Is there really a syndrome involving the co-occurrence of neurodevelopmental disorder talent, non-right handedness and immune disorder among children?
This paper is the first large-scale attempt to test Geschwind and Galaburda's (1985a, 1985b, 1985c) hypothesis that there should be a four-way association among neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs), special talents, non-right handedness, and immune disorders. In a sample of 11,578 children, several two-way associations were found, but not those most strongly predicted by the theory. For example, non-right handedness was not associated with NDs considered to be secondary to left hemisphere dysfunction (e.g., articulation disorder, reading disability, verbal aptitude deficits). Instead, non-right handedness was associated with NDs that involve generalized brain damage (e.g. cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and seizures). One immune disorder (asthma) was associated with one ND (attention deficit disorder); immune disorder was not associated with non-right handedness. Less than 1% of this sample manifested the co-occurrence of any three or four of these markers. In sum, there was little evidence in support of the syndrome suggested by Geschwind and Galaburda (1985a, 1985b, 1985c).
Psychology Department, Boston University, MA 02215, USA.
K A
KA
Flannery
J
J
Liederman
D001076:Aptitude / Q000502:physiology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D013577:Syndrome