title: Prenatal alcohol exposure and ability, academic achievement, and school functioning in adolescence: a longitudinal follow-up.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with learning, behavioral, and academic problems even in children without the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the prenatal alcohol exposure and ability, academic achievement, and school functioning in adolescence.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a longitudinal cohort, intelligence, academic performance, and school functioning were evaluated in 265 low socioeconomic status (SES) adolescents (M age = 15.1 years), 128 prenatally exposed to alcohol, 53 controls, and 84 special education students by using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition (WISC-III) and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT). School records were abstracted for grade point averages (GPA), standardized achievement test scores, conduct, attendance, and special education placement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alcohol-affected youth had significantly lower IQs than those in the other three groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although academic achievement (WIAT scores) was most impaired in the special education group who showed lower performance over all as well as in reading and spelling, alcohol-affected youth showed significant deficits on mathematics subtests. There was no increased incidence of conduct problems in school records related to alcohol exposure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30306, USA. khowell@emory.edu
authors.forename: Karen K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.forename: Mary Ellen
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Platzman
authors.forename: G Harold
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Claire D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Coles
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014888:Wechsler Scales