STUDIES OF CHILDREN WITH FOCAL BRAIN INJURY

在过去十年中，我们在解决 关于早期卒中后缺陷和发育的关键问题。 我们 发现了细微的早期损伤和随后发展的证据， 每个域都会检查。 然而，损伤和发育的概况 在不同领域都有不同。 语言习得的缺陷最初是 普遍的，因为他们被观察到后，伤害广泛分布 大脑区域 空间分析缺陷表现出更具体的模式， 大脑行为关联，类似于在成年人中观察到的 对相似脑区的损伤。 我们得想办法解决 我们跨领域研究结果的明显差异 最好的模型 fit our data专注于重新定义早期可塑性的本质。 最近 动物研究提供了强有力的证据，表明可塑性在 在大脑发育中。 大脑组织在很大程度上是由 连接模式的变化是由于输入到 成熟的系统。 早期损伤是对正常 发展 特定的神经资源丢失， 制度的损害。 然而，它也是一个发展中的系统， 因此，一个资源丰富的系统，其命运是 在很大程度上取决于输入。 因此， 最初的损害很可能取决于一系列因素，如 损伤的时间、损伤的程度和位置以及 神经基质的神经功能正在考虑中。 在下一阶段 以及神经基质的功能特异性 正在考虑中。 在项目的下一阶段，我们将扩大我们的 研究早期损伤对发育的长期影响。 我们 在确定发展概况方面取得了相当大的进展， 学前和学龄早期。 人们对这一领域的变化知之甚少。 后来的学校岁月。 下一阶段的一个目标将是 审查这些领域内和跨领域的发展。 我们还将 对另外两个重要领域，空间 注意力和执行功能。 我们发起了一项合作 Eric Courchesne在加州大学圣地亚哥分校， 对正常和受损人群的注意力的研究。 他提出 研究集中在注意力的基本机制上， 我们对其他领域表现的理解。 最后，我们开始 研究FL人群执行功能的发展。 计划是解决各种问题的关键。 限制 计划技能的主动性或灵活性可能会产生严重的 对儿童早期损伤的发展后果。

Over the past ten years, we have made significant progress in addressing key questions concerning deficit and development after early stroke. We found evidence of subtle early impairment and subsequent development in each domain examines. However, the profiles of impairment and development differed across domains. Deficits of language acquisition are initially pervasive in that they are observed following injury to widely distributed brain areas. Spatial analytic deficits exhibit more specific patterns of brain-behavior association, similar to those observed among adults with injury to comparable brain regions. We have to look for ways to resolve the apparent disparity in our cross-domain findings. The model that best fit our data focuses on redefining the nature of early plasticity. Recent animal studies provide strong evidence that plasticity plays a central role in brain development. Brain organization is to a large extent defined by the changes in patterns of connectivity that occur as a result of input to the maturing system. Early injury constitutes a perturbation of normal development. Specific neural resources are lost, and there is consequent impairment of the system. However, it is also a developing system and therefore a system with an exuberance of resources the fate of which are determined in large measure by input. Thus, the magnitude and duration of the initial impairment may well depend on a range of factors such as the timing of insult, extent and location of injury, and specificity of the neural substrate for athe function under consideration. In the next phase of the injury, and specificity of the neural substrate for the function under consideration. In the next phase of the project, we will extend our investigation of the long-term effects of early injury on development. We have made considerable headway in defining developmental profiles in the preschool and early school-age period. Less is known about change in the later school years. One goal for the next phase will be the focused examination of development within and across these domains. We will also initiate a full-scale study of two other important domains, spatial attention and executive functioning. We have initiated a collaboration with Eric Courchesne at UCSD who has an international reputation for studies of attention of normal and impaired populations. He has proposed studies focused on the basic mechanisms of attention which are important to our understanding of performances in other domains. Finally, we will begin to examine the development of executive functioning ina the FL population. Planning is key to a wide range of problem solving activities. Limitations on the initiation or flexibility of planning skills could have serious consequences for the development of children with early injury.