IS THERE REALLY A SYNDROME INVOLVING THE COOCCURRENCE OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER, TALENT, NON-RIGHT HANDEDNESS AND IMMUNE DISORDER AMONG CHILDREN

This paper is the first large-scale attempt to test Geschwind and Gala burda's (1985a, 1985b, 1985c) hypothesis that there should be a four-w ay association among neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs), special talen ts, non-right handedness, and immune disorders. In a sample of 11,578 children, several two-way associations were found, but not those most strongly predicted by the theory. For example, non-right handedness wa s not associated with NDs considered to be secondary to left hemispher e dysfunction (e.g., articulation disorder, reading disability, verbal aptitude deficits). Instead, non-right handedness was associated with NDs that involve generalized brain damage (e.g., cerebral palsy, ment al retardation, and seizures). One immune disorder (asthma) was associ ated with one ND (attention deficit disorder); immune disorder was not associated with non-right handedness. Less than 1% of this sample man ifested the co-occurrence of any three or four of these markers. In su m, there was little evidence in support of the syndrome suggested by G eschwind and Galaburda (1985a, 1985b, 1985c).