Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects: Patterns of Performance on IQ and Visual Motor Ability.

This study explored relationships between intelligence and visual motor ability and patterns of impairment of visual motor ability in children prenatally affected by alcohol. Fourteen children (mean age 8.2 years) diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and 50 children with possible fetal alcohol effects (FAE) were assessed with the Bender Visual Motor Test and a Wechsler IQ test. The group exhibited impaired performance (using Koppitz's emotional and developmental scores) relative to norms. Higher IQ predicted better visual motor performance. Performance IQ was marginally related to emotional indicators. Despite significantly lower IQs in the FAS group, both FAS and FAE groups performed equally poorly on the Bender. Examination of the types of errors made revealed distortion of shape to be the most frequently occurring error. The two diagnostic groups did not differ in tyres of errors made. (Contains 11 references.) (DB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * *********************************************************************** CHILDREN WITH FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME AND FETAL. ALCOHOL EFFECTS: PATTERNS OF PERFORMANCE ON IQ AND VISUAL MOTOR ABILITY Karen Kopera-Frye, Ph.D. a