Assessment of frontal lobe dysfunction using the Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological battery - Children's revision: A case study

Initial validation studies have shown the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery-Children's Revision (LNNB-CR) to be useful in discriminating between brain damaged and normal children but the patterns of performance of children with focal lesions have not yet been explored. The present study examines the LNNB-CR performance of an 11-year-old girl one day before, nine days after, and again eight months after surgical removal of a craniopharyngioma which resulted in new right frontal cortical dysfunction. The case demonstrates that the LNNB-CR is sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction if the interpretive approach includes the qualitative analysis of performance on individual items. The limitations of profile interpretation and item content and scoring issues are discussed.