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Cognition in 4-11 year old children in Turkey
1Hacettepe University, School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Ankara, Turkey. mineuyanik@hotmail.com
Insights
Cognitive abilities in children are significantly related to age and academic performance, but not sex. Children with lower academic achievement may benefit from cognitive assessments and occupational therapy interventions.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Occupational Therapy
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Neuroscience
Background:
- Cognitive abilities are crucial for academic success and daily functioning in children.
- Understanding factors influencing cognitive development, such as age, sex, and academic performance, is essential for targeted interventions.
- The Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) battery is a tool used to evaluate various cognitive skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between age, sex, academic performance, and cognitive abilities in healthy children.
- To identify demographic and academic factors that correlate with cognitive performance in a pediatric population.
Main Methods:
- Seventy-one children aged 4-11 years were assessed using seven subtests of the Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) battery.
- Participants were categorized by age groups, sex, and academic achievement (good vs. not good).
- Statistical analyses were performed to determine the significance of demographic variables and academic achievement in relation to cognitive abilities.
Main Results:
- Age was found to be a significant factor correlating with cognitive abilities in children.
- Academic achievement demonstrated a significant relationship with cognitive abilities.
- Sex was found to be an insignificant factor in relation to the cognitive abilities assessed.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive abilities assessed by the LOTCA battery show variations influenced by age and academic performance.
- Children exhibiting lower academic achievement warrant cognitive ability assessments and potential occupational therapy support.
- These findings underscore the importance of integrating cognitive assessments into educational and therapeutic settings for children with academic difficulties.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among age, sex and academic performance with cognitive ability on healthy age groups.
Methods:
The subjects were 71 children, aged 4-11 years (x = 7.11). The children were divided into four age groups: 22 of the 71 children were at kindergarten and 49 children were in primary education. Thirty nine children were girls and 32 were boys. Twenty six children had good academic achievement and 23 did not. Each child was tested on the LOTCA battery by the Occupational Therapy Unit of Hacettepe University School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. In this study, seven subtests were used from LOTCA (Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment). These are orientation for place, orientation for time, overlapping figures, praxis, reproduction of a two dimensional model, drawing a clock, and categorization.
Results:
Statistical analysis of the relationships demographic variables, academic achievement and performance on the battery revealed that age was significant, sex was insignificant and academic achievement was significant when correlated with cognitive abilities.
Conclusions:
The results suggest that cognitive abilities tested show some differences. For this reason, in the school or other educational settings, children who have low academic achievement should be assessed also for cognitive abilities and then provided with occupational therapy.