Assessment of processing speed in children with mild tbi: A "first look" at the validity of pediatric ImPACT

Deficit in the speed of cognitive processing is a commonly identified neuropsychological change in children recovering from a mild TBI. However, there are few validated child assessment instruments that allow for serial assessment over the course of recovery in this population. Pediatric ImPACT is a novel measure that purports to assess cognitive speed, learning, and efficiency in this population. The current study sought to validate the use of this new measure by comparing it to traditional paper and pencil measures of processing speed. Method: One hundred and sixty-four children (71% male) age 5-12 with mild TBI evaluated in an outpatient concussion clinic were administered Pediatric ImPACT and other neuropsychological test measures as part of a flexible test battery. Results: Performance on the Response Speed Composite of Pediatric ImPACT was more strongly associated with other measures of cognitive processing speed, than with measures of immediate/working memory and learning/memory in this sample of injured children. Conclusions: There is preliminary support for convergent and discriminant validity of Pediatric ImPACT as a measure for use in post-concussion evaluations of processing speed in children.