidence of learning disabilities (LD) has been reported in children with neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF-1), and many children affected with this disease are thought to have a form of LD that is characterized by selective visuospatial and motor deficits. However, the evidence is subject to sampling biases and is limited by the clinical-inferential methods used to classify children into LD subtypes. In the present study, objective statistical methods were used to categorize LD in 105 children with NF-1 between the ages of 6 and 18 years. A cluster analysis of achievement test scores yielded 10 groups; 6 of which met our criterion for academic deficiency. An analysis of neuropsychological data for 72 children with academic deficiencies with complete neuropsychological data yielded three groups: a neuropsychologically normal group (n = 28), a group with general academic deficiencies (n = 34), and a group with visuospatial-construction deficiencies (n = 10). The low incidence of visuospatial-constructional deficits and the absence of cases involving pure linguistic deficits is notable.
authors.affiliation: University of Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Brewer
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiscock
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D009456:Neurofibromatosis 1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics