This article is a compilation of three articles written by Paul MacLean (refer to Footnote). Based on his research, MacLean states that there are common anatomical and functional characteristics among the brains of reptiles, mammals, and man. For educators, the most significant commonality is that of social behavior. Frequently, behaviors that are observed in the classroom, and believed to be learned, are actually inherited through the evolutionary process. To describe and illustrate this phenomenon, MacLean places it in the context of a model he terms the "triune brain": the reptilian, the paleomammalian, and the neomammalian brain.
For several years, the Shoreham-Wading River school district has been involved in an in-service education program designed to sensitize teachers to the cognitive developmental theories of Piaget and to then apply these theories to classroom practices. The focus of the program has been "the child's point-of-view." Recognizing and understanding the child's point-of-view is seen as a critical element in helping teachers develop appropriate instructional programs for their pupils. This article describes ways in which educators have used their understandings of children's points of view in developing curriculum, structuring questions, interpreting test results and evaluating instruction.
Cognitive levels matching refers to a teacher's ability to use formal and informal means of assessing the cognitive levels of students and to adapt instruction according to student needs. This ability is contingent upon the teacher acquiring a "developmental perspective." The methods for acquiring this perspective suggest a fundamental change in the way the teacher thinks about instruction. The renewed emphasis on cognitive levels matching is the result of current interest in neurobiological research, particularly that of Epstein. Although cognitive levels matching (CLM) cannot directly test his hypotheses, the emphasis of CLM has become an emphasis on strategies to assist teachers to teach from a developmental point-of-view. Four informal strategies are described which can assist teachers to teach "from the child's point-of-view and thus to begin the process of matching."
The dynamics of head injury, particularly for children, pose a challenge for rehabilitation professionals. While a great deal of information has come to the fore in recent years elucidating the nature of brain-behavior relationships, it has focused primarily upon diagnostic considerations. Attention to the development of improved techniques of treatment is becoming increasingly widespread. Cognitive rehabilitation therapy is an emerging branch of rehabilitation attempting to address the intervention needs of traumatically head injured children. Its full consideration must encompass relevant knowns in neuropsychology, patterns of recovery of victims, its place in a growing Cognitive Science, and a functional view of cognitive processes upon which responsible treatment may be based.
This article (1) discusses historic technological barriers to the use of the brain in teaching/learning theory, (2) compares the medical profession's early move to biological research to the education profession's long reticence, (3) describes new brain monitoring technology that is rapidly increasing our knowledge of brain operations, and (4) proposes greater involvement of the education profession in further brain research and related technological developments.
Evidence from a variety of sources is reviewed suggesting that the cerebral hemispheres are specialized from birth or an early age. It is argued that findings of age differences in lateralization on certain tasks may be attributable to variations in the manner in which the tasks are carried out by subjects of different ages rather than to variations in the nature of the specialized processes of the cerebral hemispheres. Clinical observations of more rapid and complete recovery of function following brain injury in children than adults, therefore, cannot be explained in terms of an absence of hemispheric specialization early in life. Alternative explanations for this greater functional plasticity early in life are considered. Finally, misapplications and possible future applications of research Findings on hemispheric specialization to educational practices are discussed.
The neuroscience knowledge explosion is organizing a critical data base on how the brain works and functions. Brain research findings can help identify how and when children can develop more sophisticated intellectual skills. This seems important for re-thinking effective school practice. Since educators lack neurological training and neurologists lack pedagogic background, a base to organize such data must be developed. Educational psychology has long been a foundatidnal area for pedagogical development. The syncretizing of neurological data on brain function with psychological theories of learning could organize a neuropsychology of learning. From this base, curriculum developers could plan educational programs which respond to developmental capacities to think and process information. Characteristics of seven areas of development are offered as a base for developing such a neuropsychological foundation area. Theory and present practice in several areas are suggested for rethinking current educational practice. The beginning use of computers to match teaching and learning at different developmental stages in children is also discussed. As educators develop agents of change to improve school curricula, the degree to which those efforts respond to developmental thinking capacities will be critical.
The relationship between language development and brain development is examined. First, major characteristics of contemporary views on oral and written language development are presented. The the predominant ways in which language function and the brain have been investigated are critically reviewed. This review covers morphological findings, the commissurotomy studies, dichotic listening and visual half-field studies, EEG and cerebral blood flow studies, as well.as topics on the development of iaterali-zation and brain growth. The last section concludes that very little information exists about the relationship between language development and brain development, and argues that implications for education which invoke findings from recent brain research should be approached with great caution.
13 cases of Goldenhar-Gorlin syndrome are presented in which numerous central nervous system anomalies have been found. These include occipital encephalocele, hydrocephalus, aqueductal stenosis, agenesis of corpus callosum, multiple congenital lipomas and many others. Pertinent literature has been reviewed. It is concluded that any part of the central nervous system can be involved in this condition and that careful evaluation is indicated in order to rule out a treatable intracranial anomaly.
Extended craniectomy has been employed in 148 +/- 4 month old infants with bilateral synostosis of lambdoid suture. Intraoperatively the ICP was less than 180 mm H2O in 6, 180-200 in 1, greater than 200 in 7. 18 +/- 10 months following surgery clinical signs as psychomotor retardation and so forth were present in 4 compared to 11 patients preoperatively. With 1 exception there was a distinct remodelling of neurocranium and an almost complete ossification of the operative site.
The Say-Gerald (VATER) syndrome consists of vertebral defects, anal atresia, tracheoesophageal fistula, radial dysplasia and renal defects. 2 children with Say-Gerald (VATER) syndrome were autopsied: the first child was found to have hydrocephalus, aqueductal stenosis and probable craniosynostosis, and the second child had hypoplasia of the nerve roots and anterior and posterior horns of the spinal cord, corresponding to the hypoplastic limb. It is suggested that the Say-Gerald syndrome is a multifocal developmental disorder in which central nervous system anomalies may be found. The children with Say-Gerald syndrome should have a complete neurological examination in order to rule out a potentially treatable central nervous system defect.
4 cases of cloverleaf skull syndrome are reported and analyzed after a brief review of the literature is presented. It is noted that reported cases of surgical management of this entity are extraordinarily rare. The rather characteristic displacement of intracranial contents suggests early onset of craniosynostosis (in intrauterine life) and that hydrocephalus is not an invariable complication present at the time of birth. Rather, it appears that the hydrocephalus is secondary to obliteration of the cortical subarachnoid spaces and the presence of a cranial ring. Total craniectomy proved to be a satisfactory treatment, one which was responsible for the reversal of hydrocephalus. Early detection and treatment of this rather rare malformation results in acceptable cosmetic and neurologic improvement.
A rare case of an intracerebral schwannoma in a 10-year-old girl is presented. To our knowledge, only 4 cases of intracranial schwannoma not related to cranial nerves have been previously published, in the absence of von Recklinghausen's disease.
The authors report a 1-year-old Japanese boy, who was noted to have unilateral alopecia and a cloudy cornea since birth. Additional features included mild spasticity and mental retardation, DQ being 70. A non-communicating cystic lesion was found in the right middle cerebral fossa by metrizamide CT scan, and resection of the lesion by craniotomy revealed an arachnoid cyst. The case was diagnosed as encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis, a recently described neurocutaneous syndrome.
This is a retrospective review of all closed-head injured children, ages 1-36 months, admitted to the Children's Memorial Hospital from 1959 to 1978. Injuries ranged from trivial to those producing deep coma. A coma scoring system (to correlate level of consciousness with age and outcome) was devised. Lateralizing neurological signs, fontanelle status, retinal hemorrhages, seizures, and skull fractures were correlated with age, outcome, and late onset of seizures. Children of 1 year and younger were more prone to have a poor outcome in all coma grades except the deepest, where the trend apparently reversed. Of the three components of the coma score (ocular, motor, verbal) the ocular score more constantly reflected neurological damage. Subdural hematomas, which were largely responsible for poorer outcomes in infants, occurred almost exclusively in children under 1 year of age. Lateralizing neurological signs, which were not found to correlate directly with a poor outcome, were unilateral Babinski, ataxia, and the combination of ocular deviation and hemiparesis (which is probably a seizure variant). Hemiparesis alone, however, did correlate directly with a poor outcome, as did full, and especially tense, fontanelle, and split sutures or diastatic fractures. Linear fractures, when unilateral, were not associated with a poor outcome, although bilateral linear and depressed fractures were. Bilateral retinal hemorrhages were found to be both quantitatively and qualitatively different from unilateral retinal hemorrhages, and to be statistically more often associated with subdural hematoma.
External hydrocephalus means abnormal fluid accumulation in the subarachnoid space under increased pressure with no or slight widening of the ventricles. 9 children were investigated because of pathologically increasing head circumference and abnormal transillumination. PEG and/or CT showed widened sulci frontally, parietally and interhemispherically but no widening of the ventricles. 7 patients were subjected to exploratory craniotomy which disclosed a deep arachnoid space. 2 patients were shunted. All follow-up CT examinations showed normal conditions. We suggest that infants with clinical signs of hydrocephalus and CT picture of external hydrocephalus should not be treated with shunt. The widening of the subarachnoidal space will normalize. The rate of headgrowth will also normalize.
In the preceding part, galenic dysgenesis was stated to be a diagnostic hallmark of dorsal cyst malformations. Failed formation of the galenic drainage system conducts the diencephalic drainage laterally into the transverse sinuses as in the embryonal stage, and it is frequently associated with arrested descent of the torcular portion or other anomalies of the dural sinuses. Highly malformed structures of the deep cerebral veins and the dural sinuses seen in this malformation are correctly interpreted in comparison with findings of venous injection studies performed in human fetuses. Pathogenesis of this malformation is also discussed on the basis of embryological studies of the dural sinuses and falcotentorial structures.
A congenital anaplastic infratentorial ependymoma, occurring in a female infant whose sister also died of brain tumor, is described. The tumor, located in the cerebellum and the fourth ventricle, is characterized by predominantly undifferentiated neuroepithelial cells associated with numerous mitoses, and partially of the cells demonstrating differentiation into ependymal cells and astrocytes. Of special interest is the fact that the elder sister of the patient had also died of a congenital glioma located in the cerebellum and the fourth ventricle, which leads to the discussion about the influences of genetic factors in the development of the familial gliomas as well as about the histogenesis of the tumor examined.
A special entity called subdural effusion with ruptured subarachnoid effusion, which was diagnosed by CT, air study, and RI cisternography, was observed in 14 children of up to 10 months of age. 10 cases that showed symptoms of increased intracranial pressure (ICP) were treated by temporary subdural-peritoneal (S-P) shunt, and the remaining 4 cases that showed no symptoms of increased ICP were treated conservatively. 9 of the 10 cases treated by S-P shunt and 2 of the 4 cases treated conservatively showed good results. Poorly balanced absorption of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during the special transitional period of the CSF dynamics may be thought to be a pathogenetic factor.
Callosal agenesis and interhemispheral cysts containing ependyma, choroid plexus and glial cells are reported in a male infant. To the authors’ knowledge this represents the 4th recorded case. Other findings were: nodular neuronal heterotopias with fully differentiated spiny neocortical neurons, widespread neocortical microgyria, cerebellar hypoplasia and bony abnormalities of the foramen magnum and atlas. This study confirms that glioependymal cysts are heterotopias of embryonic ventricular epithelium. The existence of more than one type of heterotopia (i.e. neuronal and ependymal) in 1 individual is significant. This indicates an error of cell generation and cell migration affecting the original structure from which both cell types are derived: the embryonic (sub)ventricular zone.
