Cognitive Screening for Children and Adolescents: General Limits or Ceiling Effects?

Cognitive screening tools designed for children can also be used with adolescents. However, early studies suggest that scores can approach a maximum at about age 10 or 11 years. The inital hypothesis was this apparent ‘‘ceiling effect’’ is due to limits in the materials, where items can be insuffici...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child neurology 2010-05, Vol.25 (5), p.567-571
Main Authors: Bornholt, Laurel J., Ajersch, Susan, Fisher, Ian H., Markham, Roslyn H., Ouvrier, Robert A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Aging
Child
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Cognition
Cross-Sectional Studies
Databases, Factual
Female
Humans
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
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Summary:Cognitive screening tools designed for children can also be used with adolescents. However, early studies suggest that scores can approach a maximum at about age 10 or 11 years. The inital hypothesis was this apparent ‘‘ceiling effect’’ is due to limits in the materials, where items can be insufficiently challenging for some adolescents. The alternative hypothesis is that general cognitive screening has a true limit by early adolescence. Participants (N = 85) were 10 to 15-year-old girls and boys, with a database (N = 1249) of 4 to 12-year-old children. The School-Years Screening Test for the Evaluation of Mental Status (SYSTEMS) cognitive screening was extended by more difficult items. Results show that scores increase rapidly for young children and tend toward a maximum in early adolescence. This characteristic asymptotic curve explained a substantial proportion of the variance. We can conclude that, although specific functions continue to develop, there is an upper limit in early adolescence for such general cognitive functioning. The findings support cognitive screening across a broad age range and suggest worthwhile research and clinical applications.
ISSN:0883-0738
1708-8283
DOI:10.1177/0883073809352686