Étude comparative de la dyspraxie : évaluation neuropsychologique d’enfants porteurs d’une dyspraxie développementale ou consécutive à la prématurité

Visuospatial Perception in Prematurely Born Children Without Cerebral Palsy or Retinopathy but With Scholar Complaints

In the absence of any complaints in early childhood, preterm children remain more at risk of encountering academic difficulties, but their clinical picture remains not well characterized. We screened visuospatial perception in 70 children born preterm consulting for scholar complaints. Developmental Coordination Disorder (with or without comorbidities) was associated with high prevalence (27%) of impaired perception of spatial relationship. Prematurely born children who obtained no diagnosis of Neuro-Developmental Disorder exhibited a high prevalence (31%) of impaired perception of object magnitude. Regression revealed that low gestational age and fetal growth restriction significantly predicted the magnitude but not the spatial relationship perception.

Attentional and executive functions in children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder and the influence of comorbid disorders: A systematic review of the literature

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting primarily motor skills, but attentional and executive impairments are common in affected individuals. Moreover, the presence of neurodevelopmental comorbidities is frequent in this population, which certainly influences the cognitive profile of the children concerned. Previous studies have reported deficits in visuospatial/nonverbal and planning tasks. This systematic review of the literature aims to determine if impairments can be found in other attentional and executive functions as well. The type of cognitive tasks, the tasks’ modality (verbal/nonverbal), and the influence of comorbid disorders on attentional and executive profiles are systematically considered. Forty-one studies were identified through the PubMed/Medline and PsycINFO databases according to pre-established eligibility criteria. The results reveal weaknesses in inhibitory control, working memory, planning, nonverbal fluency, and general executive functioning in children with DCD. The presence of comorbid disorders seemingly contributes to the verbal working memory difficulties findings. This review contributes to a better understanding of the cognitive impairments in DCD and of the needs of children with this disorder, allowing to optimize practitioners’ therapeutic interventions.

[Course and neurological/behavioral development of preterm children]

Preterm birth remains a public health priority given that one child out of ten is born before 37 weeks of gestation. Survival without major neonatal morbidity has increased in high-income countries, in particular in France and in cases of extreme preterm birth before 27 weeks of gestation. Rate of severe handicaps, such as cerebral palsy, is probably decreasing, but specific cognitive disabilities in a variety of domains remain frequent, interfering with normal learning abilities at school and explaining the high rate of special education needs. Prevalence of sequelae increases when gestational age at birth decreases. However, because there are more moderate to late preterm children compared to very preterm children, the absolute number of children with specific cognitive or neurological disabilities is equivalent in these two groups. Better characterization of the development in a recent cohort of very preterm children is necessary to improve the early detection of variations in normal neurodevelopment and to propose trials with remediation actions targeting working memory and language for example. These protocols could decrease the rates of learning disabilities at school.