Congenital ophthalmoplegia and school achievement: a case study

A 6 1/2-year-old boy with Moebius' syndrome, with severely restricted horizontal eye movements, was found to have the visuo-motor integration of a child of three years (IQ equivalent 41) and the perceptual development of a child of four years 10 months (perceptual quotient 68). Cognitive assessment revealed functioning in the low dull-normal range of ability (IQ equivalent 83). Achievement in arithmetic and reading was found to be at late kindergarten and early first-grade levels respectively (IQ equivalents 83 and 92). Thus the boy's achievement was in line with his cognitive ability and greater than 1 S.D. above his visual-perception and visuo-motor development. The results of this study replicate the findings of Kalverboer et al. (1970) on a 12-year-old boy with Moebius' syndrome and add to a growing body of evidence which does not support the current emphasis on visuo-motor development and training in the diagnosis and remediation of learning difficulties.