ABSTRACT
A myth is that brain damage occurring early in life is less debilitating than comparable damage later in life. The effects of brain damage can only be understood in the context of the many changes that follow any trauma or insult to the brain. Some of the changes produced by brain damage result in permanent alterations in brain structure. Major structural changes that occur after brain damage seem to be confined to animals damaged at early ages. The importance of an accurate and consistent estimate of the deficits produced by adult brain damage is easily demonstrated. The most frequently cited indicator of greater recovery after early versus late brain damage is that of speech. Brain damage can produce aphasic symptoms in both children and adults. The consequences of brain damage produced by experimental surgery are not always the same even when comparable damage is inflicted upon similar animals, by means of identical techniques, in the same laboratory.
