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This book is another addition to the continually expanding literature on the subject of "brain damage" in children. It describes, in a meticulously detailed fashion, a study carried out at the Lt Joseph P. Kennedy School for Exceptional Children to test whether there is a set of behaviors which is produced by brain damage, "regardless of extent or location." The particular behaviors with which the authors are concerned are those comprising the so-called brain damage syndrome: hyperactivity, distractibility, inconsistency, and emotional lability. The instruments used for diagnosis include certain of the standard psychological tests, neurological evaluation, and experimental tests adapted by the investigators. The subjects were retarded school age children, whose admission to the school is originally determined on the basis of having some speech, being ambulatory and toilet trained, and being "relatively well behaved."
Not surprisingly, the behavior factors are found not to comprise a specific syndrome regardless of