BALANCED GROWTH: The Involvement of the Vestibular System in a Child's Cognitive and Motor Development

BALANCED GROWTH: The Involvement of the Vestibular System in a Child's Cognitive and Motor Development

When a vestibular dysfunction occurs at birth or in early stages of life, one might expect that this may have an enormous impact on a child's development. It is known that a severe congenital or early acquired vestibular deficit in children results in delayed psychomotor milestones. Later in life, children with a vestibular dysfunction may have difficulties with several balance tasks and additional cognitive, motor and/or psychosocial performances. While a few authors have suggested that there is indeed an influence of a vestibular dysfunction upon these different developmental domains (cognitive, motor, educational and psychosocial development), which can be supported by findings in clinical practice as well, literature concerning this topic remains fairly limited. On the other hand, several studies have shown that children with known difficulties in motor and/or cognitive functions have more difficulties in vestibular performances in comparison with their unaffected peers. Although more frequently discussed, the literature on this population is rather scarce too.

Therefore, the current project aims to investigate the relationship with and the involvement of the vestibular system in the motor and cognitive development of school-aged children.

General goals

1. Developing and standardizing a sensitive and specific test protocol for the detection of vestibular, cognitive and/or motor dysfunctions in school-aged children.
2. Investigate the relationship with and the involvement of the vestibular system in the motor and cognitive development of typically developing school-aged children.
3. Investigating whether a vestibular dysfunction (with/without an additional auditory disease) has an impact on motor and/or cognitive performances in school-aged children.
4. Investigating if in children with a known neurodevelopmental disorder an (additional) underlying vestibular dysfunction can be identified.

For typically developing children

Exclusion Criteria:

• Having a (permanent) hearing loss
• Having a (permanent) vestibular loss
• Having a motor dysfunction
• IQ < 70

For vestibular-impaired children

Inclusion Criteria:

• Recently (< 6 months) tested at the Ghent University Hospital
• Diagnosed with a vestibular impairment (= alteration on at least one of the vestibular function tests: caloric, rotatory chair, vHIT, cVEMP and/or oVEMP test)

For neurodevelopmental group

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosed by a (neuro)psychiatric team with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention deficit/Hyperactivitiy Disorder and/or Developmental Coordination Disorder