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Abstract:
Brain organization of language abilities in children is
considered to be different from that in adults. The fact that
effects of brain lesions in children and adults are qualitatively
and quantitatively different speaks in favor of this claim. The aim
of this study was to define a course of language development
following early brain injury in subjects with a comparable type of
lesions but with a different hemisphere involvement. Five children
with pre- perinatal infarct of middle cerebral artery were studied
longitudinally. Two subjects suffered left hemisphere lesion, one
had right-sided lesion while the other two had both hemisphere
affected. In all cases diagnosis was established using ultrasound
scan, cerebral-blood-flow-velocity measurement and either CT scan
or MRI. Language and cognitive development was followed by means of
MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories, Reynell
Developmental Language Scales and Munich Developmental Functional
Diagnostics. Results showed initial language delay in all subjects.
Final testing revealed that all subjects still had some kind of
residual deficits. However, subjects with left-sided lesions
reached highest level of cognitive and language development.
Reorganizational processes in these two subjects seem to have
enabled development of language abilities in spite of massive
lesions of the left hemisphere. On the other hand subjects with
both-sided lesions and early neonatal convulsions had the worst
outcome.
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