A prospective study of children with head injuries: IV. Specific cognitive deficits.

Twenty-five children with a head injury resulting in a posttraumatic amnesia of at least one week were compared with an individually matched group of 25 children with orthopedic injuries. Both groups were studied a few weeks after the accident and the again at 4 months, 1 year and 21/4 years after the injury. The head injury group showed a persistent deficit on the WISC Performance IQ scale; the deficit on the Verbal IQ scale was more transient. An extensive battery of neuropsychological tests was employed to identify specific deficits not shown on the WISC. On the whole, these tests showed a pattern of results similar to that found with the WISC, and in most cases children without deficits on the Performance IQ scale of the WISC also did not show deficits on the battery of specific tests. However, in a few cases, tests of speed of visuo-motor or visuo-spatial functioning picked up deficits attributable to the head injury which occurred in children with normal scores on the WISC.