title: Speech, cognition, and imaging studies in congenital ocular motor apraxia.
abstract: Detailed neurological, speech and language, psychological, and neuroimaging studies were carried out in eight children with the diagnosis of congenital ocular motor apraxia. The neurological examination showed clinical evidence of cerebellar vermis abnormality (hypotonia and truncal ataxia) in all cases. Neuroimaging studies suggested that the site of neuropathological disturbance of congenital ocular motor apraxia was the inferior vermis. Half of the subjects had associated speech apraxia. The most likely location of brain disturbance, which was responsible for the speech apraxia, was also an as yet undefined area of the vermis. Psychological testing consistently revealed visual-spatial difficulties. These may have been secondary to cerebellar pathology or to developmentally inappropriate sensory input caused by the abnormal saccades. Children with speech apraxia appear to be slightly more affected neurologically than those with normal speech.
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Paediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kearney
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groenveld
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sargent
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Poskitt
mesh_terms: D001072:Apraxias / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001767:Blinking; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D012438:Saccades; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013028:Space Perception; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014888:Wechsler Scales