ABSTRACT
The focus of child clinical neuropsychology has traditionally been on diagnosis and what is wrong with the brain of a child with diagnosable damage or disease. Developmental neuropsychology deals primarily with the struggle to acquire function, whereas adult neuropsychology deals primarily with loss of previously acquired function. Compared with adult clinical neuropsychology, child clinical neuro-psychology is a specialty but, like adult clinical neuropsychology, has tended to focus on pathology. One of the most heated controversies during the early history of neuropsychology was between the localization and mass-action views of brain function. In contrast to child clinical neuropsychology that is a medical specialty, with its own unique issues, educational neuropsychology is an educational specialty with its own unique issues. Educational neuropsychology then uses that profile of strengths and weaknesses to plan and implement an optimal educational program for the child and thus links diagnosis with intervention. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
