In daily life, we constantly use language, overt or covert, various types of memories, spatial orientation, and other cognitive functions, usually without even thinking about them. The same is true for children's cognitive development. All of these cognitive functions are taken for granted and only when something goes wrong do we become aware of their complexity. In an earlier volume of the Handbook of Clinical Neurology edited by Olivier Dulac (Paris), Maryse Lassonde (Montreal), and Harvey Sarnat (Calgary), a section of Volume 111 on pediatric neurology was dedicated to developmental abnormalities. Even though that section was prepared less than a decade ago, new advances in our approach to children with neurodevelopmental delays or disabilities have occurred, based on developments in genetics, neuroimaging, cognitive sciences, and artificial intelligence. All these amply justify a new title, “Neurocognitive Development,” which is now covered in two volumes.
The first volume, “Normative Development,” includes five sections. The introductory section includes classification as well as historical and ethical considerations. The second and third sections are dedicated to development, plasticity, and vulnerability of the developing brain. This is followed by a section on the neuroscientific basis of typical functional neurodevelopment from intellectual abilities to social cognition, and includes a chapter discussing the role of the cerebellum in neuropsychologic functioning. The final section of the volume deals with the etiologies of neurodevelopmental disorders including genetic mechanisms, the effect of sex, and the impact of prematurity on development, as well as a chapter dedicated to the effect of pregnancy and fetal risks.
The second volume, “Disorders and Disabilities,” first deals with specific neurodevelopmental disorders including disorders of coordination, language, attention, reading, memory, and nonverbal dysfunction. The next section, on complex neurodevelopmental disorders, deals with intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy, and multidimensional impairment. The following section covers assessment, including neurologic, psychiatric, and neuropsychologic assessment, and investigative neurophysiologic techniques, as well as structural and functional neuroimaging. The final section of the volume deals with rehabilitation and long-term outcome including education and quality-of-life issues. This is rightly recognized as a key outcome of chronic health conditions, and its assessment is recommended for both clinical care and clinical trials.
For this massive undertaking, we have had the good fortune of having four outstanding and experienced volume editors: Anne Gallagher, PhD, Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada; Christine Bulteau, MD, PhD, Institute of Psychology, Sorbonne, and Pediatric Neurosurgery Department, Rothschild Foundation Hospital, Paris, France; David Cohen, MD, PhD, Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France; and Jacques L. Michaud, MD, CHU Sainte-Justine, and Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada. As series editors, we reviewed all the chapters in the volume and made suggestions for improvement, but we are delighted that the volume editors and chapter authors produced such scholarly and comprehensive accounts of different aspects of neurocognitive development. They deserve even more credit as the chapters were written while the world was gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, they were able to include nearly all the material that needed to be covered. As a result, we hope that the volume will appeal to clinicians and neuroscientists alike. Our goal was to provide clinicians with a state-of-the-art reference that summarizes the clinical features and management of the many neurologic manifestations of neurocognitive development. We also hoped to provide basic researchers with the foundations for new approaches to the study of the complex issues involved.
In addition to the print version, the volumes are also available electronically on Elsevier's Science Direct website. Indeed, all of the volumes in the present series of the Handbook are available electronically on this website. This should make them even more accessible to readers and facilitate searches for specific information.
As always, it is a pleasure to thank Elsevier, our publisher, and in particular Michael Parkinson in Scotland, Nikki Levy and Kristi Anderson in San Diego, and Punithavathy Govindaradjane at Elsevier Global Book Production in Chennai, for their assistance in the development and production of these two volumes of the Handbook of Clinical Neurology.