Neuropsychological approaches to children: towards a developmental neuropsychology

Neuropsychologists working with children commonly infer a CNS basis for many developmental disabilities on the basis of test performance and behavioral observations. While there is nothing inherently wrong with such inferences, the fact that there exists no specific set of brain-behavior relationships validating these inferences is frequently overlooked. In this respect, CNS inferences on the basis of the child's performance can lead to four potential fallacies concerning relationships between brain and behavior. Each of these fallacies involves a failure to recognize important behavioral and biological differences between children and adults, or simply rests on faulty logic and inadequate research. In an effort to outline a truly developmental neuropsychology for children--as opposed to diverse approaches that apply adult-based techniques to children--we propose a functional organization approach. This approach separates the different types of variables underlying a developmental neuropsychology and focuses on behavioral theory and research addressing the development of children's abilities. A specific emphasis of this approach is on processes of change--one of the primary psychological characteristics separating children and adults. The use of this approach as a general research strategy for children whose disabilities are associated with demonstrable or presumed CNS aberrations may lead to a set of behavioral laws that can be systematically related to a biological substrate.