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 de velopment. At these ages, it becomes possible to use more complex and chall enging tests than those typically used at earlier ages. Although the batter y 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 d ioxins, other metals, and nutrient excesses and deficiencies as well. The t est battery includes the following categories: (1) neuropsychological tests with established psychometric properties not widely exploited in, studies of developmental neurotoxicity; (2) electrophysiological and behavioral tes ts of sensory functioning spanning a broader range of indices than those us ed generally in studies of neuropsychological development; and (3) adaptati ons of performance tasks used previously only in animals. The battery was d eveloped in Rochester, New York, and then field-tested on a group of 61 chi ldren in the Republic of the Seychelles, where the Ministry of Health had e stablished the Child Development Center Our findings suggest a number of te sts and procedures with the potential for inclusion in test batteries aimed at the exploration of adverse neurodevelopmental effects. (C) 2000 Inter P ress, Inc.