A prospective study was conducted on a group of 160 students from 9 to 14 years of age with learning disabilities to predict neuropsychological outcome using perinatal information as predictors. Perinatal information was obtained from the Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS) (Dean & Gray, 1985). Subjects' neuropsychological functioning was assessed by the Short Neuropsychological Screening Device (SNSD) (Reitan & Herring, 1985). Information concerning subjects' intelligence was obtained from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) administered within the past two years. Hollingshead's Four Factor Index of Social Status was employed to determine subjects' socioeconomic status. A stepwise multiple regression analysis yielded a regression model that contained a subset of 7 perinatal risk factors, involving: (1) Obstetric History; (2) Gestational Age; (3) Psychosocial Events; (4) Delivery; (5) Intrauterine Stress; (6) Teratogenic Stress; and (7) Fetal Oxygenation. A hierarchical regression analysis was further performed to examine if adding socioeconomic and intellectual information to the regression model could increase the prediction of neuropsychological outcome. Results showed that up to 82% of the variability in the neuropsychological outcome was explained by the linear composite of the 7 risk factors. When socioeconomic and intellectual information were added to the regression model, the prediction of neuropsychological outcome was significantly improved. About 201 of the students with learning disabilities in the present study were found to display symptoms similar to minimal brain damage (MBD) relating to poor visual-motor integration, underdeveloped language skills, and aphasic conditions. The results support the theory of a "continuum of reproductive casualty" proposed by Pasamanick et al. (1956). The importance of detecting early indicators of neuropsychological deficits in at risk children was further suggested by the present study. / Department of Educational Psychology

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. (Psychology) / Attention deficit disorder, or its theoretical antecedent minimal brain dysfunction, has been the subject of numerous investigations as to the nature and cause of this disturbance that so often affects children. Although the findings of these studies appear to be equivocal as regards the precise cause of the condition, there are numerous indications in the literature that there might indeed be a neurological, albeit a "soft" neurological basis or cause, for this disturbance. A study was performed to test the hypothesis that minimal brain dysfunction indeed has its basis in higher cortical dysfunctions as assessed within the context of neuropsychological investigations. In order to perform the study, two measures of neuropsychological functioning, the Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological investigation for children and the Majovski determination of higher cortical functions in children and adolescents were subjected to a determination of its validity within the South African context. Subsequently these tests were applied to two groups of children with organic brain damage, a group of children diagnosed as having minimal brain dysfunction, a group of children with emotional disturbance, and a group of normal children. The two groups of organically brain damaged children consisted of a group of children with predominantly left hemispheric brain damage and a group of children with predominantly right hemispheric brain damage. It was postulated that children with minimal brain dysfunction would show less higher cortical dysfunction than the two groups of children with organic brain damage, but more higher cortical dysfunction than the normal children, and the children with emotional disturbance. The validation procedure indicated that both measures of neuropsychological functioning have adequate validity in terms...