Syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities - Byron P Rourke

The syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) is a subtype of learning disabilities whose neuropsychological assets and deficits have predictable academic and psychosocial outcomes. Developed by Byron P. Rourke and elucidated in his previous work, the "white matter model" was designed to encompass the complex manifestations and neurophysiological underpinnings of the NLD syndrome. Now, for the first time, evidence that bears upon the white matter model has been gathered into a single volume. Building upon Rourke's previous work on NLD, Syndrome of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities: Neurodevelopmental Manifestations, further explores the ramifications of NLD in the neuropsychology of learning disabilities and in pediatric neurological disease, disorder, and dysfunction.

Following an overview of the white matter model, chapters cover a wide range of pediatric neurological diseases and disorders through which the model is examined with particular attention to its neurophysiological aspects. The diseases and disorders discussed include callosal agenesis, Asperger syndrome, velocardiofacial syndrome, Williams syndrome, de Lange syndrome, early hydrocephalus, Sotos syndrome, congenital hypothyroidism, acute lymphocytic leukemia, metachromatic leukodystrophy, Turner syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and toxicant-induced encephalopathy. Dimensions relevant to both assessment and treatment are raised throughout the work, as are suggestions for future research.

Recommended for neuropsychologists, neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and pediatricians treating children with learning disabilities or with pediatric neurological disease, disorder, and dysfunction, Syndrome of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities serves both as an authoritative update on recent advances and as a text for advanced courses in child/developmental neuropsychology, pediatric neurology, and learning disabilities.

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Byron P. Rourke is Professor of Psychology and University Professor at the University of Windsor and a member of the faculty of the Child Study Center, School of Medicine, Yale University. Past President of the International Neuropsychological Society and of the Division of Clinical Neuropsychology of the American Psychological Association, he is cofounder and coeditor of the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, The Clinical Neuropsychologist and Child Neuropsychology and serves on the editorial boards of a number of scientific and professional journals. He was the 1994 recipient of the Canadian Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Practice of Psychology. His authored, coauthored, and edited books include Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, Child Neuropsychology, Learning Disabilities and Psychosocial Functioning, Neuropsychological Validation of Learning Disability Subtypes, Neuropsychological Assessment of Children, and Neuropsychology of Learning Disabilities.

"This work provides the most current and compelling information about nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD). Dr. Rourke has succeeded in bringing together international authorities to explicate issues relevant to the etiology, diagnosis, manifestation, developmental course, and treatment of the NLD syndrome across a number of pediatric neurological diseases and disorders. The comprehensive discussions of the white matter model are state-of-the-art and provide the first definitive classification of the cognitive, linguistic, perceptual, motor, and sensory system sequelae of the NLD syndrome. This book is a major contribution to the literature and should be required reading for researchers and clinicians." --G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D., National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

"A unique volume presenting up-to-date reviews of a variety of genetic and acquired neurodevelopmental syndromes. Each chapter is organized around the central theme of Rourke's current model of nonverbal learning disabilities. Ranging from rare developmental to more common childhood disorders, anatomical, developmental, neuropsychological and neurological are presented. Each disorder is then addressed as to its relevance to the Rourke model. This volume is an excellent resource for readers interested in a developmental approach to understanding the behavioral manifestations of the nonverbal learning disabilities." --Eileen B. Fennell, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology and Neurology, University of Florida.

"Byron Rourke has been a pioneer in developing the concept of a syndrome of nonverbal disabilities and foremost in study of its manifestations. His ideas on how to integrate findings on brain abnormalities and on associated cognitive and behavioral malfunction are constructively provocative and controversial. This edited volume takes on the ambitious task of bringing together such apparently diverse disorders such as Asperger syndrome, Williams syndrome, hydrocephalus, fetal alcohol syndrome and traumatic brain injury within a model of which brain matter dysfunction, with the manifestations modified by amount of tissue damage and developmental timing. Not everyone will agree with the propositions put forward but all readers will find this impressively scholarly, but readable, review of the evidence and conceptual inferences usefully thought-provoking." --Michael Rutter, MD, FRS, Medical Research Council Child Psychiatry Unit, London

"Highly useful for researchers and clinicians....The authors' prose is straightforward and articulate...Recommended for any students or professional interested in this unique area."