Temperament patterns in young neurologically impaired children

Parents of young neurologically impaired children completed a rating scale on their handicapped child's temperament. The ratings were examined for the incidence of the "difficult " temperament pattern, and for the sample's distribution on nine separate temperament characteristics. The data indicated no greater incidence of difficult temperament in neurologically impaired children than in normal children. The temperament characteristics of low activity level and a short attention span, coupled with low persistence were more common in this sample than in normal children. The results suggest that while some individual temperament characteristics may be modified by handicapping conditions, not every group of handicapped children has a higher rate of temperamentally difficult children. Additionally, moderately high parental convergence on temperament ratings was noted. The concept of infant temperament surfaced as an important clinical and theoretical empirical construct nearly 25 years ago when Thomas and Chess began the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS). This long-term prospective study was the first to research the nature, manifestation, and sequelae of basic temperament in children. Since this beginning, the number of researchers and clinicians concerned with the study of temperament has burgeoned to include many who are independent of the NYLS, although that seminal work continues. There is now considerable evidence to support 'All correspondence should be addressed to F. William Black, Department of Neurology