Elementary visuospatial perception deficit in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Aim: To assess the prevalence of elementary visuospatial perception (EVSP) deficit in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Method: Using a screening test designed and validated to measure dorsal EVSP ability, 168 children (122 males, 46 females; mean age 10y [SD 1y 10mo], range 4y 8mo–16y 4mo) diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), specific learning disorder (SLD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and/or oral language disorder were compared with a group of 184 typically developing children. We also tested 14 children with binocular vision dysfunction and no neurodevelopmental disorder.
Results: Children with SLD scored below the interquartile range of typically developing children as frequently (59%) as children with DCD, but only 5% were severely impaired (i.e. scored as outliers). Children with DCD were the most severely impaired (22% of outliers), even more so when they exhibited a co-occuring disorder. Children with language disorder and those with binocular vision dysfunction scored similarly to the group of typically developing children.
Interpretation: These results confirm the importance of assessing EVSP in the clinical evaluation of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular those presenting with DCD or SLD.
What this paper adds:
- More than half of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) scored below the normal interquartile range on the elementary visuospatial perception (EVSP) test.
- More than half of children with specific learning disorder (SLD) scored below the normal interquartile range on the EVSP test.
- Twenty-two percent of children with DCD performed as outliers on the EVSP test.
- Children with language disorder and those with binocular vision dysfunction scored similarly to typically developing children.