Abstract

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs at an average rate of 180 per 100,000 children who are hospitalized for head injury within the United States (Schwartz et al., 2003). Bilinguals are a large proportion of the population living in the United States and in Southern California, particularly. If children who are bilingual incur a TBI, will they have even more difficulty than monolinguals with language tasks because they have a smaller vocabulary base? This study aims to further elucidate whether verbal memory will be more severely impacted than nonverbal memory in this same bilingual pediatric TBI population. 18 children (M age =11.67 years (SD =3.7), 61% males, 50% bilingual) were assessed as part of a longitudinal study evaluating neuropsychological outcomes in moderate/ severe pediatric TBI at 3 m (Time 1) & 12 m (Time 2) post-injury. Multiple mixed design ANCOVA's were conducted in order to assess differences within and between bilingual/monolingual IQ's and verbal and nonverbal memories. Overall this study has shown that bilinguals do not appear to have a significant difference between their VIQ/PIQ splits. The bilingual brain does not appear to have significant changes in VIQ, immediate, or delayed verbal memory. More significant improvements are seen within the monolingual brain. The greatest recovery for both bilinguals and monolinguals appears to occur over time with immediate and delayed nonverbal memory.

LLU Discipline

Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

School

School of Science and Technology

First Advisor

Ropacki, Susan

Second Advisor

Ashwal, Stephen

Third Advisor

Pivonka-Jones, Jamie

Fourth Advisor

Vermeersch, David

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Year Degree Awarded

January 2012

Date (Title Page)

8-1-2012

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Intelligence: Bilingualism in children; Monolingualism in children; Memory; Brain Injuries

Subject - Local

Traumatic Brain Injury; Glasgow Coma Scale; Intelligence Quotient; Verbal Intelligence Quotient; Performance Intelligence Quotient; Full Scale Intelligence Quotient; Children's Memory Scale; Bilingual Children; Memory; Monolingual Children

Type

Dissertation

Page Count

105 p.

Digital Format

Application/PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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