Soft Neurological Signs in Learning-Disabled Children and Controls

Learning-disabled fourth graders were compared with a control group for incidence of selected neurological signs. Factors evaluated were eye-hand preference, balance, stereognosis, graphesthesia, hand-finger immobility (abnormality, choreoathetosis), finger localization, and diadochokinesia. Color vision and head circumference were also evaluated as possible correlates of learning disability. Although two of the functions tested (graphesthesia and diadochokinesia) were significantly depressed in the learning-disabled group compared with results in the control group, the magnitude of difference was not great enough for clinical usefulness.