Developmental Gerstmann Syndrome

Synonyms

Developmental right parietal syndrome; Nonverbal disorders of learning; Nonverbal learning disability; Right hemisphere impairment/disorder

Short Description or Definition

Developmental Gerstmann syndrome (Gerstmann’s syndrome) is a rare disorder that has been infrequently described in the literature. The descriptions focus on four “classic” deficits: difficulty writing (dysgraphia or agraphia), difficulty with arithmetic (dyscalculia or acalculia), an inability to distinguish left from right, and difficulty identifying fingers (finger agnosia). Constructional dyspraxia, an inability to copy simple figures, is often included as a fifth symptom.

The cause is not known, and in recent years studies using advanced imaging techniques have reported the deficits to be associated with differing locations and a somewhat more complicated neural architecture than was first proposed. Some authors hypothesize that the four classic deficits are associated with posterior inferior parietal...