Examining Psychosocial Functioning in Young Children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 Using the BASC-II Content Scales

Background/Rationale for the Study: Neurofibromatosis-1 (NF1) is a common neurodevelopment genetic disorder affecting 1 in 3,000 individuals. Children with NF1 are at elevated risk of social, emotional, executive functioning, and attention difficulties. The current study examined psychosocial difficulties in young children with NF1 on the Behavior Assessment System for Children – Second Edition (BASC-II) content scales that were not on the previous edition of this measure and have rich clinical information.Methods: Participants were 62 children with NF1 (37 boys, 25 girls), ages 3 to 8 years (M = 4.95, SD = 1.62). The Behavior Assessment System for Children – Second Edition and the Conners Parent Rating Scale – Revised were completed by parents. The Differential Ability Scales – Second Edition was administered to the children to measure intellectual ability and the General Conceptual Ability (GCA) score was used.Results: Developmental Social Disorders (DSD) scale showed significant elevations compared to the normative data while Executive Functioning (EF) and Negative Emotionality (NE) trended toward elevation (t(61) = 1.80, p = 0.077; t(61) = 1.96, p = 0.055). Age was not significantly correlated with T-scores on the DSD, EF, or NE scales. Visual inspection identified one outlier on the GCA variable. When this outlier was included, cognitive functioning was significant correlated with DSD T-scores (r (62) = -.276, p \u3c .05). However, once the outlier was removed, cognitive functioning was not significantly correlated with DSD T-scores (r (61) = -.160, p = .22). Notably, the outlier was a participant with a diagnosed autism spectrum disorder. Cognitive functioning was not significantly correlated with EF T-score or with NE T-score, regardless of the removal of the outlier (p’s ranged from .273 to .782). Relations between DSD, EF, and NE T-scores and attention problems will be examined.Conclusion: The findings suggest that the BASC-II content scales could be a useful measure to identify psychosocial difficulties in young children with NF1, and that social difficulties are especially common. Early detection of psychosocial difficulties in young children with NF1 could help them obtain early intervention for their difficulties