PATTERN OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DEFICIT AT AGE 5 YEARS FOLLOWING NEONATAL UNILATERAL BRAIN INJURY

The pattern of language deficit following left-hemisphere brain injury and visual/spatial deficit following right-hemisphere injury in an ad ult or older child is well recognized, but has been inconsistently rep orted following presumed neonatal brain injury. Our prospective study of 24 children at age 5 with documented neonatal unilateral brain inju ry lends support to the theory of hemisphere specialization at the tim e of birth. Twelve children who had unilateral left-hemisphere lesion were compared to 12 children with unilateral right-hemisphere lesion o f similar timing and severity. Relative visual/spatial deficit followi ng right-hemisphere lesion and receptive language deficit following le ft-hemisphere lesion were identified. Lateralized measures of grip str ength, fine motor speed, and fine motor dexterity were not significant ly different between the groups for either hand in this nonhemiparetic study sample. Only one child with a left-hemisphere lesion was left-h anded, and only one child (right-lesion) had a hemiparesis, (C) 1998 A cademic Press.