A longitudinal study of early intellectual development in hemiplegic children

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 289 - 298
• Main Authors: Muter, Valerie, Taylor, Sara, Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.1997; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cerebral Cortex - physiopathology; Child clinical studies; Child Development - physiology; Child, Preschool; Female; Functional Laterality - physiology; hemiplegia; Hemiplegia - complications; Humans; intelligence; Intelligence - physiology; Longitudinal Studies; longitudinal study; Male; Medical sciences; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; seizures; Seizures - complications; Sex Distribution; Wechsler Scales; seizures; longitudinal study; hemiplegia; intelligence; Human; Preschool age; Nervous system diseases; Intellectual development; Motor system disorder; Epilepsy; Cognition; Cerebral disorder; Concomitant disease; School age; Follow up study; Central nervous system disease; Hemiplegia; Intellectual ability; Cognitive development; Neurological disorder; Laterality; Child; Intelligence quotient
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/S0028-3932(96)00079-6

Thirty-eight 3- to 5-year-old children with unilateral lesions sustained pre- or peri-natally were studied longitudinally over a 2-year period, and their IQ scores compared with those of 20 ‘medical’ controls. The failure to discover laterality effects following early unilateral injury supports the hypothesis of at least broad functional equipotentiality. There were few decrements in intellectual functioning provided the injury was not accompanied by seizures. The presence of seizures in contrast had a deleterious effect on both verbal and non-verbal aspects of cognitive functioning. While the IQs of the hemiplegic groups showed considerable stability over the 2-year span of the study, there was evidence that performance IQ, even in seizure-free patients, might be selectively impaired because of competition within the intact neural space for the sparing of verbal IQ. Copyright©1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.