A Correlational Study of Symptoms and Performance

This study examines correlations of parent and teacher reports of symptoms, and their relative correspondence with objective intellectual performances, in a sample of 107 children (Mean age = 9.06, SD = 2.19 years; 59.8% boys; 94.4% Caucasian) who underwent routine educational assessments as a component of special education services provided in their schools. Participants presented with varying degrees of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral difficulties related to Specific Learning Disability (50.5%), Emotional and Behavior Disorder (19.6%), and other disabling conditions. Symptom severity was evaluated using the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF), while intellectual performances were measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fourth and Fifth Editions (WISC-IV/WISC-V). Whereas none of the parents’ symptom observations were significantly correlated with any performance-based intellectual indices (p \u3e .01), teachers’ reports of school and learning problems on the BASC-2 were correlated with FSIQ and VCI (r = -.48, r = -.55, p = \u3c.01, respectively). Moreover, teachers’ report of initiation and working memory abilities on the BRIEF were correlated with FSIQ (r = -.39, r = -.37, p = \u3c .01, respectively), and the BRIEF organization of materials scale was correlated with processing speed (r = -.40, p = \u3c .01). Results suggest that teacher report of symptoms may be of greater relevance to students’ cognitive abilities, at least within the school setting, and that parents’ observation of students’ difficulties may not translate to the academic milieu