Cerebellar Tumor And Osteogenesis Imperfecta: Different Profiles Of Cognitive Decline

Currently, clinical psychology pays great attention to the study of cognitive development of children with different physical disabilities, what leads to mental dysontogenesis. However, a small number of studies are devoted to the study of fluid intelligence and executive control functions in children with different types of dysontogenesis. In this study we investigated two types of dysontogenesis: impaired and deficient dysontogenesis. Our work involved 14 children with a history of neoplasms in the posterior cranial fossa and cerebellum, 18 children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI, characterized by increased fragility of bones) and 18 normatively developing children. It was found that both types of dysontogenesis worsens the level of children’s cognitive development. Our study for the first time demonstrates that characteristics of cognitive development decrease also depend on severity of disease. In our study we investigated two OI types. Children with the first type have moderate impairments, children with the third type have severe motor impairments. Results of children with type 3 of OI could be compared to the results of children with neuro-oncology, while cognitive development of children with type 1 of OI is close to normative. The only exception is sequential reasoning skills: they are declined in both types of OI. The correlation between the level of fluid intelligence and the level of executive functions differs depending on the type of dysontogenesis.