Right Brain Syndrome

[hippechikk]

I am a psychotherapist.  One of my client's recently told me that her son had been diagnosed with "right brain syndrome" by a neurologist and she asked me if I could find out information about this.  I have surfed the net and asked some psychiatrist friends of mine, but I have not found anything other than an article about Semantic-pragmatic Disorder.  That article seems to indicate Autism and Aspergers Syndrome might be related.  Can you provide any information?  Thank you so much for your time.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

Right hemisphere syndrome in the clinical context of children (there is a different one seen in adults with stroke/tumor that does not pertain to your question) is a developmental non-verbal learning disability that is thought to be associated with ADHD. Diagnostic criteria for this disorder include (as defined in a study by Gross-Tsur et al from the Journal of Learning Disabilities Feb 1995) 1.emotional and interpersonal difficulties 2.paralinguistic communication problems 3.impaired visuospatial skills, verbal IQ perf>perf IQ and verbal IQ>85 and either 4.dyscalculia or 5.neurological signs on the left side of the body. For further info here are some references besides the one mentioned above:

Acosta MT. Revista Neurologia Aug 2000, pp360-7.
Stefanatos GA, etal. Annals of NY Acadmey Sciences Jun 2001, pp172-95.
Landau YE et al. Harefuah Apr 1999, pp596-9
Hope that helps

[Sandee]

I notice you said in an adult, your response would be different (if I recall the question correctly) In an adult, would a right thalamic hemorrhage, be somewhat similar?  Thank You