Neurological findings in high-risk children: childhood assessment and 5-year followup.

The results of the two neurological examinations of the Israeli children, both original and followup, are presented. The multidimensional scalogram analysis technique was used to identify children with multiple areas of neurological dysfunction. These children consisted almost exclusively of the offspring of schizophrenic patients: 22 of the 50 index cases were in this region of poor functioning during at least one of the testing periods, as compared with only 3 of the 50 control cases. The most common neurological signs were "soft" perceptual-sensory signs, poor motor coordination, poor right-left orientation, poor balance, and motor overflow. No "hard" neurological differences were found between the groups. This is the first major report of long-term stability of neurological soft signs in the offspring of schizophrenic persons.