When children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure are compared to children without histories of alcohol exposure but who have similar IQ scores, similarities and differences in their neurobehavioral presentation are also noted. Both groups of children show similarities on measures of expressive and receptive language ability (McGee, Bjorkquist, Riley, et al., 2009), sustained attention, and retention of verbal material (Vaurio, Riley, & Mattson, 2011). However, alcohol-affected subjects are more impaired than IQ-matched controls on measures of externalizing behavior (Mattson & Riley, 2000), adaptive skills (Thomas, Kelly, et al., 1998; Whaley, et al., 2001), and verbal learning (Coles, et al., 2010; Mattson, Riley, Delis, et al., 1996; Vaurio, et al., 2011). Parent reports of attention have indicated that externalizing behavior is more affected in alcohol-exposed children than in IQ-matched samples, but results of internalizing behavior are mixed (Mattson & Riley, 2000; Vaurio, et al., 2011), indicating that further study is needed.
