Diagnosis of Cerebral Dysfunction in Child

Abstract

Introduction Workers in the various fields of child behavior have long been aware that mental disturbances of different kinds result, in some patients, from some type and degree of organic defect causing either generalized or localized impairment of function of brain tissue. The pathological manifestations of cerebral damage are usually believed to be of two general types—first, those symptoms which result directly from the loss of or damage to cerebral tissue, and, second, symptoms not directly associated with tissue loss, but, rather, symptoms of indirect or "superimposed" psychological disturbances, e.g., the patient's reactions to or attitudes toward disability occasioned by brain damage. Evidence of cerebral dysfunction may show up in one or more areas, such as sensory or motor function, intellectual functioning, emotional control, manifestation of seizure phenomena, and others. In medicine, the classical picture of the brain-injured child has traditionally included some motor defect as a primary condition. Beginning