Discrepancies between the California Verbal Learning Test: Children's version and the Children's Category Test after pediatric traumatic brain injury

One hundred 9–16-year-old children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) completed the California Verbal Learning Test–Children's Version (CVLT–C) and the Children's Category Test (CCT) within 1 year after injury. Performance contrasts between these two instruments that were unusually large (> 16Tscore points) were about as common in this clinical sample as in the standardization sample of both instruments. However, relatively poor performance on the CVLT–C as compared to the CCT was associated with prolonged coma and lower scores on the Processing Speed index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Third Edition. It is concluded that a relative weakness on the CVLT–C is more likely to reflect cerebral compromise after pediatric TBI than is a relative weakness on the CCT. (JINS, 2005,11, 386–391.)