NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF NORMAL BOYS, DELINQUENT BOYS, AND BOYS WITH LEARNING PROBLEMS

• NCJ Number: 56593
• Journal: Perceptual and Motor Skills Volume: 35, Dated: (1972) Pages: 387-394
• Author(s): I HURWITZ; R M A BIBACE; P H WOLF; B M ROWBOTHAM
• Date Published: 1972
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): MF 18332; MH 06034-09; MH 18332-02; HD-03-0773
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Corporate Author: Perceptual and Motor Skills
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

TWO STUDIES COMPARING THE SENSORIMOTOR FUNCTIONS AND COGNITIVE STYLES OF NORMAL BOYS, JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, AND BOYS WITH LEARNING PROBLEMS ARE PRESENTED.

Abstract

THESE COMPARISONS ARE NECESSARY BEFORE THE DEVELOPMENTAL DEFICITS OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY CHARACTERISTICS CAN BE CLASSIFIED ON A FUNCTIONAL BASIS. IN THE FIRST STUDY, EACH SAMPLE GROUP CONSISTED OF 15 BOYS FROM MIDDLE OR LOWER-MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES WITH SIMILAR MEAN AND MEDIAN INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ) SCORES. SCORES ON THE LINCOLN-OSERETSKY TEST OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT WERE ANALYZED BY POOLING THE SCORES FOR EACH GROUP, ASSIGNING RANKS TO THE INDIVIDUAL SCORES, AND DETERMINING THE DISTRIBUTION OF RANK ORDERS. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NORMAL AND TWO CLINICAL GROUPS (DELINQUENT BOYS AND BOYS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES) WERE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT--ONLY ONE OF THE NORMAL BOYS OBTAINED A SCORE BELOW THE 70TH PERCENTILE WHILE ALL BUT ONE OF THE BOYS IN THE OTHER TWO GROUPS SCORED BELOW THE 5TH PERCENTILE. THE COMPARISONS INDICATE THAT ADOLESCENT BOYS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES AND JUVENILE DELINQUENTS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY RETARDED IN THEIR MOTOR DEVELOPMENT WHEN COMPARED TO NORMAL BOYS OF THE SAME AGE, ESPECIALLY REGARDING TASKS DEMANDING RHYTHMICAL REPETITION. FOR THE SECOND STUDY, 2 GROUPS OF 13 BOYS, JUVENILE OFFENDERS AND NORMAL SIXTH GRADE BOYS, WERE MATCHED FOR AGE AND IQ'S. THE SUBJECTS WERE ADMINISTERED TESTS TO MEASURE THEIR SENSORIMOTOR RHYTHM, AUTOMATIZATION SKILLS, AND SPATIAL ABILITY OR PERCEPTUAL RESTRUCTURING ABILITY. THE DELINQUENT BOYS PERFORMED SIGNIFICANTLY LESS WELL ON THE MOTOR RHYTHM TESTS THAN THE NORMALS AND WERE CONSISTENTLY SLOWER ON THE AUTOMATIZATION TASKS. THE DELINQUENT BOYS FROM LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS AND POOR LEARNERS FROM MIDDLE-CLASS ENVIRONMENTS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY RETARDED ON A BROAD SPECTRUM TEST OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT WHEN COMPARED WITH NORMAL BOYS OF SIMILAR INTELLIGENCE, AND THEIR NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DEFICITS WERE MORE CLEARLY ASSOCIATED WITH PERFORMANCE IN TASKS OF TEMPORAL SEQUENCING AND COORDINATION OF ISOLATED ELEMENTS. REFERENCES AND TABULAR DATA ARE PROVIDED. (DAG)