Martha Bridge Denckla

Naming of object-drawings by dyslexic and other learning disabled children☆

Abstract On the Oldfield-Wingfield Picture-Naming Test, sensitive to subtle chronic dysphasia in adults, dyslexic children name fewer pictures correctly. Even when correct on words with less than 30 per million frequency of occurrence, they perform more slowly than do nondyslexic subjects suffering from minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) or normal controls. However, there is no evidence for “perceptual impairment” underlying dyslexic subjects low scores and prolonged latencies, as the distribution of their errors is similar to that of normal children. Rather it is the nondyslexic MBD group which produces a high percentage of wrong names, suggestive of mistaking the pictured stimuli for other, visually similar, objects.

EVIDENCE FOR DIFFERENTIAL HEMISPHERIC FUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH HEMIPLEGIC CEREBRAL PALSY

Eight children with right infantile hemiplegia and eight with left infantile hemiplegia were compared with each other and with 13 sibling controls on a test of manual dexterity, an extended neurological examination and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Right‐hemiplegic children performed significantly less well than left‐hemiplegic children and the controls on measures of syntactical awareness and the repetition of semantically coherent materials, despite similar verbal IQs. Both hemiplegic groups tended to perform less well than the controls, although not significantly so, on the short‐term memory task, repetition of digits, and on a task of confrontation naming. There was also a strong correlation between left‐hand impairment and poor arithmetical computation skill in both hemiplegic groups, which conforms with present views as to right‐lateralization of certain mathematical functions. The results as a whole support the premise that there is innate hemispheric organization for some language tasks.

Rapid silent response to repeated target symbols by dyslexic and nondyslexic children.

Abstract A previous study demonstrated that naming of repeated colors, objects, letters, and numbers (RAN test) was performed more slowly by dyslexic than by nondyslexic learning disabled children, whereas both groups were slower than controls. A test eliminating the vocal response and requiring “cancellation” of selected verbal targets distinguished the two learning disabled groups from each other only when the targets were triads of numbers or letters, the dyslexic group performing more slowly. Compared even with triad target selection, however, dyslexic children were relatively more impaired on rapid naming (RAN), suggesting a specific relationship of reading to speech or the greater mobilization of language functions which speech requires.

Word-finding as a function of stimulus context: Children compared with aphasic adults.

Abstract A study of object naming in 202 children, aged 5–11 years, demonstrated that varying the stimulus context affected the level of response accuracy. From age 6 to 10, completing a sentence with a noun (auditory) yielded the lowest error scores, naming objects upon hearing a definition (also auditory) produced most errors, while responding with names to pictured objects was of intermediate difficulty. This is the same order of object naming difficulty found in adult aphasic patients. Children older than 10 do not appear to be affected by stimulus context in their object naming. Results are discussed in terms of the relative syntactic difficulty of the two auditory conditions, the unexpected sex differences, and the “aphaseoid” naming errors of children.

Neurobiological Research Priorities in Autism

Views regarding the etiology of infantile autism have shifted from early psychogenic hypotheses to today’s neurobiologic hypotheses as a result of scientific research. Both careful biological and careful behavioral studies have contributed to this dramatic shift. Behavioral studies have shown that cognitive deficits in autism are present in infancy, are primary rather than secondary to social withdrawal, are strongly prognostic, and place children at greater risk for seizures (Rutter, 1983). Biological studies of autism have identified a high incidence of minor physical anomalies, dermatoglyphic abnormalities, perinatal complications, and seizures, as well as subtle anatomical abnormalities on CT scans and associations with established medical disease (e.g., phenylketonuria, rubella) (DeMyer, Hingtgen, & Jackson, 1981). Yet no specific biological markers have been identified, and our knowledge of autism’s neurobiology remains quite limited.

The Neurobiology of Autism

This is an excellent multiauthored volume to which outstanding researchers and thinkers have contributed. A remarkable number of topics are covered in fewer than 250 pages. Along the way, the reader will learn a great deal about the methods applied to research on autism as well as about autism itself. The favorite chapter of this reviewer, in terms of education about brain-behavior relationships, is that of Schmahmann (on the newer concepts of the contributions to cognition of the cerebellum). Chapters 8 and 9 could be given to any neurologist-in-training as a minitext on memory. The breadth and depth of the neuroscience in this compact, easy-to-handle volume protect it against ones only disappointment: the mystery of autism remains unsolved. This is hardly the fault of the contributors or the courageous editors (themselves substantial contributors). The epilogue (chapter 12) in all modesty stakes out a convincing claim that, in the 50 years

The Biology of the Autistic Syndromes

This second edition of a textbook on autism is the work of two authors who have themselves contributed substantially to the recent improvement in our understanding of the biologic spectrum of disorders subsumed under or affiliated with the term autism . Like any textbook that opts for the advantage of relative unity (here a duet) of style, this volume is best where one or both of its authors is most knowledgeable; conversely, not every chapter has the breadth of coverage of the relevant literature or the depth of understanding that a more specialized author would bring to its topic. Naturally, the reviewer is most aware of errors in chapters nearest to the reviewers own field, while naively respectful of all statements about biochemistry, metabolism, and genetics. Where reviewer and authors overlap most in expertise, this book is excellent; unhesitatingly, one can use this volume for clinical teaching. Part I (Clinical Considerations)

Behavioral Change in Cerebrovascular Disease.

The edited proceedings of a workshop on a topic of great practical and theoretical importance can be recommended reading for two reasons: either one is interested in upto-date reviews of the subject matter of the workshop, or one is interested in a prospective overview of issues, problems, and controversies as dramatized by the exchange among experts. This volume succeeds as a review for outsiders in only a few of its presentations: those by A. B. Baker and Manfred J. Meier in the section on Anatomical Determinants of Behavioral Change, by Norman Geschwind on Language Disturbances in Cerebrovascular Disease, and by Frederic L. Darley on Language Rehabilitation. These three can be singled out as useful for teaching purposes, as they are not too lengthy or detailed, yet are sources of wellorganized facts and references. For these sections alone, this book deserves a place in neurological departmental libraries. As a prospectus for

The Dyslexic Child.

This slender volume, the revised edition of Dr. Critchleys 1964 book called Developmental Dyslexia , deserves a place in the library of every neurologist who intends to examine children with learning problems. The bibliography alone, certainly one of the most complete in this field, would be sufficient reason to own this book. The most important contribution of the present volume is to clearly place the problem of dyslexia back in the neurological sphere of influence. Dr. Critchley argues, not only with evidence, but with some passion, for the point of view that there are some children whose difficulty in reading is neither the product of poor intellectual endowment nor of environmental or emotional deprivations or difficulties, and it is in splitting off this group from the larger population of retarded readers that he feels the neurologist must become involved. He places this kind of reading problem squarely in an aphasiological