Abstract
Brain lesioned children recover more rapidly and completely than adults; however, the extent of recovery and limits in terms of age of onset and lesion location is not known. The present study reports scholastic aptitude and academic achievement for 20 left hemisphere lesioned children (LL M age=11.1 yrs.; SD=4.1) and 12 right lesioned children (RL M age-8.3 yrs.; SD=3.3) in comparison to peers matched by age, sex, race and social class. All lesioned children presented CT or MRI confirmed unilateral lesions of vascular origin sustained at least 1 year prior to testing (M onset: LL=4.9 yrs.; SD=5.4; RL=2.3 yrs.; SD=1.9). Despite normal Verbal IQ's comparable to controls, lesioned children performed significantly poorer on much of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery. Of the Scholastic Aptitude Clusters, LL children performed lower than left controls (LC) on the reading, math and written language clusters (F=4.02; p<.05), while the RL group performed significantly lower than RC on these and the knowledge cluster (F=7.95; p<.01). On the Academic Achievement Clusters, LLs performed lowest on written language (F=6.83; p<.01), while the RLs performed lower than RCs on reading, math and written language (F=5.96; p<.05). Age at lesion onset was not related to performance. LLs with subcortical lesions tended to perform poorer than those with cortical lesions, while the reverse pattern was observed among RL children. In sum, LLs present profiles of specific scholastic difficulties while RLs present more generalized scholastic limitations, possibly secondary to attentional deficits.
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Aram, D., Ekelman, B. SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE AND ACHIEVEMENT AMONG CHILDREN WITH UNILATERAL BRAIN LESIONS. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 178 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00073
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00073