Clock drawing in children with perinatal stroke.

Background: Children with perinatal stroke may show evidence of contralateral spatial neglect. The goal of this study was to determine whether the Clock Drawing Test commonly used in adults to identify neglect would be effective in detecting neglect in children with perinatal stroke.

Methods: Thirty-eight individuals (age range 6-21 years) with left hemisphere or right hemisphere perinatal onset unilateral lesions and 179 age-matched controls were given a free-drawn Clock Drawing Test in a cross-sectional design.

Early language development after peri-natal stroke.

Early unilateral brain damage has different implications for language development than does similar damage in adults, given the plasticity of the developing brain. The goal of this study was to examine early markers of language and gesture at 12 and 24months in children who had peri-natal right hemisphere (RH) or left hemisphere (LH) stroke (n=71), compared with typically developing controls (n=126). Parents completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI): Words & Gestures (12month data point), or the CDI: Words & Sentences (24month data point).

Executive function in nephropathic cystinosis.

Objective: We studied executive function (EF) in children and adolescents with cystinosis.

Background: Cystinosis is a genetic metabolic disorder in which the amino acid cystine accumulates in all organs of the body, including the brain. Previous research has shown that individuals with cystinosis have visuospatial deficits, but normal intelligence and intact verbal abilities.

Spatial analysis after perinatal stroke: patterns of neglect and exploration in extra-personal space.

This study was conducted to determine whether school-aged children who had experienced a perinatal stroke demonstrate evidence of persistent spatial neglect, and if such neglect was specific to the visual domain or was more generalized. Two studies were carried out. In the first, 38 children with either left hemisphere (LH) or right hemisphere (RH) damage and 50 age-matched controls were given visual cancellation tasks varying in two factors: target stimuli and stimulus array.

Neurological impairment in nephropathic cystinosis: motor coordination deficits.

Nephropathic cystinosis is a rare genetic metabolic disorder that results in accumulation of the amino acid cystine in lysosomes due to lack of a cystine-specific transporter protein. Cystine accumulates in cells throughout the body and causes progressive damage to multiple organs, including the brain. Neuromotor deficits have been qualitatively described in individuals with cystinosis.

Visual and verbal learning in a genetic metabolic disorder.

Visual and verbal learning in a genetic metabolic disorder (cystinosis) were examined in the following three studies. The goal of Study I was to provide a normative database and establish the reliability and validity of a new test of visual learning and memory (Visual Learning and Memory Test; VLMT) that was modeled after a widely used test of verbal learning and memory (California Verbal Learning Test; CVLT). One hundred seventy-two neurologically intact individuals ages 5 years through 50 years were administered the VLMT and the CVLT.

Plasticity in the developing brain: intellectual, language and academic functions in children with ischaemic perinatal stroke.

The developing brain has the capacity for a great deal of plasticity. A number of investigators have demonstrated that intellectual and language skills may be in the normal range in children following unilateral perinatal stroke. Questions have been raised, however, about whether these skills can be maintained at the same level as the brain matures.

Language outcome after perinatal stroke: does side matter?

The goal of this study was to examine structured language skills in children with perinatal strokes. Participants were 28 school-age children with early focal brain lesions (17 with left hemisphere [LH] damage, 11 with right hemisphere [RH] damage), and 57 controls. A standardized test of language (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised) was administered.

The revision decision: is change always good? A comparison of CELF-R and CELF-3 test scores in children with language impairment, focal brain damage, and typical development.

Purpose: The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF) is a widely used, comprehensive test battery that assesses language in school-age children and adolescents. The CELF-R (E. Semel, E.

Non-verbal deficits in young children with a genetic metabolic disorder: WPPSI-III performance in cystinosis.

Cystinosis is a recessive genetic metabolic disorder in which the amino acid cystine accumulates in various organs of the body. Previous studies have demonstrated visuospatial dysfunction in children and adults with this disorder. It is not known whether this is a result of the genetic alteration or an accumulation of cystine in the brain over time.

Perceptual asymmetry for chimeric stimuli in children with early unilateral brain damage.

The present study used a chimeric stimuli task to assess the magnitude of the left-hemispace bias in children with congenital unilateral brain damage (n = 46) as compared to typically developing matched controls (n = 46). As would be expected, controls exhibited a significant left-hemispace bias. In the presence of left hemisphere (LH) damage, the left-hemispace preference was found to be present, but attenuated, whereas right hemisphere (RH) damage resulted in a less lateralized process.

Disparity of verbal and performance IQ following early bilateral brain damage.

Objective: To examine the effects of early bilateral brain damage on Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), Verbal IQ (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ).

Background: Early unilateral brain damage typically results in relatively spared intellectual function, with IQ in the normal range and no significant differences between VIQ and PIQ, regardless of the side of the lesion. However, little is known about intellectual function in children after bilateral damage.