Recovery from severe closed head injuries: repeat testings with the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery

Evaluated 15 adult patients who were suffering severe, coma-producing closed head injuries for neuropsychological and intellectual impairment with the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. All Ss were tested shortly after the time of their accidents and were reevaluated at approximately 1 year posttrauma to document residual deficits and rate of recovery. A group of 15 neurologically normal control Ss, matched for age, education, and sex, received the same battery of psychological tests. Although the brain-injured group demonstrated improvement on essentially all of the dependent measures from first testing to second, comparisons made with the control group revealed numerous areas of residual impairment, which suggests only partial recovery during the first year posttrauma.