Language lateralization in children: A functional transcranial Doppler reliability study

We used bilateral simultaneous functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography (fTCD) measurements in the middle cerebral arteries (MCA) to obtain information on hemispheric specialization for language processing in individual children. Twenty-six healthy right-handed children (49–113 months) participated in an active, expressive language task (talking about pictures) and a more passive, receptive language task (listening to stories). One-month-retest reliability was evaluated in 20 children. Both tasks elicited a mean left hemispheric lateralization, which was more pronounced in the expressive task. Retesting confirmed the initial lateralization in 90% of the cases of the expressive paradigm and in 55% for the receptive task. Lateralization of blood flow accelerations in the MCA did not depend on demographical variables (age and gender), degree of hand dominance, performance quality, or language skills. The expressive language paradigm measured by fTCD is a reliable and non-invasive alternative to current language lateralization methods in children.