Suggestive evidence for an involvement of the right hemisphere in the recovery from childhood aphasia: a 3-year follow-up case study

We describe the case of a 11-year-old, previously healthy, pre-puberal, right-handed girl with acquired aphasia following an extensive cerebral haemorrhage into a left hemisphere brain tumor. A 3-years follow-up evaluation of the girl’s communicative performance showed an incomplete recovery of linguistic abilities with a good recovery of comprehensive components, but persisting severe impairment in expressive language. At the end of the follow-up period, with the aim of assessing the lateralization of some linguistic abilities, we carried out an experimental investigation using tachistoscopic reading and object naming tests along with a dichotic listening test. All these tests showed a clear left field/left ear – right hemisphere advantage. We discuss both clinical and experimental results with regard to implications for the linguistic abilities of the right hemisphere in late vs. early childhood and its interaction with aetiology in the recovery from acquired childhood aphasia.