Abstract
To test the clinical significance of the Brazelton Neonatal Examination, we compared its predictive value to that of a standard neurological examination. The Brazelton Assessment tests and documents the infant's organized responses to environmental events (social and non-social) and his use of “state” behavior as an organizing process in the neonatal period. The Assessment tests for neurological integrity as well as for individual differences in behaviors which may reflect future cognitive and affective competence. The subjects were a group of 53 infants judged to be suspect by pediatric examination. All the infants were given two neurological and two Brazelton examinations during the neonatal period and then followed for seven years. However, the neurological misdiagnosed three times as many normal infants as compared to the Brazelton. This greater discriminating capacity of the Brazelton examination avoids the problems entailed in misdiagnoses for parents and child, and allows for a more effective focusing of our clinical skills.
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Brazelton, T., Tronick, E. & Janeway, C. A COMPARISON OF THE PEDIATRIC EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BRAZELTON NEONATAL ASSESSMENT TO A STANDARD NEUROLOGICAL EXAMINATION. Pediatr Res 8, 342 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00012
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00012