Many of the previous volumes in the series Clinics in Developmental Medicine have concentrated on selected aspects of the neurological examination in children, such as Nos. 21/22, Neurological Examination of Children, by Paine and Oppee, and No. 1, The Neurological Examination of the Infant, by Andre-Thomas et al. The present volume, No. 38, deals with examination techniques in eliciting minor neurological signs, primarily motor abnormalities in children ages 3 through 10. The authors propose a standardized technique for making a quantitative evaluation of the neurological examination. The tests are ones commonly used by most pediatric neurologists, but the authors have developed a scoring system, 0-2, 0-3, etc, for recording deviations from normal patterns. It is analogous to the physchological tests of Reitan, where elements of the neurological exam are given a numerical score and incorporated into the total evaluation.
The whole area of minor neurological dysfunction, often called "soft signs,"