Higher Cortical Dysfunction in Children / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

Higher cortical dysfunction is one of the most important aspects to be considered in pediatric acquired brain injury(ABI)rehabilitation. Recently, higher cortical dysfunction has attracted attention in the medical community and consequently many trials have been carried out, but most of these were only for adults. This review relates the introduction of pediatric ABI rehabilitation therapy in our rehabilitation center. Higher cortical dysfunction treatments in children seem to show better recovery results than treatments in adults because a child's brain has more plasticity. The main etiology of ABI in children is traumatic brain injury(TBI)and acute encephalitis/encephalopathy. The characteristic symptoms are memory disturbance and attention deficit in TBI, and visual problems in acute encephalitis/encephalopathy. It is important for children with higher cortical dysfunction to be enrolled in special education programs and to be cared for under the cooperation of their respective rehabilitation centers, schools and homes.