Estimating Premorbid Intellectual Functioning in Children and Measuring Change in Cognitive Functioning as Children Develop
This study is looking at how children's thinking skills, like reasoning, change as they grow. When a child has a brain injury or illness, it's very important to know how their thinking is affected and whether treatments are helping. However, current methods for tracking these changes aren't good enough. This research will test typically developing children twice to gather new information. This new information will then be used to create better, more accurate ways to measure brain function in children who have had a brain injury or illness. The goal is to make sure these children get the best possible care and support to help them reach their full potential.
At a glance
What is this study about?
Imagine how important it is for a doctor to know if a child's brain is working as it should, especially after an accident or illness. Sometimes, conditions that affect the brain can make everyday tasks, schoolwork, and even playing with friends much harder for a child. Doctors and therapists offer help and support to reduce these problems and assist children in their development.
However, to give the best support, we need reliable ways to first understand how much a child's thinking skills have been affected, and then to accurately measure if the treatments are actually working. At the moment, our methods for doing this aren't as good as they could be. This means it's harder to properly monitor a child's progress, which might impact the care they receive and their future development.
This study aims to fix this important problem. By gathering information from healthy children, researchers hope to develop new, more reliable ways to measure thinking skills when a child is first diagnosed with a brain condition, and then track how these skills change over time. By providing clearer information to doctors, this research will help make sure children get the most appropriate care to help them develop and thrive, in line with what health and social care services aim to achieve.
Key takeaways
- Purpose: To create better ways to measure children's thinking skills.
- Why it matters: To improve care for children with brain injuries or illnesses.
- Who can join: Healthy children aged 6-17, attending mainstream school, English first language.
- What it involves: Completing thinking skill tests at two different times.
- Benefit: Helping to develop more accurate assessment tools for the future.
Who may be eligible?
To take part in this study, children need to be between 6 and 17 years old. They should be attending a regular school and English must be their first language.
Children will not be able to join if they were born very early (prematurely), have a learning disability, or have a known illness affecting their brain. Also, if a child has had a head injury that was serious enough to need hospital treatment, they won't be suitable for this study.
Finally, children who are currently receiving treatment for a mental health problem, or have problems with drug or alcohol misuse, will not be able to participate. All children must also be able to understand and agree to take part.
Could this study suit you?
Answer these quick questions to see if you may be eligible. This is a guide only — the research team makes the final call.
- Is your child aged between 6 and 17?
- Does your child attend a mainstream school?
- Is English your child's first language?
- Has your child never had a brain injury or neurological illness?
- Does your child not have a diagnosed learning disability?
What does participation involve?
If your child is eligible and you agree for them to take part, they will need to complete some cognitive tests. These tests are designed to measure different thinking skills, like reasoning abilities. Your child will do these tests at two different times, with a period in between. The study does not involve any medication, and the total duration would depend on the time gap between the two test administrations. More detailed information on the exact number of visits and the full timeline would be provided if you choose to consider participation.
Potential risks and benefits
Locations (1)
- Royal Aberdeen Children's HospitalVerified postcodeAberdeen, United Kingdom
Common questions
What exactly are 'cognitive functions'?
Cognitive functions are basically your brain's thinking skills, such as problem-solving, memory, attention, language, and reasoning.
Will my child's information be kept private?
Yes, all information collected from your child will be treated with the strictest confidence and anonymised where possible to protect their privacy.
Does my child need to be good at school to participate?
No, this study is looking at typically developing children, but there's no requirement for them to be academically advanced. We're interested in a general range of abilities.
Will I receive any results about my own child?
The study aims to gather general data to develop new tools, rather than providing individual results back to participants. Specific details would be discussed with you.
How long will each testing session take?
The exact length of each testing session will be detailed in the participant information, but they are designed to be manageable for children.
How to find out more
Always speak to your GP or specialist before deciding to take part in a study.
Interested in taking part?
Discussion
Community discussion
Powered by our forum at community.patient.info. Please be respectful — this is not medical advice.