Paul L. Nichols – författare

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.

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.

Results of the Collaborative Perinatal Project report disclose the risk factors for mental retardation found in children examined from the prenatal period to age seven. Both biological and social risk factors are analyzed for both severe and mild cognitive deficits. The authors of this volume investigated the etiologies of the neurological subgroups of the retarded and reveal, through comparisons with non-retarded groups, important population factors related to normal cognitive development.

Results of the Collaborative Perinatal Project report disclose the risk factors for mental retardation found in children examined from the prenatal period to age seven. Both biological and social risk factors are analyzed for both severe and mild cognitive deficits. The authors of this volume investigated the etiologies of the neurological subgroups of the retarded and reveal, through comparisons with non-retarded groups, important population factors related to normal cognitive development.

Originally published in 1975, this volume reports a multidisciplinary, longitudinal study of the precursors of intelligence, as measured by Stanford-Binet IQ scores, of 4-year-old children. Over 26, 000 children (more than 12, 000 whites and 14,000 blacks) were followed from the prenatal period, and 169 prenatal and developmental variables were examined in relation to preschool IQ scores. Considered are the degree to which events during pregnancy and delivery, physical and psychomotor development in infancy and childhood, and certain major family characteristics were related to IQ scores. The large, heterogeneous sample of children studied prospectively and the wide range of biological and social variables investigated made this work of major importance at the time.

The level of maternal education and the socioeconomic status of the family were major contributors to explained variance in IQ, and had larger effects among whites than among blacks. Other findings relate low IQ at age 4 to delayed motor and mental development in infancy. Many other factors thought to affect IQ scores, both individually and in combination, are reported, to make this a work of importance to all concerned with the neurological and mental development of the child.