Vestibular Function and Motor Proficiency of Children with Impaired Hearing, or with Learning Disability and Motor Impairments

Vestibular status and motor proficiency of 30 hearing-impaired and 15 motor-impaired learning-disabled children were documented to determine whether vestibular loss can account for deficits in motor co-ordination. Vestibular loss was differentiated from sensory organization deficits by means of VOR and postural orientation test results, which were compared with those of 54 normal seven-to 12-year-olds. Reduced or absent vestibular function in 20 hearing-impaired children did not affect development of motor proficiency, except in specific balance activities. However, sensory organization deficits in the learning-disabled group and in three of the hearing-impaired children were associated with widespread deficits in motor proficiency.