Adaptive behavior in children with CHARGE syndrome

The “R” in the mnemonic “CHARGE” has historically stood for “Retardation of Growth and Development.” Early medical reports describing mental retardation in CHARGE syndrome have not used convincing means to assess this attribute. This article investigated the range of developmental ability in individuals with CHARGE as measured through an adaptive behavior scale, the Adaptive Behavior Evaluation Scale (ABES) [Carney (1995): The Adaptive Behavior Evaluation Scale home version technical manual‐revised. 126p.], over time. Parents of individuals with CHARGE syndrome were surveyed twice over a 4‐year time span (N = 100, 85) to obtain information about adaptive behavior and specific CHARGE characteristics. There was a significant decline in ABES scores over the 4‐year period. However, at Time two, one‐half of the children achieved a standard score above 70. Correlation and regression analyses at Time one and Time two revealed negative relationships between (a) age at walking, (b) degree of hearing impairment, (c) degree of visual impairment, and (d) medical involvement variables and the dependent variable, adaptive behavior. In both studies, age at walking was the best predictor of scores. Analysis of variance confirmed that medical involvement and degree of vision impairment were related to adaptive behavior scores because they were also related to age at walking. Age at walking and medical involvement at Time one were found to be significantly different between those who improved and declined in adaptive behavior scores over time. Adaptive behavior scores from both studies revealed a much broader and higher‐reaching range of ability for this population than has been previously reported in the literature. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.