Cerebral dominance for language in cerebral palsy.

A test of cerebral dominance for language was administered to 51 cerebral palsied adults. The test consisted of dichotically presented words and in normal speaking adults had previously demonstrated very marked right ear superiority, interpreted as left cerebral dominance. The group of cerebral palsied subjects did not show the predicted right ear superiority. This finding may represent a chance maldistribution of side of cerebral injury within the 51 subjects. If substantiated, however, it would suggest either that the cortical damage in cerebral palsy is commonly widespread or else that the inherent left cerebral dominance of neonates is less tenacious than is generally assumed.