title: Preliminary evidence of improved gaze stability following exercise in two children with vestibular hypofunction.
abstract: Despite impaired gaze stability and reading in children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and vestibular hypofunction (VH), there are no reports of intervention. We examined the effect of visual-vestibular exercises in two children on dynamic visual acuity (DVA), critical print size (CPS) and reading acuity (RA) using an ABA design. Improvement in CPS and RA was seen in both subjects. DVA improved only in the subject with acquired versus congenital VH. These results suggest that although exercise improves reading acuity, age at the time of lesion affects the improvement of DVA in children with SNHL and BVH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, RMSB 389, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1212, United States. Jbraswel@uab.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braswell
authors.forename: Rose Marie
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rine
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D014792:Visual Acuity