Evaluation of techniques for assessing neurobehavioral development in children

A battery of tests has been designed to explore functional disabilities in children 10-12 years of age arising from adverse conditions during early development. At these ages, it becomes possible to use more complex and challenging tests than those typically used at earlier ages. Although the battery was prompted originally by questions arising from methylmercury exposure, it was also designed for applicability to neurotoxicant exposures arising from pesticides, solvents, persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs and dioxins, other metals, and nutrient excesses and deficiencies as well. The test battery includes the following categories: (1) neuropsychological tests with established psychometric properties not widely exploited in studies of developmental neurotoxicity; (2) electrophysiological and behavioral tests of sensory functioning spanning a broader range of indices than those used generally in studies of neuropsychological development; and (3) adaptations of performance tasks used previously only in animals. The battery was developed in Rochester, New York, and then field-tested on a group of 61 children in the Republic of the Seychelles, where the Ministry of Health had established the Child Development Center. Our findings suggest a number of tests and procedures with the potential for inclusion in test batteries aimed at the exploration of adverse neurodevelopmental effects.