Aphasia and speech organization in children

A long-standing controversy concerns whether lateralized cerebral specialization for speech and language is present at the time of language origins (developmental invariance) or whether it gradually develops from initial bilaterality (developmental progression). This controversy is complicated by conflicting reports of the incidence of childhood aphasia. The discrepancies are largely due to one early study. When methods for estimating speech organization distributions are applied to later studies, the developmental invariance position is supported.