The overall aim of this study is to evaluate in non-English-speaking minority children at risk for exposure to hazardous environmental substances, the effectiveness of language-free instructional methods producing appropriate performance on behavioral tests proven to detect neurotoxicity. Neurobehavioral tests have been used extensively to test adults exposed to neurotoxic chemicals. Unlike adult neurobehavioral testing, pediatric neurobehavioral testing does not have a extensive existing body of background information and experience. Most instruments that have been developed to assess the neurotoxic potential of environmental chemicals in exposed children have not been tested with racially and culturally diverse groups. Research is needed to test the usefulness of current instruments and to develop new, culturally appropriate instruments that meet applicable standards of validity and reliability. This proposal builds upon and extends the work of investigators at OHSU's Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET) and upon successful CROET partnering with stakeholders in the community who are concerned about the exposure of their children to environmental contaminants. We propose to modify a neurobehavioral test battery for children between the ages of 4-6 and to test the hypothesis that the modified batter is reliable in and accepted by non-English-speaking children. This project will also assess the feasibility of locating culturally appropriate control groups for Hispanic children ages 4-6 years exposed to agricultural pesticides and of comparing the neurobehavioral performance of these two populations.
A final aim of this project is to compare neurobehavioral performance in a culturally diverse childhood population with documented led exposure with that of community-matched controls. Overall, this project will contribute will contribute to a database of results from comprehensive batteries of tests with ethnically diverse childhood populations. This database will be used in future studies and for comparison with other populations, notably those located close to Superfund sites.
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