Abstract
Minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) has become an important diagnostic label for the disorders in many children who exhibit certain constellations of learning and behavior problems. There remains, however, considerable misunderstanding about the meaning and the applicability of this term. The disagreements about MBD result from differing views regarding evidence for brain disorders and the significance of the many symptoms that have been attributed to the children with this diagnosis. In order to clarify these issues and establish an acceptable definition for MBD, a national task force was convened (Clements, 1966). The definition, which still lacked simplicity and clarity, stated that MBD should only be applied to describe those children with at least near-average intelligence whose learning and behavioral disabilities are the consequence of certain perceptual, cognitive, and attentive dysfunctions. A review of the symptoms and signs that had been used for MBD diagnosis resulted in a list of 99 items; these were reduced to ten major characteristics. The author cautioned that this “sign” approach should be employed only as a guideline for identification and diagnosis, because any one MBD child exhibits only some of these symptoms, with varying degrees of severity. The efforts by this task force resulted in clarification of several issues: the MBD diagnosis requires the exclusion of other disorders such as mental retardation, sensory impairments, “major” neurological disorders (e.g., cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and aphasia), and psychiatric disturbances.
Preparation of this chapter was supported by a grant from The Grant Foundation.
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Stamm, J.S., Kreder, S.V. (1979). Minimal Brain Dysfunction: Psychological and Neurophysiological Disorders in Hyperkinetic Children. In: Gazzaniga, M.S. (eds) Neuropsychology. Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3944-1_6
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