COMPARISON OF SOCIAL ABILITIES OF CHILDREN WITH FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME TO THOSE OF CHILDREN WITH SIMILAR IQ SCORES AND NORMAL CONTROLS

Children diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) were assessed wit h items from the social skills domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavio r Scales (VABS) via interviews with their caregivers, Their scores wer e compared with scores from children in two control groups. The contro l groups included children matched for IQ to the FAS group (specifical ly on verbal IQ, henceforth, the VIQ group) and children with IQ score s in the average to above-average range (normal control group). Forty- five children (age range, 5 years 7 months to 12 years 11 months) were assessed (n/group = 15). All groups differed with regard to social ab ility, as measured by the VABS (NC > VIQ > FAS), even when the effects of socioeconomic status were held constant. The three subdomains of t he VABS social scale (interpersonal relationship skills, use of play a nd leisure time, and coping skills) were assessed, and results showed that the children with FAS were most impaired on the subdomain that as sessed interpersonal relationship skills. An additional measure was co nstructed by obtaining an age-equivalent score for the VABS social sca le and calculating a difference score by subtracting the child's chron ological age from his/her age-equivalent score. There was a significan t correlation between chronological age and difference scores for chil dren in the FAS group but not for children in the two control groups. Specifically, in older children with FAS, there was an increased discr epancy between their ages and their age-equivalent scores, a discrepan cy that was not present in children in the control groups. These resul ts suggest that social deficits in children with FAS are beyond what c an be explained by low IQ scores and indicate that there may be arrest ed, and not simply delayed, development of social abilities in childre n with FAS.