2-177 - Neuropsychological approaches to comorbidity among neurodevelopmental disorders

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Comorbidity is pervasive among developmental disorders and psychopathologies, yet poorly understood across levels of analysis. Because children with multiple learning and behavioral disorders are at highest risk for poor academic and functional outcomes, it is important that research focus not just on prediction of single disorders but prediction of how and why disorders cluster together. An increasing recognition of the importance of clustering (or covariance) is emerging at multiple levels of analysis including trends in genetics and brain imaging to focus on networks, pathways, and connectivity. In this paper symposium, we illustrate the extension of these trends to the neuropsychological level of analysis in exploring the cognitive explanations and implications for comorbidity among diverse developmental disorders. The symposium brings together recent findings from three groups all focused on cognitive models of comorbidity among different clusters of disorders: (1) learning disabilities and ADHD, (2) sluggish cognitive tempo and inattention, and (3) developmental psychiatric symptoms – autism spectrum, psychosis, and child mania. An integrated discussion will highlight cross-cutting themes including the explanatory power of multifactorial cognitive models, the role of processing speed as a generalized risk factor, and the importance of dimensional conceptualizations of developmental disorders. The overall goal of the symposium is to expose participants to new approaches that will catalyze novel research in their own datasets utilizing comorbidity patterns as an outcome of interest.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Chair

• Lauren McGrath, American University

Discussant

• Erik Willcutt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Individual Presentations

• Cognitive Prediction of Reading, Math, and Attention: Shared and Unique Influences - Presenting Author: Robin L. Peterson, Children's Hospital; Richard Boada, Children's Hospital Colorado; Bruce Franklin Pennington, Univ of Denver; Erik Willcutt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Richard K Olson, University of Colorado Boulder

• Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, Inattention, and Academic Fluency - Presenting Author: Lisa Jacobson, Kennedy Krieger Institute; Taylor A. Koriakin, Kennedy Krieger Institute; E. Mark Mahone, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

• Extending the cross-disorder relevance of cognition to dimensional neuropsychiatric traits in youth - Presenting Author: Lauren McGrath, American University; Ellen B Braaten, Massachusetts General Hospital; Nathan D Doty, Massachusetts General Hospital; Brian L Willoughby, Massachusetts General Hospital; H Kent Wilson, Massachusetts General Hospital; Ellen H O''Donnell, Massachusetts General Hospital; Mary K Colvin, Massachusetts General Hospital; Hillary L Ditmars, Massachusetts General Hospital; Jessica E Blais, Massachusetts General Hospital; Erin Nicole Hill, Suffolk University; Aaron Metzger, West Virginia University; Roy Perlis, Massachusetts General Hospital; Erik Willcutt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Jordan Smoller, Massachusetts General Hospital; Irwin Waldman, Emory University; Stephen V Faraone, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Larry J Seidman, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Alysa E Doyle, Massachusetts General Hospital