The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between a set of cofactors and severity of cognitive impairment, to determine if there were any factors which significantly predicted more severe neurocognitive deficits in persons with AIDS. Twenty-four male volunteers recruited from community groups and physician referrals participated. Subjects completed several self-report questionnaires eliciting information regarding demographics and risk factor variables, in addition to a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. A severity of cognitive impairment summary score was computed for each subject, reflecting both the number of impaired tests and their distance in the impaired direction from normative data. Neither CD4 count, number of months since diagnosis of AIDS, number of AIDS-related illnesses, number of recent stressors, history of head injury/LOC, history of substance use, current or past psychiatric disorder, history of learning disability nor history of other medical illness were found to be significantly related to severity of cognitive impairment in this sample, after controlling for the effects of age, level of education, estimated premorbid IQ and mood status. However, no reliable conclusions could be drawn from this study because the small sample size resulted in an unacceptably low level of statistical power for the desired regression …

This study follows the progress of 11 elementary students who exhibited similar language-arts deficiencies and were treated with traditional and non-traditional language-arts remediation methods. Non-traditional methods were exclusively Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) lessons that required students to observe, talk about, and write about art images using a DBAE framework. Portfolios maintained by the students during one complete school year included writings and art production. Writings were marked using a color-coding system developed for the research project and designed to track growth in art cognition. Interviews for affective measure and the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence, Edition II were administered as pre- and post-tests. Evidence indicated art understanding improved as cognition in language arts improved. Change in attitudes toward art and artists demonstrated a slight positive change. No significant difference was detected in non-verbal intelligence.