title: Balance and motor coordination are not fully developed in 7-year-old blind children.
abstract: Visually impaired children show difficulties in recognizing their own bodies, objects around then and the spatial parameters that are essential for independent movement. This study analyzes the neuro-psychomotor development of a group of congenitally visually impaired children as compared to children with normal sight. We have evaluated two groups of seven-year-olds by means of neurological evolution examination (NEE). The group studied comprised 20 blind children and the control group comprised 20 children with normal sight, and they were paired up according to age and gender. In some tests, the blind children were guided by touch. The visually impaired children performed worse in tests evaluating balance and appendage coordination compared to normal sighted children (p< 0.001), and this suggests that visual deficiency impairs children's neuro-psychomotor development.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Bandeirante de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. andreasn@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Andréa Sanchez
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: Marcia Maiumi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Fukujima
authors.forename: Sissy Veloso
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Fontes
authors.forename: Sandro Luiz de Andrade
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Matas
authors.forename: Gilmar Fernandes do
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Prado
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology