Dynamic versus structural processing differences characterize laterality patterns of learning disabled children

Journal/Book: Develop Neuropsychol. 1995; 11: 10 Industrial Ave, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc. 467-484.

Abstract: Because children with learning disabilities (LD) exhibit deficient performance on a variety of perceptual laterality tasks across various modalities (i.e., auditory, visual, tactile) as well as when modalities are combined (i.e., verbal-manual tasks), it is likely that these children experience some form of abnormal cerebral organization as hypothesized by Corballis (1983) and Obrzut (1988). In this article, I argue that cerebral dysfunction is the result of aberrant patterns of hemispheric activation and inhibition, weaknesses in selective attention, inadequate hemisphere ''metacontrol,'' or any combination of these which compromise cerebral specialization in populations with LD. Results based on dichotic listening and electroencephalographic (EEG) procedures are presented as evidence of hemisphere specific deficits in children with LD. Despite the ostensible lack of homogeneity in sample selection of children with LD in the reported studies, much of the data strongly suggests that performance differences between children with LD and normal control children are not found in static, structural hemispheric differences but rather are primarily the result of dynamic processing differences.

Note: Article JE Obrzut, Univ Arizona, Coll Educ, Dept Educ Psychol, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

Keyword(s): DICHOTIC-LISTENING PERFORMANCE; DIRECTED ATTENTION; DEVELOPMENTAL DYSLEXIA; READING-DISABILITY; BRAIN; ASYMMETRIES; SUBTYPES; DEFICIT; READERS; SPEECH

Zurück | Weiter