HANDEDNESS IN MENTAL HANDICAP - INVESTIGATION INTO POPULATIONS OF DOWNS-SYNDROME, EPILEPSY AND AUTISM

The handedness in three randomly sampled groups of people with learnin g disabilities consisting of patients with Down's syndrome, epilepsy, and autism were studied using a validated instrument. All subjects wer e controlled for neurological and other medical disorders. A statistic ally significant increase in left-handedness and ambiguous handedness compared with the general population was found in all groups. There wa s no significant difference in the rate of left-handedness between the three groups.