Brief report: language ability and school functioning of youth perinatally infected with HIV.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this article is to describe the language ability and school functioning of early adolescents with perinatal HIV/AIDS.


METHODS
Participants included 43 youths, 9-15 years, and their primary caregivers. Youths completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Reading Subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT3) and were interviewed regarding their future educational aspirations and parental supervision and involvement with homework. Caregivers were interviewed regarding the child's school achievement, parental supervision and monitoring, and educational aspirations for their child.


RESULTS
Fifty-four percent of youths scored below average (<25th percentile) on the PPVT, and 29% scored below the 10th percentile; 40% scored below average (<25th percentile) on the WRAT3, and 24% scored below the 10th percentile. Scores were associated with parental monitoring and educational aspirations.


CONCLUSIONS
Youths performed poorly on tests of verbal and reading ability, although their scores were not dissimilar to those of other samples of inner-city youths. Future research should attempt to isolate the impact of HIV disease on intellectual and school functioning of HIV+ youths.
Brackis-Cott
Elizabeth
E
Kang
Ezer
E
Dolezal
Curtis
C
Abrams
Elaine J
EJ
Mellins
Claude Ann
CA
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D018450:Disease Progression; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors