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A neurological study of newborn infants
Volume 74 Number 4
Books
tentional. Kempe and co-workers brought the subject to the attention of physicians forcefully and coined the term "battered child." More information is needed about the reasons why the parents usually select one of their children out of several to batter. Conceivably, the reason in some instances is that the child is born at a period of family stress. But it is likely that, more often, the reason has to do with the behavior of the child--for example, excessive crying. Before a battered child leaves the hospital, every effort should be made to discover why he was chosen to be the victim of parental violence, since a repetition of the battering can be expected in a large percentage of cases. If it is not possible to correct the aspect of the child's behavior which is offensive, or if no reason can be found, arrangements should be made for a period of "convalescent care" until, hopefully, the offensive aspect of the child's behavior has been corrected. H A R R Y B A K W I N ~ M.D. NEW
YORK~ N . Y,
A neurological s t u d y of n e w b o r n infants Beintema, D. J., Clinics in D e v e l o p m e n t a l M e d i c i n e No. 28, Spastics I n t e r n a t i o n a l M e d i c a l Publications, in association w i t h W i l l i a m H e i n e m a n M e d i c a l Books, Ltd., L a v e n h a m , Suffolk, E n g l a n d , 1968, 166 pages. This recent addition to the Clinics in Developmental Medicine series is a monograph
659
strictly for the person interested in the value of the neurological examination of the newborn infant. The author wrote an earlier monograph (No. 12) with Dr. A. H. Prechtl describing in detail their system for the neurological examination of a full-term infant. The present volume describes the correlation of pre- and perinatal obstetrical data with various items of the neurological assessment performed daily for at least 8 days on 49 infants. The aim was to determine whether or not significant and meaningful variations occur in an infant's performance during this brief neonatal period and to determine whether the observed changes might correlate with certain antecedent events. The subjects are divided into 21 who had fetal distress, 13 who had obstetrical complications, and 15 who were regarded as lowrisk newborn infants as determined from the paranatal data. The work was meticulously performed, and the data carefully assembled. The limited time span covered by the study precludes the type of correlations that the usual pediatrician would like to see, namely, what is the status of the unusually behaving newborn infant when he is a year of age or older. Nonetheless, all of those interested in neonatal neurology, especially from a research point of view, and those clinicians who have wondered about the effects of common perinatal trauma of mild degree upon the assessable behavior of an infant, will find this monograph worth perusing. EDWARD F. RABE, M . D . TUFTS~NEW
ENGLAND
BOSTON~ MASS.
MEDICAL C E N T E R
Books
tentional. Kempe and co-workers brought the subject to the attention of physicians forcefully and coined the term "battered child." More information is needed about the reasons why the parents usually select one of their children out of several to batter. Conceivably, the reason in some instances is that the child is born at a period of family stress. But it is likely that, more often, the reason has to do with the behavior of the child--for example, excessive crying. Before a battered child leaves the hospital, every effort should be made to discover why he was chosen to be the victim of parental violence, since a repetition of the battering can be expected in a large percentage of cases. If it is not possible to correct the aspect of the child's behavior which is offensive, or if no reason can be found, arrangements should be made for a period of "convalescent care" until, hopefully, the offensive aspect of the child's behavior has been corrected. H A R R Y B A K W I N ~ M.D. NEW
YORK~ N . Y,
A neurological s t u d y of n e w b o r n infants Beintema, D. J., Clinics in D e v e l o p m e n t a l M e d i c i n e No. 28, Spastics I n t e r n a t i o n a l M e d i c a l Publications, in association w i t h W i l l i a m H e i n e m a n M e d i c a l Books, Ltd., L a v e n h a m , Suffolk, E n g l a n d , 1968, 166 pages. This recent addition to the Clinics in Developmental Medicine series is a monograph
659
strictly for the person interested in the value of the neurological examination of the newborn infant. The author wrote an earlier monograph (No. 12) with Dr. A. H. Prechtl describing in detail their system for the neurological examination of a full-term infant. The present volume describes the correlation of pre- and perinatal obstetrical data with various items of the neurological assessment performed daily for at least 8 days on 49 infants. The aim was to determine whether or not significant and meaningful variations occur in an infant's performance during this brief neonatal period and to determine whether the observed changes might correlate with certain antecedent events. The subjects are divided into 21 who had fetal distress, 13 who had obstetrical complications, and 15 who were regarded as lowrisk newborn infants as determined from the paranatal data. The work was meticulously performed, and the data carefully assembled. The limited time span covered by the study precludes the type of correlations that the usual pediatrician would like to see, namely, what is the status of the unusually behaving newborn infant when he is a year of age or older. Nonetheless, all of those interested in neonatal neurology, especially from a research point of view, and those clinicians who have wondered about the effects of common perinatal trauma of mild degree upon the assessable behavior of an infant, will find this monograph worth perusing. EDWARD F. RABE, M . D . TUFTS~NEW
ENGLAND
BOSTON~ MASS.
MEDICAL C E N T E R