Academic achievement and intelligence test performance in children with cancer at diagnosis and one year later

Recent investigations have found significant test-retest decline in certain academic achievement and intelligence test scores in children diagnosed as having acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) before 8 years of age. No such effect was observed in children diagnosed at or later than age 8 years. The current study, using a sample of 77 children with ALL, failed to support these findings. No significant differences were found between groups at test or retest nor were significant declines seen for either group from test to retest 1 year later. Reasons for differences in findings between studies, including methodological and samples size differences, are discussed along with implications for future research in this area.