Neurobehavioral Characteristics of Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in Communities from Italy: Preliminary Results Piyadasa Kodituwakku, Giovanna Coriale, Daniela Fiorentino, Alfredo S. Arago ´n, Wendy O. Kalberg, David Buckley, J. Phillip Gossage, Mauro Ceccanti, and Philip A. May Background: There has been considerable effort expended on defining neurobehavioral charac- teristics of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Children with FASD display a range of cognitive deficits and behavioral problems. In this article, we report on the neurobehavioral characteristics of children with FASD in selected communities in Italy. It was expected that both inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive characteristics would discriminate children with FASD from controls and that the groups would also differ on intellectual functioning, language comprehension, and academic skills. Methods: Eighty-two children, 22 diagnosed with FASD and 60 control children, participated in this study. The children were administered tests of nonverbal reasoning, language comprehension, academic achievement, and behavior. Results: On tests of nonverbal reasoning and language comprehension, the FASD group earned lower scores than did controls. Moreover, on a test of academic achievement the FASD group scored lower. When comparing these 2 groups on disruptive behavioral symptomatology, similar results were obtained, the FASD group showing greater attentional difficulties and hyperactivity/impulsivity behaviors and more overall behavioral problems. Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that a model containing inattention and error scores on the language comprehension task correctly classi- fied 85% of the participants. Compared with the control group, a significantly greater proportion of children with FASD met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—fourth edition (DSM-IV) criteria of ADD, inattentive type, as reported by teachers. In contrast, hyperactive symp- toms among children with FASD were comparable with the control group. Teachers rated children with FASD as having more inattentive behaviors and as performing lower in academic skills than controls. The association between reported hyperactivity symptoms and achievement scores was nonsignificant for both language and math scores, suggesting that it is not the hyperactivity causing problems, but the child’s inattention. Conclusions: This research indicates that a nonclinic-referred sample of Italian children with FASD display a profile of neurobehavioral functioning consistent with that reported by other researchers. Furthermore, the neurobehavioral characteristic most identified with children diagnosed with FASD was inattention followed by hyperactivity. Key Words: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Neurobehavioral Characteristics, Inattention, Italy. O VER THE PAST 30 years, researchers have expended considerable efforts on defining neurobehavioral characteristics of children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). It is now known that children with FASD display intel- lectual deficits, with their average IQs falling in the borderline range (Mattson et al., 1997; Streissguth et al., 1990). Researchers have also obtained evidence that children with FASD perform less competently than controls on a wide range of tasks, including those assess- ing information processing (Jacobson, 1998), number processing (Kopera-Frye et al., 1996), visual–spatial reasoning (Carmichael Olson et al., 1998), visual memory (Uecker and Nadel, 1996), verbal learning and memory (Mattson et al., 1996), language (Abkarian, 1992), and motor function (Roebuck et al., 1998). Behavioral and emotional difficulties in these children have also been documented (Bailey et al., 2004; Steinhausen and Spohr, From The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico (PK, ASA, WOK, DB, JPG, PAM); and the University of Rome, ‘‘La Sapienza,’’ Rome, Italy (GC, DF, MC). Received for publication November 1, 2005; accepted May 26, 2006. This project was funded in part by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; pilot project subcontract # 53257 A-P1660-7802-211 CSM from San Diego State University) as part of the International Consortium for the study of FASD (CIFASD)–AA014811 and AA014828 and a grant from the health department of the regional gov- ernment of the Lazio region, Assessorato alla Sanita della Regione Lazio. Reprint requests: Philip A. May, PhD, Center on Alcoholism, Sub- stance Abuse and Addictions, 2650 Yale Blvd. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106; E-mail: pmay@unm.edu Copyright r 2006 by the Research Society on Alcoholism. DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2006.00187.x Alcohol Clin Exp Res, Vol 30, No 9, 2006: pp 1551–1561 1551 ALCOHOLISM:CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Vol. 30, No. 9 September 2006