The concept of Minimal Brain Dysfunction (a previous term for ADHD) has had a tumultuous, and some would say, checkered history. Originally published in 1981, this title was one of a series of volumes dealing with specific developmental problems in children whose mothers registered for prenatal care in the Collaborative Perinatal Project (NCPP) of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NINCDS). In this volume, relationships between symptoms of minimal brain dysfunction and more than 300 prenatal and postnatal variables are examined in a cohort of nearly 30,000 7-year-old children. Despite greater understanding more recently, diagnosis and treatment continue to cause controversy. This is an early investigation into the concept of MBD and its causes, today it can be read in its historical context.
