Nataša Buha

Conceptual abilities of children with mild intellectual disability: Analysis of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance

Abstract Background The ability to generate and flexibly change concepts is of great importance for the development of academic and adaptive skills. This paper analyses the conceptual reasoning ability of children with mild intellectual disability (MID) by their achievements on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Method The sample consisted of 95 children with MID aged between 10 years and 13 years 11 months. The following variables from the WCST were analysed: number of categories completed, initial conceptualisation, total number of errors, non-perseverative errors, perseverative errors, number of perseverative responses, and failures to maintain set. Results The observed WCST predictive variables account for 79% of the variability in the number of categories completed (p < .000). The total number of errors was the most significant predictor of performance on the WCST. Conclusion We can conclude that there is a significant progress of conceptual abilities between the age of 13 years to 13 years 11 months, compared to other assessed age groups. The results of our research suggests that the development of mental set flexibility is the basis of progress in conceptual abilities, thus intervention programs should offer specially designed activities that vary in their attentional demands, content, conceptual patterns, and actions required.

Verbal fluency task performance in persons with moderate intellectual disability

Verbal fluency is an indicator of the executive functions and mental lexicon. The aim of this paper is to determine phonemic and semantic productivity in persons with moderate intellectual disability (ID). The sample consisted of 58 persons with moderate ID, aged 15-25. Phonemic fluency was assessed by the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, while the Category Naming Test (CNT) was used to assess semantic fluency. The performance in the semantic fluency task was significantly better than the results on the phonemic fluency task. IQ was a significant factor of both assessed aspects of verbal fluency, but participants’ age had a greater individual influence on semantic productivity and higher predictive value than IQ.

Developmental abilities and achievements in Serbian language and mathematics

Osnovni cilj istraživanja je da se utvrdi odnos sposobnosti koje se smatraju preduslovima za sticanje akademskih znanja i vestina i postignuca u oblastima Srpskog jezika i Matematike kod dece III i IV razreda osnovne skole. Uzorak je cinilo 115-oro dece tipicnog razvoja, oba pola, uzrasta 8-11 godina (AS=9,78). Za procenu sposobnosti koje su neophodne za usvajanje akademskih znanja i vestina primenjen je Akadija test razvojnih sposobnosti. Postignuca iz oblasti Matematike i Srpskog jezika procenjena su na osnovu upitnika za nastavnike, zasnovanog na Opstim standardima postignuca, i ocena sa kontrolih zadataka. U statistickoj obradi su korisceni Pirsonov koeficijent korelacije, jednosmerma analiza varijanse, multivarijantna analiza varijanse i Scheffe post hoc test. Utvrđen je statisticki znacajan uticaj razvojnih sposobnosti koje se procenjuju Akadija testom na postignuca u oblastima Srpskog jezika (p≤0,000) i Matematike (p≤0,000), izražena kroz ukupne skorove, i svaku od procenjenih oblasti pojedinacno (p=0,000-0.007). Između skora na Akadija testu i ocene iz Srpskog jezika (r=0,512,p≤0,000) i Matematike (r=0,523,p≤0,000) utvrđena je statisticki znacajna povezanost umerenog nivoa. Postignuca na Akadija testu su statisticki znacajan cinilac ocena iz Srpskog jezika (p≤0,000) i Matematike (p≤0,000). Post hoc analizom utvrđeno je da se nastavnicka procena postignuca i ocene u oblasti Srpskog jezika i Matematike ispitanika koji na Akadija testu postižu najlosije rezultate (ispod 25. percentila) statisticki znacajno razlikuju od postignuca ostalih ispitanika. Sumirajuci rezultate istraživanja, možemo da zakljucimo da dobijeni podaci potvrđuju empirijsku validnost Akadija testa i opravdanost njegove primene u proceni spremnosti za usvajanje akademskih znanja i vestina kod dece mlađeg skolskog uzrasta. Kljucne reci : akademska postignuca, Akadija test, Srpski jezik, Matematika

Relation between achievements on Acadia test of developmental abilities and intelligence in younger school children

Academic success depends on numerous factors: intelligence, motivation, developmental level of basic and more complex cognitive functions, personality traits, etc. In special education, Acadia test of developmental abilities is most frequently used to assess the abilities necessary for acquiring academic knowledge and skills, with the aim to detect the children who have, or might have, learning disabilities. In Serbia, psychometric characteristics of the test have not been determined so far. Thus, the aim of this paper is to determine the relation between the achievements on this test and intelligence in a sample of younger school children who attend regular schools in Belgrade. The sample consisted of 784 children of both genders (51% of girls and 49% of boys), aged between 8 and 12 (AM=9.71; SD=0.65). Acadia test, which consists of 13 subtests for assessing attention and short-term memory, perceptive, visual-constructive, conceptual, and speech-language abilities, was used in this research. Intelligence was assessed by means of the standard version of Raven’s progressive matrices (AM=37.03; SD=10.51), and the examinees were organized in four groups on the basis of percentile ranks of the raw score (3 sections). By analyzing the results, statistically significant positive correlation was determined between all the subtests of Acadia test and intelligence, which ranges from 0.27 to 0.63. Age has a low (r=0.08-0.26), but also statistically significant correlation with the achievements on the subtests of Acadia test (p 0.05). By applying multivariate analysis of covariance, with controlling the influence of age, it was determined that intelligence is a significant factor of achievement on Acadia test (Wilks’ λ=0.502; F(39)=14.926; p≤0.000, ηp2 =0.205), and on all the subtests separately (p≤0.000), accounting for 7 to 35% of the results variability.

Cognitive flexibility in children with mild intellectual disability

The main objective of this research is to determine the developmental level of cognitive flexibility in children with mild intellectual disability. The sample consisted of 84 children with mild intellectual disability, ages 10-14. They attend elementary school for children with intellectual disability in Belgrade. The sample encompasses 37 (44%) girls and 47 (56%) boys. The participants IQ ranges from 50 to 70 (AS=60.33, SD=7.36). The cognitive flexibility was assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Trail Making Test (form B). In the domain of the number of categories completed at WCST, the majority of participants (62.5%) solves task lower than their peers with typical development. Average task-solving time for the Trail Making Test is 278.58 seconds, which significantly exceeds the task-solving time of children with typical development. The statistically significant differences (p>0.05) have not been obtained by comparing the arithmetic means scores of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Trail Making Test (form B). The significant differences were determined in the development of cognitive flexibility in the participants who belong to lower and higher IQ categories, although, based on the participant test scores analysis as a whole, it can be concluded that age, among the selected independent variables, is the only significant cognitive flexibility factor in children with intellectual disability.

SPOSOBNOST PLANIRANJA KOD DECE SA LAKOM INTELEKTUALNOM OMETENOŠĆU

Planiranje se smatra jednom od najkompleksnijih kognitivnih sposobnosti, koja podrazumeva stvaranje mentalne reprezentacije problema, evaluaciju nekoliko mogucih nacina resavanja i njihovih posledica. Cilj ovog rada je utvrđivanje nivoa razvoja sposobnosti planiranja kod dece sa lakom intelektualnom ometenoscu (LIO). Uzorkom je obuhvaceno 93-oje dece sa LIO, oba pola, uzrasta od 10 do 14 godina. Prosecan koeficijent inteligencije u uzorku iznosi oko 60 IQ jedinica (AS=60,45, SD=7,26), dok se minimalne i maksimalne vrednosti krecu u okvirima definisanog raspona za kategoriju lake intelektualne ometenosti (50-70). Iz skolske dokumentacije preuzeti su podaci o uzrastu i nivou intelektualnog funkcionisanja ispitanika. Za procenu sposobnosti planiraja upotrebljen je test Londonska kula. Analizom rezultata je utvrđeno da vecina dece sa LIO koristi nedovoljno efikasne strategije za resavanje problema. Nacin resavanja zadataka kod vecine ispitane dece (57%) karakterise nestabilan/kolebajuci pristup resavanju problema (intemedijarni nivo). Cetvrtina ispitanika uspesno koristi strategije viseg reda, dok 16.1% njih koristi perceptivnu strategiju, odn. metod pokusaj-greska. Utvrđena je znacajna negativna korelacija IQ-a i broja pomeranja kugli, kao i vremena resavanja zadataka. Korelacija IQ-a i ukupnog broja resenih zadataka je pozitivna. Varijabilnost uspesnosti resavanja zadataka nije znacajno povezana sa uzrastom i polom ispitanika. Kljucne reci: laka intelektualna ometenost, planiranje, egzekutivne funkcije, Londonska kula