| Abstract [eng] |
The objective of this study was to examine the cognitive abilities of primary school children diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorders. The cognitive abilities, described in the study, were: intellectual abilities, defined as the abilities, assessed with the traditional intelligence tests; attention abilities; visual-motor abilities. 29 children, 23 boys and 6 girls, whose age was form seven to ten years old, participated in the study. All the children were diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorder by qualified psychiatrists. The participants of the study completed three instruments of cognitive assessment: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Third edition (WISC-III), Attention test, designed to assess various components of attention and Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, Second edition (BG-II). The test results of hyperactive children were compared with normative data. The analysis of the WISC-III profile in the sample of hyperactive children and comparison with the normative data revealed that WISC-III results of hyperactive children is characterized by low Freedom from distractibility score and ACID profile (low Aritmetic, Coding, Information ans Digit span scores), reflecting difficulties in attention, memory and sequential processing. After the analysis of WISC-III results on individual basis it was discovered that hyperactive children tend to have verbal abilities lower than performance abilities. The common cognitive strengths of hyperactive children are perceptual organization, verbal concepts and general reasoning. The common weaknesses are crystallized intelligence, short-term memory, working memory, freedom from distractibility and sequential processing of auditory stimuli. The hyperactive children‘s results on Attention test revealed difficulties in visual attention shifting and auditory selective attention. The examination of visual-motor abilities of children with hyperkinetic disorders assessed with the BG-II test revealed that their visual perception, visual-motor integration and visual-spatial memory is less developed than in their peers. It has been proposed, that comorbid learning disabilities and stimulant medication may affect the cognitive performance of hyperactive children. For this reason the effect of comorbid learning disability and stimulant medication on test results was also assessed. The results showed that although the intellectual and attention abilities of hyperactive children with comorbid learning disability are lower, comorbid learning disability does not change the structure of intellectual abilities of cognitive children. The effect of medication on the cognitive performance of the participants of the study was not confirmed. |
