Abstract

Validity evaluation is fundamental in neuropsychological assessment in adults, with increasing interest among pediatric neuropsychologists. Although some measures exist, given time constraints placed on clinicians, and children’s limited sustained attention, development of less time-consuming measures is beneficial. We explored the use of the Temporal Memory Sequence Test (TMST), a new performance validity test, in clinically referred children. One minor adaptation included reading the instructions and labels to non-fluent readers. Participants were 68 consecutive clinically referred children and adolescents, aged 6–18 years, with neurological (n = 46) or behavioral (n = 22) difficulties. Applying the adult cutoff, 83.8% passed the TMST. Age, gender, and diagnosis did not differ between children passing the TMST cutoff and those who failed it. Classification accuracy calculated against three embedded measures of performance validity (Wechsler scale Digit Span, Coding, and Processing Speed Index) indicated specificity over 90% (Digit Span: 94%, Coding: 96%, Processing Speed Index: 92%) and sensitivity between 30 and 33%. For individuals without Intellectual Disability (ID), 90.9% passed the TMST, and intelligence did not predict success. Thus, the use of the TMST with the adult cutoff was supported in children without ID, offering an additional validity measure for clinically referred children.

摘要

有效性评估是成人神经心理学评估的基础，儿科神经心理学家越来越感兴趣。尽管存在一些措施，但考虑到临床医生的时间限制以及儿童的持续注意力有限，开发耗时较少的措施是有益的。我们探索了时间记忆序列测试 (TMST) 的使用，这是一种新的性能有效性测试，用于临床转诊的儿童。一个小的改编包括向不流利的读者阅读说明和标签。参与者是连续 68 名临床转诊的儿童和青少年，年龄在 6-18 岁之间，患有神经（n  = 46）或行为（n = 22) 困难。应用成人截止值，83.8% 通过了 TMST。通过 TMST 截止值和未通过的儿童的年龄、性别和诊断没有差异。根据性能有效性的三个嵌入式度量（Wechsler 量表数字广度、编码和处理速度指数）计算的分类准确度表明特异性超过 90%（数字广度：94%，编码：96%，处理速度指数：92%）和之间的灵敏度30% 和 33%。对于没有智力障碍 (ID) 的个人，90.9% 通过了 TMST，智力并不能预示成功。因此，在没有 ID 的儿童中支持使用带有成人截止值的 TMST，为临床转诊的儿童提供额外的有效性测量。