Catherine Lebel1, Carmen Rasmussen2, Katy Wyper2, Gail Andrew3, Christian Beaulieu1
1Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 2Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 3FASD Clinic, Glenrose Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have particular deficits in mathematics. It is speculated that this is related to abnormal parietal brain function, but math deficits in FASD have yet to be linked to brain structure. We correlated fractional anisotropy (FA) with math scores, controlling for age, in 21 children with FASD. Significant positive correlations were seen in two left parietal clusters and one left cerebellum cluster; one brain stem cluster showed negative correlations. This demonstrates that several different regions are related to math skills in children with FASD, supporting previous findings in healthy children and highlighting further areas.
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