Neuropsychological Performance of Egyptian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder — Oak Academic Publishing
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Neuropsychological Performance of Egyptian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Child Psychiatry Unit, Abbassia Mental Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
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PEDEGO Research Unit, Child Psychiatry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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Research Unit of Logopedics, Child Language Research Center, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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Institute of Postgraduate Childhood Studies, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
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Faculty of Arts, Psychology Department, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt
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Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
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Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
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Centre for Arctic Medicine, Thule Institute, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
1 Child Psychiatry Unit, Abbassia Mental Hospital, Cairo, Egypt
2 PEDEGO Research Unit, Child Psychiatry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
3 Research Unit of Logopedics, Child Language Research Center, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
4 Institute of Postgraduate Childhood Studies, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
5 Faculty of Arts, Psychology Department, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt
6 Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
7 Clinic of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
8 Centre for Arctic Medicine, Thule Institute, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
This study examined the neuropsychological functioning in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and comorbid ASD and ADHD (ASD + ADHD), using five domains of the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY): Attention and Executive Functions, Language, Visuospatial Processing, Sensorimotor Functions, and Memory and Learning. The participants were 6- to 12-year-old Egyptian children with ASD ( n = 17), ASD + ADHD ( n = 15), ADHD ( n = 37), and typical development (TD; n = 29). TD children scored highest on the NEPSY domains, then children with ADHD, followed by children with ASD and ASD + ADHD. Children with ASD or ASD + ADHD performed significantly poorer than TD children on all NEPSY domains. Children with ADHD exhibited significantly poorer performance than TD children on NEPSY domains of Attention and Executive Function, Language, and Memory and Learning. Also, both ASD and ASD + ADHD groups scored significantly lower than ADHD group on all other NEPSY domains except Visuospatial Processing. There were no significant differences between ASD and ASD + ADHD groups on NEPSY. Compared to TD children, our results suggest that ADHD symptoms in children with ASD may worsen the ability to plan, hand motor coordination, and memorizing names. Nevertheless, the presence of ADHD symptoms may mitigate the difficulties that children with ASD exhibit in other neuropsychological areas, such as verbal fluency, hand praxis, finger gnosis, and face memory.
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