Lateralized cognitive deficits in children following cerebellar lesions

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine the developing cognitive p rofiles of children with cerebellar tumours in a consecutive series of clin ical patients. MRI and longitudinal intellectual profiles were obtained on seven children (two females, five males; mean age 3 years at diagnosis; mea n age 7 years at first assessment). Tumours in three of the children were a strocytomas; of the remaining tumours, two were medulloblastomas, one low-g rade glioma, and one ependymoma. In right-handed children, we observed an a ssociation between greater damage to right cerebellar structures and a plat eauing in verbal and/or literacy skills. In contrast, greater damage to lef t cerebellar structures was associated with delayed or impaired non-verbal/ spatial skills. Long-term cognitive development of the children studied ten tatively supports a role for the cerebellum in learning/development. These findings suggest that lateralized cerebellar damage may selectively impair the development of cognitive functions subserved by the contralateral cereb ral hemisphere and, in addition, that all children with cerebellar lesions in early childhood should routinely undergo long-term monitoring of their i ntellectual development.