Children Exposed to Drugs in Utero: Their Scores on the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers

Abstract

This article presents findings from a retrospective study of 54 children who were prenatally exposed to drugs and who received the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers as part of a developmental follow-up clinic protocol. Data were analyzed using nonparametric descriptive statistics to examine trends in the test scores compared to the test norms and to determine if a distinctive clinical profile was present. Although a distinctive clinical profile did not emerge, the overall test results indicated a skewness toward the lower end of the spectrum with poorer performance identified on test items measuring tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular processing, and language. Performance of items that assessed aspects of non-verbal cognition tended to be within the normal range. The difficulties of conducting studies within this group of children are discussed.