Cognitive Proficiency after Traumatic Brain Injury in Children

Fifty-five children and adolescents with complicated mild-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) completed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition (WISC-V; Wechsler, 2014) within 1 to 12 months post-injury. Compared with demographically matched neurologically healthy controls, selected from the WISC-V standardization sample, participants with TBI demonstrated statistically significantly lower scores across WISC-V indices. The working memory, processing speed, and cognitive proficiency indices also demonstrated statistically significant negative correlations with brain injury severity based on time to follow commands. Logistic regression analyses unequivocally supported <i>a priori</i> criteria for the processing speed index and partially supported the cognitive proficiency index (but not the working memory index) in accurately predicting brain injury versus control group membership. In conclusion, our results provided moderate support for the criterion-related validity of the WISC-V cognitive proficiency index in the evaluation of sequelae of pediatric traumatic brain injury.