Studies on the hyperactive child. IV. An empirical analysis of the minimal brain dysfunction syndrome.

Abstract

>RECENTLY, there has been a great deal of interest in a group of behaviorally and intellectually deviant children called injured, minimally brain damaged, or minimal brain dysfunction syndrome (MBD). 1,2 In 1963, the National Institute of Blindness and Neurological Diseases assembled a Task Force comprised predominantly of physicians to report on terminology and identification of the child MBD. In the subsequent report 3 this Task Force defined MBD as follows: Minimal brain dysfunction syndrome refers in this paper to children of near average, average or above average general intelligence with certain learning or behavioral disabilities ranging from mild to severe, which are associated with deviations of function of the central nervous system. These deviations may manifest themselves by various combinations of impairment in perception, conceptualization, language, memory, and control of attention, impulse or motor function (italics mine). 3(p9-10)