ABSTRACT
Interest in this condition was first aroused in the United States as a result of the 1918-1919 encephalitis epidemic. Many children who had recovered from the acute phase later showed catastrophic changes in personality: they became hyperactive, distractible, irritable, unruly, destructive and antisocial. It was then discovered that similar problems occurred in children who had suffered brain damage as a result of head injury, e.g. received a severe glancing blow to the head, or suffered anoxia shortly before, after or during birth.
