The neuropsychological assets and deficits of several types of pediatric neurological disease, disorder, and dysfunction are described. These are examined from the perspective of the syndrome of nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) and the "white matter model" designed to explain its complex manifestations. It is concluded that children with some of these diseases exhibit the NLD phenotype, whereas others do not. For the most part, the diseases in which the NLD phenotype is particularly evident are those wherein it has been demonstrated that perturbations of white matter (long myelinated fibers) are particularly prominent.

This study identified subtypes of psychosocial functioning in children who had sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI). Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) profiles for 92 participants, aged 12 to 18 years, who had sustained a mild, moderate, or severe TBI were subjected to Q-Factor analysis. Sixty-four of the participants (75%) were classified into a four-category psychosocial typology labelled Normal (n = 32), Attention (n = 14), Delinquent (n = 10), and Withdrawn-Somatic (n = 8). This typology was found to overlap in part with previous TBI psychosocial typology (Butler et al., 1997), and with three of the clinical profile types derived by Achenbach (1993) for the CBCL. The majority of participants, including those who sustained severe TBI, were assigned to the Normal subtype and the overall level of psychosocial deviance was relatively mild in the other three subtypes. The results of this study support previous typology efforts and confirm the heterogeneous presentation of social and emotional functioning following TBI.

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This paper presents an overview of the human neuropsychology research activity conducted in Canada during the 1990s. Brief descriptions of the neuropsychological research conducted by prominent researchers at major centres across the country are included. New research developments, concordance with predicted trends (Rourke 1991), and comparison with the research in two previous decades (Fuerst & Rourke, 1995;Rourke, Fisk, Strang, & Gates, 1981) are presented. The reviewed work illustrates the continued extensive commitment to human neuropsychological research by Canadian investigators. It is clear that researchers in Canada continue to play a central role in this important area of scientific endeavour.