The Neuropsychology of Social-Emotional Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The 14 patients described in this issue by Weintraub and Mesulam (see p 463) are representative of a group recognized with increasing frequency in recent years by clinicians dealing with developmental disorders, particularly learning disabilities. Often referred to a learning disabilities clinic or practice because of problems with arithmetic and/or visuoconstructive skills, such patients also suffer from social disabilities. I am indebted to R. G. Rudel, PhD (personal communications, 1972 through 1983), for drawing my attention to the triad of deficits in arithmetic, visuospatial-constructive, and social skills observed by her and her colleagues,¹ in a population that was then called "brain damaged" rather than "learning disabled" but in fact probably largely overlaps with the latter group. Rudel et al noted not only left-sided but also oculomotor signs as neurologic correlates of this behavioral triad. (Dr Rudel and I have had the opportunity to study one such patient for more than