LATERAL PREFERENCE AND RIGHT-LEFT AWARENESS IN SCHIZOPHRENIC CHILDREN

Abstract

Lateral dominance and right-left awareness were evaluated in 80 males, ages 8 through 11 years, residing in a psychiatric hospital. The sample consisted of children with the diagnosis of childhood schizophrenia in whom localizing signs of central nervous system damage and mental subnormality were both absent. Analyses of hand and eye usage, of hand-eye coordination, and of awareness of lateral spatial organization resulted in findings of poorly developed lateral preference and awareness in the schizophrenic children. In contrast to normal children who display age-specific progressions of hand preference and lateral awareness, the schizophrenic boys showed no clear evidence of improvement in these abilities with increasing age. The level of organization of lateral function was only weakly related to IQ level, and normal IQ in these aberrant children was not reflected in normal patterns of competence for lateral preference and awareness. Such disturbances in development may be considered to indicate the presence in schizophrenic children of primary central nervous system dysfunction and may be a factor contributing to clinical manifestations.