Soft neurological signs in children: A normative study

Abstract

A soft neurological signs (SNS) test battery (the Quick Neurological Screening Test; Mutti, Sterling, & Spalding, 1978) was individually administered to 233 normal children, ages 5 to 12 years. The participants’ characteristics were balanced according to (a) age (5–6 years, 7–8 years, 9–10 years, and 11–12 years); (b) socioeconomic status (SES; high and low); and (c) gender (boys and girls), yielding a 4 × 2 × 2 analysis of variance design with an average of 15 participants in each cell. In addition, an Academic Achievement Questionnaire was presented to the children's teachers. Normative data are presented. It was observed that (a) SNS decreased in frequency with age; (b) there were important individual differences in their frequency; (c) a significantly higher frequency of SNS was present in low‐SES than in high‐SES children, although these differences tended to decrease with age and schooling; (d) correlations between SNS and academic performance were in general low, but at least for some of these correlations, statistically significant; and (e) some SNS may be more informative about nervous system maturation level than others.