Distractors inhibition in children with mild intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of the study designed in this manner relates to determination of the quality of development of attention evaluated through ability to select and resistance to distraction. The main purpose of the study relates to the fact that it is necessary to establish the attention profile in children with intellectual disabilities since attention is the main cognitive function and its quality determines the education process and rehabilitation of children with intellectual disabilities. Stroop test for attention evaluation was used in 124 intellectual disabilities children aged 8-16. Our study suggested a high percentage of unsuccessful subjects on the test of attention selectivity. It has also been highlighted that development of this ability is directly related to the maturation process. The correlation analysis of the particular aspects of selective attention shows statistically significance with chronological age of the children only: no significant differences are identified in respect to their IQ, gender distribution, and socioeconomic status, suggesting that particular aspects of selective attention deficits are independent of these variables and that the deficits are related to chronological age only.