Otoneurologic evaluation in children with school difficulties: vestibular function investigation

According to the literature, child vestibular dysfunctions can considerably affect their ability of communication and school performance.

to study the vestibular function in children with school difficulties and associated symptoms.

Clinical study with transversal cohort.

Research subjects were 50 school children between 7 and 12 years old, from a public school of Piracicaba city, during the years 2004 and 2005. The procedure was based on: anamnesis; otorrinolaryngologic evaluation; audiologic evaluation and vestibular evaluation.

All children assessed, 62.0% did not have school difficulties and 38.0% had school difficulties. Dizziness was the most common general complaint (36.0%). Migraine was the most common symptom regarding the school environment (50.0%). We found a high rate of normal vestibular condition (74.2%) in children without school difficulties and low normality rate in those with school difficulties (31.6%). All found vestibular alterations, both unilateral and bilateral, had been of peripheral irritative origin, accounting for 68.4% of cases for children with school difficulties and 25.8% for children without school difficulties.

Dizziness, nausea, reading and copying difficulties presented a statistically significant relationship between the studied variables. All found vestibular alterations had been of peripheral irritative origin. Data showed a statistically significant relationship among variables.