Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, can be a congenital disorder or the result of a traumatic brain injury or developmental problems. This disorder interferes with a person's ability to recall faces and thus recognize individuals, even ones with whom he or she is intimate or familiar. Strangers cannot be distinguished from friends, which…

Emerging evidence suggests that a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in childhood may disrupt the ability to abstract the central meaning or gist-based memory from connected language (discourse). The current study adopts a novel approach to elucidate the role of immediate and working memory processes in producing a cohesive and coherent gist-based text…

This fact sheet uses a question-and-answer format to summarize what is known about preventing mental retardation through use of bicycle helmets. Questions and answers address the following topics: the importance of bicycle helmets; the number of bike riders injured or killed each year in bicycle crashes (about 1,000 killed, over 500,000 people…

The Wechsler Memory Scale--Revised (D. Wechsler, 1987) and the Memory Assessment Scales (J. Williams, 1991) were administered to 30 head-injury patients, and results were compared across four dimensions of memory. Results suggest that these scales measure different abilities and are not comparable tests. (SLD)

This literature review was conducted to evaluate the developmental perspective on neurocognitive recovery/development following a child's traumatic brain injury. Overall, the described findings support a developmental view and suggest that predictions of prognosis should be based on the child's remaining ability to learn. (Contains 50 references.)…

This article reviews the medical literature on head injuries in soccer and concludes that protective headgear to reduce these injuries may not be as effective as rule changes and other measures, such as padding goal posts. (IAH)

Evaluates the effectiveness of a nine-week memory notebook treatment for closed-head-injured (CHI) participants with memory deficits. Eight participants who had sustained a severe CHI were allocated to receive either notebook training or supportive therapy. At posttreatment, the notebook training group reported fewer significant memory failures,…

This study developed a multidimensional topic analysis sensitive to patterns in topic management appropriate for use with head-injured adults. Language samples of a closed-head-injured adult and a matched normal adult were compared. Results demonstrated the analysis' potential to reliably identify, quantify, and describe differences between…

The Reliable Digits (RD) method of detecting malingering developed by M. Greiffenstein, J. Baker, and T. Gola (1994) was studied with 47 mild brain injury litigating and 49 mild brain injury nonlitigating participants. Results support the previous finding that the validity of each of the specific neuropsychological tests for brain injury should be…

Describes pilot studies of the Edinburgh Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (EEGOS), designed to retain the advantages of the GOS (a measure commonly used in head injury research) but to allow comparison of recovery patterns in behavioral, cognitive, and physical function. Studies show that the interrater reliability of the EEGOS is comparable to that…

Objective: To assess the phenomenology and predictive factors of personality change due to traumatic brain injury. Method: Children (N = 177), aged 5 to 14 years with traumatic brain injury from consecutive admissions to five trauma centers, were followed prospectively at baseline and 6 months with semistructured psychiatric interviews. Injury…

This study attempted to use cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect cord injury in 12 dead children with head injury from child abuse. Eighty percent of children autopsied had small cervical spine hemorrhages; MRI did not identify them and did not identify cord injury in any child studied, indicating that MRI scans are probably…

The underlying structure of the Postconcussion Syndrome Questionnaire (PCS) was evaluated in a large sample of 1,116 medical and psychiatric patients. Balancing internal consistency, confirmatory factor analysis, and parsimony results in endorsement of the four-factor solution for the PCS for this sample. (SLD)

Describes an occupational therapy skills assessment protocol developed and used to evaluate physical, cognitive, and behavioral abilities for persons seeking to return to work following head injuries. It measures them within the framework of productivity, interpersonal skills, and safety. (Contains 48 references.) (Author/JOW)

A retrospective review of medical charts for 34 children with a diagnosis of child abuse, who had cranial computed tomography scans performed, revealed that some scans initially interpreted as normal were subsequently reinterpreted as abnormal, and some children's repeat scannings were interpreted as abnormal, modifying the medical and legal…