ABSTRACT
Neuropsychological assessment of children and young adolescents imposes cer tain unique demands on the examiner. Although the question of the impact of a lesion on brain behavior is a central theme in all neuropsychological assess ments, the effects of differing types of brain lesions on developing brain systems poses somewhat different challenges to those who assess children and adoles cents. Knowledge about the primary or secondary effects of lesions must be applied in the context of brain systems whose functional relationships are still under development (Kolb 8C Fantie, 1997). Furthermore, the child neuropsy chologist must possess a clear understanding of the typical patterns of emer gence of intellectual, memory, language, motor, and visuospatial skills in order to appreciate deviations from patterns of normal development. Finally, the child neuropsychologist must have an appreciation of the spectrum of behavioral symptoms and disorders that can be manifestations of childhood psychopath ology or family discord (Walker & Roberts, 1992). Thus, the task of the exam iner is to integrate knowledge about normal and pathological development in order to better describe and predict the impact of a brain lesion on the develop ing brain.
