Vestibular function in children underperforming at school.
Learning is a complex, dynamic process, structured from motor and perception skills which, when cortically processed, give birth to cognition. Balance is a fundamental neurological function that helps us maintain proper postures, an essential factor in learning and a sign or neurologic maturity.


OBJECTIVE
this paper aims to study vestibular function in children underperforming at school.


METHODS
this is a cross-sectional study.


METHODS
eighty-eight children with ages ranging between 7 and 12 years attending the public schools of Piracicaba from 2004 to 2006 were enrolled. All children were interviewed, submitted to ENT examination, hearing tests, and vestibular examination.


RESULTS
fifty-one percent of the participants had no reported difficulties at school, whereas 49.0% were underperforming at school. Under vestibular examination, 73.3% of the children performing well at school had normal findings, whereas 32.6% of the underperforming children had normal test results. Unilateral and bilateral irritative peripheral vestibular alterations were found in 67.4% of the underperformers and in 26.7% of the children not experiencing difficulties at school.


CONCLUSIONS
all vestibular alterations found had an irritative peripheral origin. There was a statistically significant association between vestibular alteration and poor performance at school.
Franco
Eloisa Sartori
ES
MSc in Speech and Hearing Therapy at PUC - SP. Professor at the Speech and Hearing Therapy Program at Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba - UNIMEP. Audiology Internship Supervisor - UNIMEP.
Panhoca
Ivone
I
PhD in Sciences at the Language Studies Institute at UNICAMP. Professor at the School of Speech and Hearing Therapy at PUC - Campinas. External accredited advisor of the "Child and Adolescent Health" program, Department of Pediatrics, FCM/UNICAMP; This study was done under the auspices of the Graduate Program on Children and Adolescent Health - Department of Pediatrics - FCM/UNICAMP. Field work was conducted at the School of Health Sciences - FACIS - Speech and Hearing Therapy Program - UNIMEP.
D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004584:Electronystagmography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests