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Developmental Right-Hemisphere Syndrome: Clinical Spectrum of The Nonverbal Learning Disability

This document describes a study of 20 children with developmental right-hemisphere syndrome (DRHS), also known as nonverbal learning disability (NVLD). The children showed difficulties with social skills, visual-spatial abilities, attention, and left-sided neurological signs. Testing found higher verbal than performance IQ scores along with weaknesses in math and visual tasks. The study aims to characterize DRHS and establish diagnostic criteria for the syndrome based on the experience of these 20 cases.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
103 views7 pages

Developmental Right-Hemisphere Syndrome: Clinical Spectrum of The Nonverbal Learning Disability

This document describes a study of 20 children with developmental right-hemisphere syndrome (DRHS), also known as nonverbal learning disability (NVLD). The children showed difficulties with social skills, visual-spatial abilities, attention, and left-sided neurological signs. Testing found higher verbal than performance IQ scores along with weaknesses in math and visual tasks. The study aims to characterize DRHS and establish diagnostic criteria for the syndrome based on the experience of these 20 cases.
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Developmental Right-Hemisphere

Syndrome: Clinical Spectrum of


the Nonverbal Learning Disability

Varda Gross-Tsur, Ruth S. Shalev, Orly Manor,


and Naomi Amir

We report the clinical characteristics of the developmental right-hemisphere syndrome cits in social perception, judgment,
(DRHS), a nonverbal learning disability, in 20 children (9 girls and 11 boys; mean age = 9.5and interactive skills.
years) who also manifested attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), severe graphomotor Although the neuropsychological,
problems, and marked slowness of performance. Diagnostic criteria for this study includedverbal, academic, and psychosocial/
(a) emotional and interpersonal difficulties; (b) paralinguistic communication problems;
adaptive features of NVLD and DRHS
(c) impaired visuospatial skills, verbal 1Q > performance IQ, and verbal IQ > 85; and either
have been reported, there are no clearly
(d) dyscalculia or (e) neurological signs on the left side of the body. In this group, verbal IQ
was significantly higher than performance IQ (106.6 ± 13.0 vs. 85.1 ± 13.1, respectively, defined clinical criteria for diagnosing
p < .01). Arithmetic was the lowest score among the verbal subtests (7.8 ± 3.5, p < .01) these syndromes (Harnadek & Rourke,
and Geometrical Design was the lowest score among the performance subtests (5.8 ± 1.7). in press). In this report we describe
Thirteen children had soft neurological signs on the left side of the body. ADHD was seen inour all experience with 20 children with
20 children, marked slowness of performance in 16, and severe graphomotor problems in 18. DRHS and the diagnostic criteria we
The latter two features have not been previously described as part of DRHS. used to determine our study group.

Method

R
ight-hemispheric brain lesions & Mesulam, 1983). The core symptoms
acquired in adulthood give are emotional difficulties and distur-
rise to severe disturbances in bances in interpersonal skills; poor
Participants
visuospatial integration; nonverbal visuospatial ability; academic fail- Twenty children (11 boys and 9 girls),
memory; attention; and the expres- ure, especially in arithmetic; and left- ages 5.9 to 16.7 years (9.5 + 3.5, mean
sion, recognition, and integration of sided neurological findings. Voeller ± SD) were included in the study
emotion and affective states (Flor- described the syndrome in a group of group. The children were referred to
Henry, 1979; Heilman, Bower, & Valen- 15 children, most of whom had docu- the Neuropediatric Unit at the Shaare
stein, 1985; Ross, 1981). Although mented perinatal or early childhood Zedek Medical Center. All were White
brain injury may have different con- brain damage and abnormalities on and Jewish; their socioeconomic status
sequences at various ages (Hynd & brain CT scans. Attention-deficit/ was determined by the father's profes-
Willis, 1988), a developmental disorder hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was sion (Abramson et al., 1982): Fifteen
of the right hemisphere sharing many also part of the clinical picture in these children were from the middle class
of the clinical features seen in adults children. and 5 from the upper middle class.
has been described in children. Descriptions of children with NVLD Nine children were referred because of
This syndrome, called developmental (Harnadek & Rourke, in press; Mykle- social problems, 6 for NVLD, 5 for
right-hemisphere syndrome (DRHS) by bust, 1975; Rourke, 1989) note that behavioral problems, 5 because of ex-
some and nonverbal learning disabilities they exhibit problems in visuopercep- cessive slowness, 3 for ADHD, 2 be-
(NVLD) by others, has been described tual organization, complex tactile- cause of syncope, and 1 for grapho-
in adults, adolescents, and children perceptual tasks, psychomotor coordi- motor problems (see Table 1). Most
(Rourke, 1989; Tranel, Hall, Olson, & nation, and nonverbal problem-solving children were referred for more than
Tranel, 1987; Voeller, 1986; Weintraub skills. They also have significant defi- one reason. A priori, children with

JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES


VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1995
PAGES 80-86
VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1995 81

gross motor deficits (e.g., left hemi- and asked to fill out the Abbreviated Paired t tests were used to compare
plegia) or structural brain lesions on Conners Parent/Teacher questionnaire VIQs with PIQs, as well as scores on
brain CT or MRI were excluded. The (Conners, 1973). Teachers ranked the the WISC-R with those on the K-ABC.
criteria for inclusion consisted of char- child's school performance in reading, Repeated-measures ANOVAs (Winer,
acteristics 1, 2, 3, and either 4 or 5: writing, and arithmetic. The children 1981) were used to test the a priori
were examined by experienced pedi- comparisons within the various sub-
1. Emotional and interpersonal be- atric neurologists using a modifica- tests.
havioral disorders tion of the Touwen and Prechtl (1970)
2. Paralinguistic communication prob- neurological examination. We also
lems assessed the prosodic quality of their Results
3. Impaired visuospatial skills, Verbal speech, their ability to maintain eye
IQ (VIQ) > Performance IQ (PIQ), contact, and their communicative be- The children's neurological charac-
and VIQ > 85 havior. The psychological evaluation teristics are summarized in Table 1.
4. Dyscalculia (defined as performance included the Wechsler Intelligence None had abnormal obstetric, peri-
in arithmetic skills more than 1 year Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R; natal, or postnatal histories; their psy-
below class level, or, for children Wechsler, 1974) or the Wechsler Pre- chomotor development was in the
younger than 7 years, severe diffi- school and Primary Scale of Intelligence normal range. Nineteen were right-
culties in number concepts) (WPPSI; Wechsler, 1967) (n = 20); the handed; only one child (Number 5),
5. Soft neurological signs on the left Kaufman Assessment Battery for Chil- who had a family history of sinistrality,
side of the body. dren (K-ABC; Kaufman & Kaufman, was left-handed. Thirteen children had
1983) (n = 10); the Bender Visuo-Motor left-sided soft neurological signs, such
Test (Bender, 1938) (n = 15); the Rey- as asymmetric left upper extremity
Procedure Osterrieth Complex Figure (Osterrieth, posturing when maintaining arm ex-
Each child underwent a detailed 1944) (n = 9); and grade-appropriate tension or during forced gait maneu-
medical and developmental evaluation, reading, writing, and arithmetic evalu- vers; slow alternate movements on the
including family and school history. ations (standardized evaluations are left side; and hypereflexia or extensor
Parents and teachers were interviewed not available for the Israeli population). plantar responses of the left limbs. One

TABLE 1
Neurological Characteristics of 20 Children with DRHS

Patient/gender/
age (y) at Neurological
examination Reason for referral Handedness signs EEG CTS

1/F/5.9 ADHD, social problems R L N N


2/M/6.3 Syncope, slowness R L R-Temporal spikes N
3/F/6.5 Emotional, social problems R L N ND
4/M/6.6 Social problems R L N ND
5/M/6.8 Social problems, slowness L L N ND
6/M/6.9 ADHD R N N ND
7/M/7.6 Social problems, LD R L N ND
8/M/7.7 Slowness R L N MRI-N
9/F/7.9 Behavioral problems R N N N
10/F/8.8 Dyscalculia R R Multifocal spikes N
11/M/8.9 Graphomotor problems R L N ND
12/F/9.4 Behavioral problems, LD R N N N
13/F/9.8 Slowness, social problems R L Bitemporal spikes N
14/M/10.7 Social problems R L N ND
15/F/11.0 Behavioral problems, LD R L N N
16/M/11.9 ADHD R L N ND
17/F/12.9 Syncope, social problems, slowness R L R-Temporal spikes N
18/M/13.6 Behavioral problems R N N N
19/F/14.1 Social problems, LD R N N N
20/M/16.7 Behavioral problems, dyscalculia R N N N

Note. N = normal; R right; L = left; ND = not done; ADHD = attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; EEG = electroencephalogram; CTS = computerized
tomography scan.
82 JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES

TABLE 2
Results of Psychological Tests in 20 Patients with DRHS

WPPSI/WISC-R
Object assembly/ Coding/ Block
Patient Verbal IQ Performance IQ Arithmetic geometrical design Comprehension animal house design

1 96 65 7 4 7 4 6
2 123 101 15 7 10 10 12
3 92 89 7 7 10 6 10
4 118 87 8 3 12 6 9
5 111 86 8 4 9 9 9
6 125 85 9 6 13 7 10
7 112 90 8 4 15 13 4
8 133 116 15 6 11 13 13
9 88 84 3 6 11 7 9
10 104 93 8 5 8 5 8
11 108 93 9 5 10 3 10
12 108 84 4 9 11 7 2
13 89 77 3 5 ND 6 6
14 122 99 8 9 9 8 9
15 95 65 4 4 12 1 4
16 105 87 8 6 ND 10 10
17 99 78 8 6 7 7 6
18 110 91 13 9 11 10 7
19 90 65 6 6 3 6 6
20 105 67 4 6 8 6 6
X ± SD 106 ± 13 85 ± 13 7.8 ± 3.5 5.8 ± 1-7 9.7 ± 2.6 7.2 ± 3.0 7.6 ± 3.2

Note. ND = not done; WPPSI = Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence; WISC-R = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised.

child (Number 10) had soft signs later- Coding (7.2 ± 3.0) and Koh's Blocks addition and subtraction. Reading was
alized to the right side of the body. No (7.6 ± 3.2) were also significantly not a problem for any of the children,
sensory deficits were elicited in any of lower (p < .05) than the remaining but spelling errors and sloppy, difficult-
the children. Six patients had normal performance subtest scores, when ana- to-read handwriting were noted in
neurological evaluations. Sixteen chil- lyzed after first excluding Geometrical 6 participants.
dren had normal EEGs; 2 (Numbers 2 Design. Eighteen patients demonstrated
and 17) showed right parietotemporal The K-ABC was administered to 10 graphomotor impairment, as evidenced
spikes, 1 (Number 13) showed bitem- children (see Table 3). Their mean se- in writing and on the Coding subtest
poral spikes, and another (Number 10) quential IQ was 100.0 ± 13.3 and and the Bender visuomotor gestalt test.
showed multifocal sharp waves. In the simultaneous IQ was 82.3 ± 14.5. The The 9 patients who were examined on
11 children who had CT scans and the lowest scores were in the Gestalt sub- the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test
1 (Number 8) who had an MRI, no test (5.0 ± 2.3) and in Spatial Memory employed an atypical copying strategy,
structural abnormalities were demon- (5.9 ± 3.7). Total IQ, as tested by the but the result was a recognizable fig-
strated. WPPSI/WISC-R, was 95.0 ± 13.0 and ure. Immediate recall was invariably
The mean VIQ was 106.6 ± 13.0 and for the K-ABC was 89.5 ± 14.0. impaired, and distortions and omis-
was significantly higher than that of Of the 18 school-age children, 17 had sions reflecting a lack of consolida-
the mean PIQ (85.1 ± 13.1, p < .01; at least one specific learning disabil- tion of the general configuration were
see Table 2). As anticipated, the low- ity. Twelve had dyscalculia; most of apparent. Their scores on the complex
est score among the verbal subtests this group were not competent in sim- figure test were, in all cases, below the
was Arithmetic (7.8 ± 3.5, p < .01) ple multiplication and division. Four 25th percentile. For the 15 children
and among the performance subtests school-age children were unable to tested on the Bender gestalt test, the
was Geometrical Design (5.8 ± 1.7, carry out single-digit addition (e.g., mean score was 2.3 ± 1.6.
p < .01). After the exclusion of the 3+2= ) and had difficulties han- All children met the clinical criteria
Arithmetic subtest, the Comprehen- dling money and understanding the of ADHD as per DSM-III-R (American
sion subscore was significantly lower concept of time; 5 children, ages 6 and Psychiatric Association, 1987) and their
(9.7 ± 2.6, p < .01) than the rest of the 7, had problems with counting, quan- overall scores on the abbreviated Con-
verbal subscores. The subscores of tities, and number concepts such as ners parent/teacher questionnaire. Six-
VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1995 83

teen children benefited from treatment body gestures normally accompany- order in 10 of their 14 patients. Voeller
with methylphenidate or desipramine. ing speech were absent or exaggerated (1986) described 15 children with the
Sixteen children were unduly slow in 4, and speech prosody was flat or same syndrome, all of whom had ab-
in cognitive and motor performance atypical in 16. Eleven were under psy- normal obstetrical or postnatal his-
(see Table 4) and for 5 of those, this chiatric or psychological care. Eight tories, and, in most, CT scan abnor-
was the reason for referral. Routine ac- families reported other family mem- malities were noted. In our group,
tivities of daily living and preparation bers (fathers, uncles) with similar none of the children had structural
tasks took an unreasonably long time behavioral characteristics. lesions in the central nervous system.
to be completed; the children required Rourke (1989) studied a group of
extra time in tests, were unable to children with NVLD investigated from
finish their school assignments, and Discussion the early 1970s. Their neuropsychol-
spent hours doing homework. ogical and behavioral profiles were
All 20 children were socially inept, We studied 20 children with DRHS very similar to the DRHS profile, in-
withdrawn, and isolated. Some of who also demonstrated signs of grapho- cluding neurological body signs that
them had one good friend, but they motor problems, marked slowness, were more marked on the left side of
avoided playing with groups of chil- and ADHD. Weintraub and Mesulam the body. Recently, Harnadek and
dren. Three of the boys expressed a (1983) reported the major characteris- Rourke (in press) reported that the
wish to be girls and preferred to play tics of DRHS: shyness and disorder of syndrome is manifested most clearly
with dolls and other "girls' " toys. The interpersonal relationships, dyscal- on a developmental basis and in per-
children had difficulty maintaining culia, visuospatial dysfunction, and sons suffering from a wide variety
friendships and displayed poor com- left-sided neurological signs. Most of neurological diseases and disorders,
prehension of social rules; 15 were ex- of their patients, who were adults including some types of hydrocepha-
tremely shy and 10 had difficulty main- and adolescents, had a history of in- lus, head injury, and significant tis-
taining eye contact. All 20 had some fantile hemiplegia, seizures, or peri- sue destruction within the right cere-
aspect of inadequate paralinguistic natal stress. There was evidence of bral hemisphere. Thus, it would seem
communicative abilities. Facial and structural central nervous system dis- that the syndromes described as DRHS

TABLE 3
Results of Further Psychological Tests In 20 Patients with DRHS
K-ABC
Graphomotor Drug
Patient Sequential IQ Simultaneous IQ Arithmetic Reading Writing performance ADHD treatment

1 89 75 ND ND ND D +
2 117 105 N N N D +
3 91 76 D N N D +
4 ND D N N D +
5 104 97 D N N D + +
6 87 76 D N G D + +
7 ND D N N D + +
8 115 94 N N N D + +
9 ND 1 1 G D + +
10 102 82 2 N N D + +
11 98 90 1 N G D + +
12 117 73 2 N G D + +
13 ND 2 N N D +
14 ND 2 N G D + +
15 80 55 1 N N D + +
16 ND 2 N N N + +
17 ND 1 N N N +
18 ND 1 N G D +
19 ND 2 N N D +
20 ND 2 N N D +
X ± SD 100 ± 13 82 ± 14

Note. ND = not done; N = normal; + = present; - = absent; 1,2 = more than 1 or 2 years below grade level; D = deficient (evaluation for children in
second grade or less); G = Graphomotor problems; K-ABC = Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children; ADHD = attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
84 JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES

TABLE 4
Emotional and Behavioral Problems in 20 Patients with DRHS
Isolated, Eye Atypical Psychiatric/ Family
Patient Slowness poor peer relations Shyness contact prosody psychological treatment history8

1 _ + _ + + + _
2 + + + - + - +
3 + + + - + - -
4 - + + + - - +
5 + + + - + + -
6 + + - + - - +
7 - + - + + + Adopted
8 + + + - + - +
9 + + + + + - -
10 + + + - + - -
11 + + + + + + -
12 + + + - + + -
13 + + - + - - -
14 + + + + + + +
15 + + + - + + +
16 + + + + - - -
17 + + + - + + -
18 - + - + + + -
19 + + + - + + +
20 + + + — + + +

Note. + = present; - = absent.


a
Emotional, psychiatric, and learning disabilities in first-degree relatives.

and NVLD are very similar, if not the seven overlapping categories of errors metic has also been recognized (Gross-
same. in children with NVLD, including Tsur, Manor, & Shalev, 1993).
The clinical features of our children errors in spatial organization and Most of the children in our series had
were consistent with both DRHS and visual detail, procedural errors, failure also been diagnosed as having ADHD
NVLD. Without exception, the partic- to shift psychological set, graphomotor and were being treated with methyl-
ipants had emotional and interper- and memory errors, and problems in phenidate or desipramine. ADHD may
sonal problems; these were manifest in judgment and reasoning. result from dysfunction of the right
their maladaption to new situations, Spelling errors, dysgraphia, and hemisphere or of related brainstem
difficulties maintaining friendships, graphomotor problems were also en- and diencephalic structures that sub-
withdrawn and excessively shy behav- countered in our 20 children. Sunder serve attentional functions (Voeller &
iors, and avoidance of eye contact. and Demarco (1992) described four Heilman, 1988). Brumback and Staton
Some of them were considered to be varieties of dysgraphia in all of their (1982) suggested that ADHD is the
odd—even bizarre. Many required on- 20 patients with DRHS, and Mesulam result of anatomical dysfunction (either
going supportive psychological or psy- (1985) described a disorder called visuo- cortical damage or delayed cortical
chiatric care. spatial agraphia, caused by the non- maturation) of the right cerebral hemi-
Learning disabilities were evident in dominant hemisphere. In children sphere. This is consistent with the
the majority of our children. Dyscal- with NVLD, Rourke (1989) noted that speculation that behavioral abnor-
culia, the most frequently encountered the graphomotor impairment mani- malities in patients with ADHD may
scholastic problem, was, in some fested in handwriting tends to lessen reflect functional impairment of fron-
cases, so severe as to interfere with cer- with time and experience. Dysfunction tal striatal systems with which the
tain demands of daily life. Demarco of the medial posterior areas of the right, nondominant, hemisphere has
and Sunder (S. Demarco, personal com- right hemisphere, which are important preferential involvement (Heilman,
munication, October 17, 1993) found for spatial perception and imagery, Voeller, & Nadeau, 1991). The right
evidence for ageometria, attention def- has been postulated as being the neuro- hemisphere has also been implicated
icit dyscalculia, and anarithmetia in anatomical substrate for inferior achieve- in disorders of vigilance, which share
children with DRHS; and errors of all ment in the graphic arts and arithmetic many of the clinical characteristics of
types have been reported in children (Gaddes, 1985). The contribution of the ADHD (Weinberg & Harper, 1993).
with nonverbal learning disabilities right hemisphere to the acquisition of Another striking finding in our pop-
(Rourke, 1989). Rourke (1993) found skills, and to performance, in arith- ulation was the children's slowness in
VOLUME 28, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1995

routine performance, both cognitive tasks (Goldberg & Costa, 1981). The of measures for use in epidemiological
and motor. Most of the children were relative contribution of each hemi- studies. Social Science Medicine, 16, 1739-
unable to finish their school assign- sphere to DRHS may be different in 1746.
ments in reasonable amounts of time each child, resulting in the broad American Psychiatric Association. (1987).
and spent hours doing work that should spectrum of behavioral and cognitive Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
have taken a fraction of that time. disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC-
symptoms.
Author.
Although children with ADHD are In interpreting the results, w e wish Bender, L. (1938). A visual motor gestalt
often slow to complete tasks because to emphasize that prosody, eye con- test and its clinical use. American Ortho-
of their inability to sustain attention to tact, and slowness were determined by psychiatric Association Research Mono-
those tasks, slowness is not one of the informal clinical evaluation rather than graphs, No 3.
criteria for the diagnosis of ADHD by standardized measures. Additional Brumback, R. A., & Staton R. D. (1982).
(American Psychiatric Association, work is necessary to standardize and Right hemisphere involvement in learn-
1987). Furthermore, because patients objectively measure these functions ing disabilities, attention deficit disorder
with right-hemisphere lesions are re- in children. It would be worthwhile and childhood major depressive disorder.
ported to be hypokinetic and react Medical Hypothesis, 8, 505-514.
to study children with other develop-
Conners, C. K. (1973). Rating scales for use
slower than patients with lesions in the mental syndromes, such as those with
in drug studies with children. Psycho-
left hemisphere, it has been proposed known left-hemisphere dysfunction, to pharmacology Bulletin, 9 (Special Issue:
that the right hemisphere is dominant ascertain that the individual charac- Pharmacotherapy of Children), 24-29.
not only for attention but also for teristics described herein are specific to Flor-Henry, P. (1979). On certain aspects of
intention. Dominance for intention children with DRHS. localization of the cerebral systems reg-
implies that the right hemisphere ulating and determining emotion. Biolog-
attends to stimuli presented on both ical Psychiatry, 14, 677-698.
the right and the left side and also pre- Gaddes, W. (1985). Neuropsychological
pares both sides for action (Heilman & basis of problems in writing, spelling and
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
arithmetic. In Learning disabilities and brain
van den Abell, 1980).
Varda Gross-Tsur, MD, is a pediatric neurol- function: A neuropsychological approach
Patients with DRHS often appear to
ogist at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Her (pp. 335-369). New York: Springer.
have a primary psychiatric or psycho-
interests are in learning disabilities, neuro- Goldberg, E., Costa, L. D. (1981). Hemi-
logical disorder, and thus the neuro-
psychological features of developmental neuro- sphere differences in the acquisition and
logical aspects of their problems may logical disorders, and treatment of epilepsy. use of asymmetries in the brain. Brain and
be overlooked. The ongoing nonverbal Ruth S. Shalev, MD, is a pediatric neurolo- Language, 14, 144-173.
perceptual skills that enable the infant gist at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Her Gross-Tsur, V., Manor, O., & Shalev, R. S.
and developing child to "read" the research interests are in learning disabilities, (1993). Developmental dyscalculia, gen-
der and the brain. Archives of Diseases of
language of gestures, facial expres- particularly developmental dyscalculia and
Childhood, 68, 510-512.
sions, and body movements are not attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Orly
Harnadek, M. C. S., & Rourke, B. P. (in
available to this group of children. Manor, PhD, is a lecturer of statistics at the
press). Principal identifying features of
Their emotional and social problems Braun School of Public Health and Community
the syndrome of nonverbal learning dis-
may be the expression of a complex Medicine, Hebrew University, Hadassah, Jeru-
abilities in children. Journal of Learning
salem. Her research interests focus on biostatis-
interaction between neurological pro- Disabilities.
tics and include the analysis of longitudinal data.
file and environmental milieu. Heilman, K. M., Bower, S. D., & Valen-
Naomi Amir, MD, is a professor of pediatric
DRHS may be more prevalent than stein, E. (1985). Emotional disorders asso-
neurology at the Hadassah Hospital, Hebrew
previously thought, encompassing a ciated with neurological diseases. In
University Medical School, the director of the
K. M. Heilman & E. Valenstein (Eds.),
wide clinical spectrum. The syndrome pediatric neurology services at Shaare Zedek Clinical neuropsychology (2nd ed., pp.
is predicated on the typical neuro- Medical Center, and the medical director of the 377-402). New York: Oxford University
behavioral and psychological profile Agmon Rehabilitation Nursery School. Her re- Press.
and does not necessitate a demon- search interests are in developmental aphasia, Heilman, K. M., & van den Abell, T. (1980).
strable structural lesion. The symp- cognitive aspects of cerebral palsy, and neuro- Right hemisphere dominance for atten-
tomatology is consistent with what is metabolic diseases. Address: Varda Gross-Tsur, tion: The mechanism underlying hemi-
known about right-hemisphere func- Neuropediatric Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical spheric asymmetries of inattention
Center, POB 3235, Jerusalem, Israel 91031. (neglect). Neurology, 30, 327-330.
tion in nondisabled adults and dys-
function in patients with acquired Heilman, K. M., Voeller, K. S., & Nadeau,
S. E. (1991). A possible pathophysiologic
lesions (Heilman et al., 1985; Semrud-
substrate of attention deficit hyperactivity
Clikeman & Hynd, 1990). However,
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child with minor nervous dysfunction. Lon-
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ler preschool and primary scale of intelligence.
Austin, Texas 7 8 7 5 7 - 6 8 9 7
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