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Vestibular Assessments in Children With Global Developmental Delay: An Exploratory Study
Elizabeth Dannenbaum1, Victoria Horne, Farwa Malik
1Feil & Oberfeld/CRIR Research Centre (Ms Dannenbaum, Ms Villeneuve, Ms Salvo, Mr Chilingaryan, and Dr Lamontagne), Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital, Laval, Quebec, Canada; School of Physical and Occupational Therapy (Ms Horne, Ms Malik, Ms Villeneuve, Mr Chilingaryan, and Dr Lamontagne), McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Purpose:
To compare results of 3 clinical vestibular tests between children with global developmental delay (GDD) and children with typical development (TD) and investigate the test-retest reliability.
Methods:
Twenty children with GDD (aged 4.1-12.1 years) and 11 age-matched controls with TD participated. Participants with GDD underwent 2 sessions of testing. Each session consisted of the Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction and Balance (CTSIB), Dynamic Visual Acuity (DVA) test, and the modified Emory Clinical Vestibular Chair Test (m-ECVCT).
Results:
Up to 33% of the children with GDD had abnormal DVA scores. m-ECVCT results of children with GDD demonstrated larger variance than children with TD. The CTSIB score was significantly reduced in the group with GDD. The test-retest reliability varied, with good reliability for the m-ECVCT and CTSIB, and fair reliability for the DVA.
Conclusions:
Findings suggest vestibular involvement in children in GDD. The clinical tests demonstrated moderate test-retest reliability.
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